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Mira

Problem

Problem

Problem

As a result of remote learning students are retaining less information, engaging less and feel unmotivated.

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Remote students began experiencing short attention spam, fidgeting, getting easily distracted  are the same students with ADD/ADHD experience daily.

 

This group of students have a harder time during online learning as they struggle to remain focused in class and in their tasks.

Solution

Provide the right habit building tools so that students can continuously improve their time management and focus skills, motivating them for their online classes.

Roles

UX Research

Lead UX engineer

Physical product development

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Team members

Erika Williams

Laura Lopez

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Deliverables

Process Book
Vision Video
Physical Product
Digital Product
Poster

Students with ADHD struggle the most. 

Inspite of students trying their best to learn in an online setting they are being held back by:

1. Lack of motivation
2. Short attention spam
3. Getting easily distracted
4. Poor time management 

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Build the right habits to learn 


Keep students motivated and focused during class


Assist them to stay on top on assignments and deadlines 
 

Mira is an opportunity for students to: 

Mira will support students during class 

Before starting class Mira's app will remind the student to place their phone on Mira's study Buddy so it can track the phones usage, and reward its disuse

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When the student gets distracted Mira will light up and reproduce a sound to remind user's mind to go back to class 

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Phone charging doc discourages phone usage through possitive feedback

Records statistics about user's learning habits 

Study Buddy

Detects when user has lost focus and re-focuses
user through visual and
auditory cues.

Outside of class mira will help them to:

Stay organized

Track broken down assignments,  progress and deadlines for better time management.

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Receive trophies with every
goal you achieve.

View all your upcoming
assignment, progress and
deadlines for better time
management.

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Remain motivated 

By visualizing your progress and competing with your friends

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Customized suggestions
of useful courses to help you
learn and improve.

Share and motivate others

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Users can send high fives to
each other to stay connected
and motivated.

Keep on learning

View other users  progress
and motivate one another.

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Learn more about how to
improve habits through
customized courses and tips.

Summary of progress in
class focus levels, phone
usage and time spent
studying.

Motivation and
encouragement from 
daily short videos.

It all started with the question: 

How might we provide ADHD students with the right habit building tools to overcome the challenges brought by online learning? 

From our research we found out 
 

500+

10 

Data points

Expert Interview

User Interviews

6

Diary Kits

Every single one of our participants struggles with time management 


Tapping students’ shoulders or their paper is a good way to kind of remind their brain that they are not focused and they come back to reality.


Online classes tempt students to go on their phones despite them knowing it is disrespectful and distracting.

“People are social creatures” and can be motivated by each other

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“People are motivated by progress, mastery, and control

Prevent students from using their phone, without restricting their access to it

 

The physical product needs to:

 

Be portable 

 

Provide visual and auditory stimuluous for when the student starts wondering around 

 

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Final result
 

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Visual stimulus

Shade for maximum visibiliity

Phone base 

Wirelesscharging 

Sound system for auditory stimulus doubles as a speaker

Product Redesign
 

After finishing this project I went back and redesigned it from aditional user testing and expert interviews

 

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Before

 

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After

 

Our product was succesful in the way that it discouraged phone's use without hiding it (important for users)

Notifications would still distract them, to solve this the angle the phone was placed at was changed.
 

Digital Product 

We began the process wireframing and creating low fidelity models​

Our app needed to include the following key tasks:

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Allow the user to add and keep track of tasks

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Motivate the user through the visualization of their progress improving their focus (data collected by physical product)

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Allow the user to stablish Goals and connect with other users

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Offer useful information for improving learning habits

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Evaluation and Iteration

To improve our product around the user 

User Testing

Walkthroughs

Focus Group Interview

Questionare

System Usability Scale

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Reflection


At first the solution seemed very simple, my thought was "if your cellphone is distracting you just leave it in another room". Through research I learned users were simply not willing to do this, keeping their phone is important for them.


Although our product targets students with ADHD it is not limited to them. For me designing is about creating value in those who need it most. At the same time being this an extreme audience, solving their painpoints would solve those of normal students as well. 

Revisiting this project after a while made me realise how inspite of having extensive research an user testing, as I designer I do make mistakes. I learned that it is important to fail as quickly as possible and not falling in love with our ideas. Just going back made me realise how much I have improved as a designer and how I can build a better project based on the same research. 

Looking into the future

This product has a lot of potential for the future as we see it being implemented by universities and schools to aid the learning of students. Although students may return to physical classrooms, virtual learning wont cease to exist 

Besides helping the kid directly it is a tool for teachers to measure how engaging their class so that they can take proper measures to improve their delivery, content etc. This creates an interesting business model as universities are gaining valuable data from their students to improve their system. Universities could then assume the cost of Mira, making it accessible for students.

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Thank you for your interest in Mira!
To view our whole process clic here

 

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