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SEEDS: Scalable Educational Experiences with Digital Scaffolding

Project Overview

A holistic solution that empowers both teachers and students at the schools for the blind by providing them with an ecosystem to engage, consume and enjoy rich experiences such as stories, quizzes, and games.

*Research paper accepted at COMPASS - link to the paper

Mockup phone-Mockupsforfree.jpg
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Logo of International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore

Role

MS RESEARCH | Research Fellow

Ethnographic Research, UX-UI Design, User Study

Duration

Aug 2022 - Present

This project is work in progress
 

Tools Used

MS Forms, Figma


 

Problem

India has the largest population of children with vision impairments (CVIs) in the world.

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Only a small number of them attend schools. 

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The schools generally have the following characteristics:

  1. Shortage of teachers resulting in children
from multiple grades often being grouped into one class

  2. Teachers teach multiple subjects, and many are blind

  3. Insufficient resources including lab resources

  4. Dearth of trained special educators

India's image
Decorative image

Motivation: The Pandemic

Our team worked on improving STEM and CT education for visually impaired students during the pandemic.

  1. Closure of residential schools led to student isolation without peer or teacher interaction. - Urban schools adopted online classes, providing some continuity, but blind schools faced complete isolation.

  2. Socio-economic challenges and delayed reopening of special schools exacerbated the situation.

  3. Teachers and families were eager to overcome hurdles and get connected using technology.

    • Teachers with basic Android skills learned to install apps and join conference calls remotely.

    • Interactive sessions were conducted using smartphones or basic phones, with support from families.

The pandemic underscored the vital role of technology in maintaining student engagement and emphasized the necessity of online connectivity for providing education to marginalized students.

Note: I was not a part of MSRI when this was identified. 

User Personas

It was evident that there would be two primary users of the platform. 

Teacher illustration

ANUPRIYA -  Teacher with Visual Impairment (TVI)

Government school | Low paying job | Novice technology user | Bangalore, Karnataka

  1. She teaches math to the students and is also responsible for few other subjects. She is the only TVI proficient in braille at the school.

  2. She uses an android phone but is still getting used to the usage of it with talkback.

  3. Remote teaching for her is very challenging as there is no accessible digital platform where TVI can teach CVI.​

Goals:​ 
Make sure her students are not deprived of education 

Frustrations:​ 
Cannot take days off | Not enough staff | Needs to teach multiple subjects | Not proficient with the talkback | Lack of educational resources in schools

Shalini -  Child with Visual Impairment

Grade 5 | Government school | Hostelite | Financially unequipped family | Bangalore, Karnataka

  1. Visually impaired by birth

  2. Her school has a shortage of teachers.

  3. She often gets bored after school hours as most of her friends are day scholars. Due to this, she ends up spending time alone without keeping herself busy.

Goals:​ 
To learn | Ask questions, communicate, grow | Become independent

Frustrations:​ 
Not enough teachers in school | No educational or fun content to engage with after school hours

Student illustration

Aim:

  1. Equip teachers in schools for the blind to connect with students remotely during emergencies, such as pandemics and summer breaks.

  2. Mitigate barriers that prevent CVIs from attending school by engaging them at home through digital means.

  3. Address the severe shortage of trained teachers by enabling them to engage with students remotely.

  4. Overcome the limited resources available to teachers by providing access to curated digital content for student engagement.

Design Goals:

  1. Place the teacher at the center, empowering them to be more effective despite constraints.

  2. Ensure usability for CVIs starting from ages 6 or 7.

  3. Support diverse learning scenarios, both in school and outside, including in student homes and after-hours in residential schools.

  4. Accommodate multiple usage scenarios, such as with regular school teachers, without any teachers, with volunteer teachers from non-profits, with groups of students, or with individual students.

  5. Support a wide range of devices, including Android phones, basic 2G feature phones, smart feature phones, and smart speakers.

Formative Study

Designing SEEDS was an iterative design process as it involved multiple

Study Details

  • My colleague and I visited two schools for the blind in Bangalore, India weekly for 8 months.

  • We interacted with about 20 children aged 9-13.

  • Our objective in this phase was to validate the individual touchpoints of the system and to identify limitations and
    barriers     to usage by the intended end users

India's map, zoomed in on Karnataka and has 5 location pins to depict 5 schools

Learnings

1. IVR system

  1. Ensure content titles are clear and understandable in the local language to enhance comprehension.

  2. Design the IVR system (from the backend) to handle multiple key presses gracefully to prevent unexpected states and confusion

  3. Regularly update IVR content to match diverse interests and educational needs.

  4. Simplify the navigation process to avoid the need for students to restart calls when they want to return to a previous menu.

  5. Design earphones to stay in place and prevent accidental disconnections.

growing plant depicting improved versions

2. Android Teacher Application

​Two major UX updates:
 

  1. When students dropped from calls due to connectivity or accidental key presses, teachers, including sighted ones, often missed these drop-offs while speaking with the phone to their ear. To mitigate this, we implemented announcements for when a student dropped, aiding both sighted and VI teachers to quickly redial the dropped student.

