Creating a virtual school for inclusive learning
Next World is a virtual supplementary school dedicated to ensuring quality education and equal opportunities for every student.
Created for a designathon hosted across North America and Europe, this project was inspired by the desire to address the education gap among youth. Next World aims to be an enviroment free from financial barriers and discrimination in hopes of offering a step toward an inclusive future.
Core Skills: Time Management, Design Thinking
Role
3D Art Direction
UX Design
User Research
Outcomes
80% user approval rate
Top 10 out of 218 teams
Recognition from Head of Design @ Meta
Team
2 Designers
Duration
1 week
Problem
Challenge
Approach
Solution
Solution 1
Lessons are run by AI teachers for consistency across classes.
Students are assigned to classes based on their level which are labelled by figurative words. In Next World, there are no grades or numerical measures visible to other users.
Solution 2
Tutors are human buddies who help outside of class.
Tutors are readily available on their own schedule and students can ask them questions from their virtual class or day school. Since they are human, tutors can also provide emotional support.
Solution 3
XP & Currency Points run the platform's economy.
Students earn XP points by attending classes and currency points by taking quizzes and participation. XP points unlock tier advancements, while currency points redeem tutoring services. Most importantly, points cannot be bought with cash.
Impact
Users indicated a strong likelihood of using Next World as their main study tool, if they were young students again.
After the designathon ended, we conducted a closing survey asking participants their thoughts about Next World. Majority of the participants showed enthusiasm, whereas some were skeptical about leveraging immersive media for learning and its accessibility. However, upon clarifying that Next World was device-agnostic, they became more receptive.
Likelihood of users using Next World based on a survey with 24 out of 30 users answering "yes", 2 "not sure", and 4 "no".
Out of 218 teams, with judging criteria focused on problem relevance, target market, and feasibility.
By the Head of Design at Meta's Education Department, who expressed interest in learning more about the project.
Takeaways
