GISAU Games: Making students' learning experience more engaging 🎲
Community Project • 8 min read
*GISAU is a student-led club promoting Indonesian culture based in the UBC Vancouver campus.
My Role
UX Designer
Overview
Imagine you're a student, juggling multiple subjects, assignments, and exams. It's hard to stay focused, right? That's where GISAU Games comes in—a gamified learning platform designed to make studying more engaging and fun. We wanted to turn study sessions into exciting challenges and rewarding achievements.
Timeline
Sep 2023 - Apr 2024
Team
2 Developers, 1 Designer
Tool
Figma, FigJam, Miro
Explore More
A Quick Overview
Background
Students find it hard to maintain their attention span and study effectively 😓
This challenge affects their ability to understand and retain information, leading to a need for more effective educational tools.
Problem
Lack of engagement in traditional learning environments 💭
Many students find it difficult to focus and stay motivated with conventional learning approaches. This lack of engagement results in poor academic performance and a diminished interest in learning. Despite various available resources, there remains a gap in tools that can make education more interactive and enjoyable.
Target Audience
Students who are eager for a more engaging learning journey 📓
GISAU Games is designed for students who crave a more interactive and captivating educational experience. Our platform attracts those who are ready to embrace a new way of learning that combines fun with academic achievement.
Goal
Making students' learning experience more engaging and interactive 🙇🏻
By turning study sessions into exciting challenges and rewarding achievements, GISAU Games aims to captivate students' interest, boost their motivation, and enhance their academic performance through the power of gamification.
Solution
So we bring to you...
Design Process
How Did GISAU Games Come to Life?
The biggest constraint working on this project was time. Students needed this tool as soon as possible, especially with exams around the corner. With only a small team, we had to be efficient with our time and resources. We had to make every second count. Because of this, I decided to use the Lean UX method. Lean UX is all about building fast, testing quickly, and improving on the go. It’s perfect for a dynamic project like GISAU Games.
01
Think
Our objective was clear: create a tool that would make studying fun and engaging for students. But where to start? We needed to understand what students really needed to stay motivated and focused, especially with exams looming. So, we gathered our small but mighty team and dove into a brainstorming session and making educated guesses.
Brainstorming Session 🤔
We kicked things off with a lively Crazy 8 session. Picture a room filled with sticky notes, marker pens, and a lot of coffee. We asked ourselves key questions: Who are our users? What do they struggle with? How can we make studying feel less like a chore and more like a game? Ideas flowed, from leaderboards to reward points to study challenges.
Creating Hypotheses ✍🏻
After our Crazy 8 brainstorming session, we distilled our ideas into several educated guesses about what features would best engage and motivate students. These guesses formed the basis of our hypotheses, which we would later test through our MVP. Here are the key hypotheses we developed:
Point and Reward System
Hypothesis: A point and reward system will motivate students to complete more study sessions.
Rationale: Obtaining immediate rewards for completing study sessions would make the process more enjoyable and encourage students to stick with their study schedules. Points could be earned for each completed session and redeemed for rewards, adding an element of fun.
Pomodoro Timer for Focus
Hypothesis: Using a Pomodoro timer will help students maintain focus and increase the amount of time they spend studying.
Rationale: The Pomodoro technique, which involves short bursts of focused work followed by breaks, is a proven method for improving concentration and productivity. By integrating a Pomodoro timer into our app, we aimed to help students break their study time into manageable chunks, making it easier to stay focused and study for longer periods.
Weekly Insights for Motivation
Hypothesis: Weekly insights will help students better understand their study habits and motivate them to improve.
Rationale: Providing students with summaries of their study habits and progress over the week would help them identify areas for improvement and stay motivated. These insights would offer valuable feedback and encourage students to set and achieve their study goals.
Throughout this phase, collaboration was key. With a designer and two developers, we worked closely together, bouncing ideas off each other and refining our concepts. Everyone's input was valuable, and together, we built a solid foundation for our next step: making the MVP.
02
Make
With our hypotheses in place, it was time to move on to the Make phase. I transformed our ideas into tangible prototypes. The goal was to create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that we could quickly test with students to gather feedback and make improvements.
Styleguide 🎭
Next, I developed a styleguide to ensure consistency in our design. The styleguide was derived from GISAU's branding and visual identity, ensuring that our app aligned with the overall look and feel of GISAU's existing materials.
High-Fidelity Prototype 🎨
Finally, I moved on to creating the MVP prototype, turning the previous sketches and styleguide into interactive prototypes.
By the end of the Make phase, we had a functional MVP that incorporated the point and reward system, Pomodoro timer, and weekly insights. This MVP was ready to be tested with real students to validate our hypotheses and gather valuable feedback. The iterative process allowed us to focus on building a product that was both engaging and effective, keeping the students' needs at the forefront.