  2. To address teachers accidentally pressing the "Home" button and losing the call screen, we repositioned the end call button higher within the application.

A designer and developer sitting together and enhancing the application

What are "Educational Experiences"?

Educational experience goes beyond just textbooks or storybooks.

It involves interactive activities like teacher-led readings, student read-alouds, independent reading, discussions about content, and sharing views on themes. These activities turn content into valuable learning experiences. The more varied these experiences, the more effective the education.

4 illustrations depicting games like maze, jigsaw puzzle and conversational games

Current iterations of SEEDS touchpoints and how they fit together to expand access to a diverse set of educational experiences to CVIs

Touchpoint  1: IVR via Feature Phones

IVR - Interactive Voice Response

A technology that allows computers to interact with humans through voice commands and keypresses, often used in call centers to route calls and provide automated services.

Via IVR we aim to provide:

  1. 24/7 independent access to content for students

  2. Varied experiences

Illustration of a student sitting with her feature phone with earphones connected

IVR User Experience

Visual representation of IVR key presses. Key 1 is labeled to rewind the content, Key 2 to pause and play content, Key 3 to forward the content, Key 4 to mute all, Key 6 to unmute all, * to decrease playback rate, and # to increase playback rate.

Secondary features:
8 => repeat current menu
9 => to go to the previous menu (in an experience)
0 => help when in experience (guide to audio control commands)

Flowchart illustrating an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system process for selecting content. The flow begins with a user initiating a call to an IVR number, followed by an automatic callback and answered call. The process is divided into three main steps: Language Selection: The IVR menu presents language options, and the user selects a preferred language. Theme Selection: The user chooses from theme options, such as 'Sense and Sense Organs' or 'Family and Relationships.' The flow includes options to adjust speech rate (# to increase, * to decrease) and menu navigation commands (1-4 for menu options, 5 for next, 7 for previous, 8 to repeat, and 9 to go back). Experience Selection: The user selects an experience type (e.g., stories, poems, quizzes) and executes the experience. The interaction ends after the experience execution, with DTMF input used for navigation.

Why Feature Phones?

Feature phones are better than smartphones for our target community.

  1. Tactile - smaller learning curve for CVIs

  2. Includes screen reader - accessible

  3. Cost-effective - suits our demographic

  4. Robust 

  5. Longer battery life

Illustration depicting feature phone is better than smartphone

Touchpoint  2: Android Application for Teachers

Android Application

An app used to conduct educational group calls between teachers and students. These calls are initiated by the teacher by using the app and received by the students on feature phones. We used Android because it is more widely used among teacher population in India.

Via teacher app we aim to provide:

  1. Teachers a mean to communicate with their students remotely

  2. A simple interface to view all the content available

Teacher illustration

Experience flow

I began by outlining the information architecture through iterations on the experience flows. The flow presented here is the fourth and current iteration of the application. Earlier iterations were rapid prototypes with an iterative design approach. This iteration represents the latest version of the flow.

Flowchart illustrating a mobile application user journey for managing and joining group calls. The process begins with downloading the app, starting it, and completing phone verification by entering a name, number, and a four-digit code. From the homepage, users can access options to create groups, add content, and manage calls. Key steps include adding group details, selecting students, assigning a leader, and setting call permissions. Users can select content, apply filters, and configure call settings. During the call, options include muting or unmuting all, adding or removing students, and ending the call. The chart uses color coding to distinguish main page elements, backend processes, and user decisions.

Wireframes

I created paper wireframes with relevant information present in it. With SEEDS we had to take the application to the high fidelity version for testing the talk back efficiency and ease of use for TVIs who are also novice technology users.

Paper wireframes of SEEDS application

Style Guide

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I adhered to the WCAG guidelines to ensure the visual identity and colors used are accessible, achieving AAA compliance. The overall design follows the POUR principles, ensuring a high level of accessibility.

User interface design layout for a mobile application, featuring color scheme details, typography specifications, and iconography. Colors shown include a dark green (#28574F), mustard yellow (#F4B84F), light grey (#EFF5F5), and white (#F9F9F9). Text sizes are specified with headings at 18px, subheadings at 15px, and body text at 12px. Iconography includes home, list, group, and call icons in idle and in-use states, colored in dark green and mustard yellow. A sample screen displays a 'Create Group' feature with a list of groups for various subjects like Story Reading, Poetry, Math Revision, Chess, and Science Revision. On the right, a black-and-white photograph of a child is shown alongside a screenshot of a color contrast checker confirming that the design meets AAA color contrast requirements for accessibility.

Interface Design

Allow teachers to reach their students via call through an android application. Teacher can manage the class efficiently with minimal clicks and can also appoint a leader to manage the class if she gets temporarily absent.

Flow of basic use case of the application. It is depicted by high fidelity screens connected by arrows. User interface flow for a group call feature in a mobile application, showing steps from creating a group to managing a live call. The sequence begins with a 'Create Group' screen displaying various group categories like Story Reading, Poetry, and Math Revision. The flow then progresses to selecting students for a call, starting the call, and handling call settings such as muting/unmuting, retrying, and adding additional students. Each screen details specific actions, such as the teacher receiving a call, student status indicators (e.g., ringing, joined), and managing audio controls. Additional features like the 'Raise Hand' function highlight specific students and bring them to the top of the list for teacher attention. The interface uses icons and navigation arrows to guide the user through each stage.

