Gamifying piano learning
Edtech Plus
UX Research to guide the development and design of game elements for a piano learning app
Date
Feb 2022
Duration
1 month
Client location
Singapore
Team size
5 Persons
My role
Team Lead
UX Research
Overview
Edtech Plus is an education tech startup based in Singapore, aiming to develop an immersive game-based solution for young piano-learners. They needed to incorporate game elements that can appeal and retain user engagement, as piano learners progress through piano grades which may span across a few years.
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The team came up with design considerations which guided the client in their development and design of the game narrative and elements.
"The team provided valuable insights that we can consider implementing and weaving into the app. Good job!"
Len Lim, Project Consultant (Design)
Edtech Plus
The problem
Sight-reading is the most complex and difficult part of piano learning and it is often difficult to motivate students to practice frequently as it is mundane. Edtech Plus developed a preliminary design of a piano learning app with game elements to address this problem.
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However, they were unclear of the following:
1. ​What types of game elements would appeal to their users as they progress through the piano grades?​
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​2. How best to apply rewards into the app game strategy for children?
The goal
Establish design considerations to guide the design of game elements for the target users.
What are our research objectives?
Edtech Plus’ target users are children aged 3 to 10 from Southeast Asia and China. In order to establish a deeper understanding of our users’ interests and motivations to guide the design of game elements such as themes, game props, scenes, characters and stories, we established the following key research questions:
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How do the developmental stages of children impact the design of game elements?
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What are the interests, habits, motivations and needs of target users that can guide the design of game elements?
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How are rewards used in education apps to motivate children across various age groups to learn?
Research approach
The team’s initial research approach was to use a mixture of observational study and secondary research. However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and time constraints, we were unable to sit-in during actual piano lessons to conduct the observational study.
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Hence, we had to re-strategize our research approach and instead, we decided to conduct extensive secondary research relating to developmental psychology and children’s interests.
Secondary research
The team looked into academic journals, books, government websites, news articles, and reports from research and digital media companies. We also supplemented our research with documentaries that follow the day-to-day lives of children living in Singapore and China, to gather more insights on their interests, motivations and challenges .
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To understand how rewards and positive reinforcements are used in education apps to motivate children to play and learn, we scanned across popular piano learning apps and other game and education apps.
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What did we learn?
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Children’s development, learning and interests can be categorized into 2 key stages:
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Preoperational (age 3-6); and
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Concrete operational (age 7-10)
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Children are motivated to learn piano by a mixture of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations.​
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Intrinsic rewards - Games tap on exploration, curiosity and giving users autonomy as intrinsic motivations.​
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Extrinsic rewards - Praise, in-game rewards and providing feedback on progress are common positive reinforcements used in game apps.​
User survey
To validate our findings on children’s interests, we conducted an online survey across 110 children, aged 3-10, living in Singapore. From earlier secondary research, we learnt that children’s top favourite activities include reading, watching television, playing computer games and participating in hobbies like drawing and music. To gain deeper insights into the interests of children to guide the design of game elements, we surveyed them on their favourite books, television programs and computer/mobile games.
As the survey was targeted at children, we specifically designed the survey using simple language, with lots of visuals to help them understand.
From their survey responses, we used a word cloud to help visualize the popular books and shows among children, to draw patterns and insights.
What did we learn?
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Activities which leverage creativity and self-expression, such as arts and crafts, are among the top favourite activities across children of all age groups.
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Children aged 3 to 6 generally enjoy books and shows with simple stories with funny characters, while children aged 7 to 10 generally enjoy books and shows with more complex storylines like adventure and mysteries.
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Computer/mobile games that offer the opportunity for imagination, exploration and social elements are popular across most age groups
Synthesize
Who are we designing for?
From the insights that we gathered on children’s development, their interests and motivations, and how rewards are used in education apps, we identified 2 key proto-personas to help Edtech Plus better empathize with their target users when designing the game elements for the app.
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How did research influence design considerations?
From the research insights, we put together a set of design considerations that Edtech Plus could use to guide the design of game elements for the app.
Key design consideration #1
Research insight
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3 to 6 year-olds tend to use symbols to represent objects and struggle with logic and seeing things from others’ perspective. Their language skills are still developing.
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7 to 10 year-olds are more logical and organized in their thinking and start to take others’ perspectives, but still struggle with abstract and hypothetical concepts and planning their own behaviors. They are able to read more independently.
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Design consideration
Tailor instructions and interactions according to the users’ development stage.
Key design consideration #2
Research insight
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Activities which leverage creativity and self-expression are popular across children of all age groups.
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Computer/mobile games that offer the opportunity for imagination, exploration and social elements are popular across most age groups.
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Children are motivated to learn piano by a mixture of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations.
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Design consideration
Leverage on children’s creativity, self-expression and sense of autonomy as intrinsic motivations.
Key design consideration #3
Research insight
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Children are motivated to learn piano by a mixture of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations.
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Extrinsic motivators can be used as a source of feedback to learners e.g. they know they’ve reached a level/achievement.
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Extrinsic motivators can be used to develop a growth mindset with feedback loop.
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Design consideration
Use extrinsic rewards to cultivate continuous learning and a growth mindset, and tailor to the developmental stage of the user.
How did the design considerations impact business?
The Edtech Plus development team were able to apply the design considerations and insights on users’ interests, for example picking up insights from popular books and games, in building the game narrative and design. As the app development is still at a preliminary stage, some of the other design considerations will be applied at a later stage of development.
Future considerations
As the project was only 1 month, I would recommend that the following next steps if there were more time:
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Usability testing with various age groups to test the usability of the design and if the recommended features are successful in providing an educational and stimulating experience.
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Consider parents’ needs as well, as the decision for children to download and use apps are often made by parents, especially for the younger age groups.
What are my takeaways?
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Stakeholder engagement. It is important to consider the stakeholder needs as well as users’ needs. During the initial kick-off meeting, the team did not get a very good grasp of the stakeholder requirements and hence was unsure of the project direction. Hence, at the follow-up meeting, we sought to get more clarity of the underlying problem and was able to better scope the project. Throughout the project, we kept the client updated and was hence able to get alignment on the eventual outcome.
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Adapting and being flexible. The UX design process is not linear, and there are times when we had to adapt and change our approach according to the situation and stakeholder needs. Although we were not able to interview actual users, we sought other sources to supplement our research, such as watching videos and documentaries of children, and also observing children as they interact with games. Toward the end of the project, one of our teammates was unable to continue with the project. As the team lead, I had to re-organize the work tasks, so that we can still meet the deliverables.