03
Check
With our MVP ready, it was time to put it to the test. The Check phase involved gathering feedback from real users, analyzing their interactions with the app, and making necessary improvements based on their experiences. Our goal was to validate our hypotheses and ensure that the features we developed truly met the needs of our users.
User Testing 🎙️
We recruited a group of students from our target audience to test the MVP. This diverse group included students who struggled with focus, those who thrived on competition, and busy students balancing multiple responsibilities. We used several testing methods:
In-App Analytics
We tracked how students interacted with the app, which features they used the most, and where they encountered difficulties.
Surveys and Feedback Forms
After using the app, students filled out surveys to provide their feedback on the features, usability, and overall experience.
One-on-One Interviews
We conducted interviews with a subset of users to gain deeper insights into their experiences and gather qualitative feedback.
Analyzing Feedback
Point and Reward System
User Feedback: Students enjoyed earning points and redeeming rewards. It made studying feel more like a game and less of a chore. One student said, "I love earning points and seeing my progress. It keeps me motivated to study more."
Hypothesis Validation: "A point and reward system will motivate students to complete more study sessions." This hypothesis was validated as we saw a significant increase in the number of study sessions completed.
Suggestions for Improvement:
• Add more reward variety to keep things exciting.
• Add more reward variety to keep things exciting.
Pomodoro Timer
User Feedback: The Pomodoro timer was effective in helping students maintain focus. They appreciated the structured study and break periods. A user mentioned, "The Pomodoro timer really helps me stay focused. I can study for longer without feeling overwhelmed."
Hypothesis Validation: "Using a Pomodoro timer will help students maintain focus and increase the amount of time they spend studying." This hypothesis was validated as students reported increased study times and better concentration.
Suggestions for Improvement:
• Allow customization of study and break durations.
• Add a notification sound when the timer ends.
• Allow customization of study and break durations.
• Add a notification sound when the timer ends.
Weekly Insights
User Feedback: Students found the weekly insights helpful for tracking their progress and identifying areas for improvement. It motivated them to set and achieve study goals. One student noted, "Seeing my study stats each week motivates me to keep going and improve."
Hypothesis Validation: "Weekly insights will help students better understand their study habits and motivate them to improve." This hypothesis was validated as users reported increased motivation and a better understanding of their study patterns.
Suggestions for Improvement:
• Enhance the visual presentation of insights for better clarity.
• Provide more detailed breakdowns of study habits.
• Enhance the visual presentation of insights for better clarity.
• Provide more detailed breakdowns of study habits.
Future Iterations
Based on the feedback and data collected, we derived four actionable items for future iterations.
0
1
Add More Reward Variety
Expand the range of rewards available in the reward store to keep users excited and motivated. This includes adding both digital and physical rewards that appeal to different interests.
0
2
Customize Pomodoro Timer Durations
Allow users to customize the duration of their study and break periods. This flexibility will help accommodate different study styles and preferences, making the timer more effective for a wider range of students.
0
3
Add Notification Features
Implement notification sounds and alerts for the Pomodoro timer. This will help students stay aware of their study times without constantly checking the app, improving the overall user experience.
The Check phase was crucial in validating our hypotheses and ensuring that the features we developed met the needs of our users. Through user testing and iterative improvements, we created a more engaging and effective study tool. The feedback from students helped us refine the app, making it a valuable resource for enhancing their learning experience. By continuously gathering and analyzing user feedback, we were able to stay aligned with our goal of making studying fun and engaging for students. This iterative process not only improved the app but also strengthened our understanding of our users' needs and preferences.
Future Implementation
Exciting New Games on the Horizon 🎳
Currently, we have launched the Pomodoro game, which has been well-received by our users. Looking ahead, we plan to expand GISAU Games with a variety of new educational games that will make learning even more interactive and fun (hopefully even games that would encourage students to delve deeper into Indonesia's culture!). Our goal is to continuously innovate and provide students with diverse tools that cater to different learning styles and subjects, ensuring a comprehensive and engaging educational experience. Stay tuned for exciting updates and new games that will take your learning journey to the next level!
The People Behind GISAU 23/24
26 Executives • 5 Departments • 1 Community 🇮🇩
A huge shoutout to my fellow execs 🤩
Personal Reflection
Looking Back...
Working with GISAU has been an incredibly fun and rewarding experience. Collaborating closely with the developers on this project taught me a lot about the design-to-development handoff process. I learned how to effectively communicate design ideas and ensure they are implemented smoothly. I also gained a deeper understanding of the technical challenges that developers face and how I, as a designer, can help address these issues. A huge shoutout to my teammates who made this journey truly enjoyable and enriching!
Thanks for stopping by; let's chat soon!