Leaders and their powers

The teacher can also select a student leader. The leader has additional control over certain aspects of the call using specific number key presses.





These controls are implemented to allow the leader to moderate the class in case the teacher becomes temporarily unavailable.

Key presses for leaders. Key 1 is to unmute all, key 2 is to pause and play the content, key 4 is to rewind the content, key 3 to forward the content, key 0 to mute all
3 high fidelity screens depicting the flow of appointing a leader

Touchpoint  3: Content Management Website

CRUD website

Enables users to add, view, modify, and delete content as needed.

Via content management website we aim to provide:

  1. Enable teachers to manages content on IVR system and teacher app

  2. Understand independent IVR usage by students

Illustration of a teacher

Website Design

  • Each piece of content is labeled by its language and type for clear categorization.

  • The display of language and corresponding content aids visually impaired users when using a screen reader.

  • The website also specifies the exact location, such as the Teacher App (TA) and IVR, where each content item is available.

A screenshot of the website that has been developed based on the design

Usage Scenarios

Diverse use cases of interactions across space and time by TVIs and CVIs derived from the learnings of the formative study.

Scenario 1: Fully In-person

Both the teacher and the students are in the same physical space.

The platform allows the teacher to access and deliver a variety of experiences by using the Teacher App on their Android phone. The phone is connected to an external speaker, either wired or via Bluetooth, enabling all students to hear the content.

The students interact with the teacher as they would in a traditional classroom setting.

Illutration depicting fully in person use case. Teacher conducting the class with a speaker in the center and students sitting around it

Scenario 2: Remote Teacher

The students are gathered in a classroom while the teacher is in a remote location. The teacher uses the Teacher App to connect to a feature phone held by a designated student (‘class monitor’) in the classroom.

This feature phone is connected to an external speaker, allowing all students to listen to the audio.

The class monitor mediates the conversation between the students and the remote teacher, facilitating a guided learning experience.

Illutration depicting remote teacher use case.

Scenario 3: Autonomous Student Mode

An individual student independently accesses and engages with the curated
experiences from their home or school residence.

There is no involvement of a teacher or an Android App, and the student directly interacts with the digital experiences through the IVR system.

Illutration depicting autonomous student modeuse case

Scenario 4: Fully Remote

The teacher and students are in different locations. The teacher uses the Teacher App to initiate a conference call, delivering educational experiences to students on feature phones for interactive learning.

An illustration of teacher sitting in her house using the SEEDS application to connect with her students remotely
An illustration of students sitting in a remote setting with each child using one feature phone

Summer Pilot

To address the research questions and to evaluate SEEDS we conducted a mixed-method study over a structured 7-week summer program

Study Details

  • Involved 29 CVIs from 5 schools in Karnataka, India.

  • Program carried out by 5 teachers (3 sighted and 2 visually impaired) affiliated with Vision Empower Trust.

  • Conducted semi-structured interviews with the five teachers following the program's conclusion.

  • 130 sessions spanning a duration of 97 hours

India's map, zoomed in on Karnataka and has 5 location pins to depict 5 schools

Findings

1. Collaborative Teaching Environment

  1. Teachers considered the summer program successful based on student engagement and enthusiasm.

  2. They faced challenges such as frequent call drops, background noise, and technical issues with the SEEDS app.

  3. Teachers adapted to remote teaching using calls and the SEEDS app, finding creative ways to manage and engage students.

  4. They shared insights on optimal classroom sizes, the use of feature phones, and the importance of preparation for future iterations of the program.

Illustration of 5 teachers sitting together and discussing

2. Student Engagement

  1. Eagerness in answering questions and engaging in discussions.

  2. Students proactively asked to share their input

  3. Informing the teacher when a peer had disconnected.

  4. Students requesting homework. 

  5. The students also sought assistance from parents and neighbors to complete it.

Illustration of 4 students enjoying the SEEDS experience

3. Challenges

  1. Internet connectivity issue

  2. Students disconnecting mid-call

  3. Gauging student comprehension over call

Future Directions

  1. Include Braille into the platform

  2. Personalised IVR

  3. Audio based feature phone games

  4. Children generated content

  5. GenAI based content creation

Current status of the project

We have onboarded 2 schools in Tripura and 9 in Karnataka 


We have tested SEEDS with 20 students and planning another study with 42 students and 13 facilitators this (April - May 2024) summer!

We have received positive response from the students and facilitators and our research paper on the same has been accepted to COMPASS 2024!

My Learnings

  1. Deepened my understanding of accessible design, focusing on the POUR principles and their implementation in design.

  2. Developed interpersonal skills by overcoming language barriers with CVIs and building a bond, becoming their 'Akka' (elder sister) in the process. :)

  3. Navigated the design-to-development process for the first time, learning the intricacies of transferring and communicating between design and development teams.

an illustration depicting growth as a human and designer
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