DuoVR
Overview
DuoVR is an immersive VR extension of the Duolingo experience.
Tools
- Unity
- C#
- Blender
- After Effects
- Figma
Role
- Game Designer
- Unity Engineer
- UX Designer
- UX Researcher
Problem
There’s a problem with how we teach languages. 1/3 high schoolers will take a foreign language class but less than 2% of them will actually learn that language. So what’s missing? Check out my case study to find out more.
In addition apps are great but they have roughly a 40% retention rate.
Why is that?
Insight
What these experience miss is immersion.
Users need to immerse themselves in a language to learn that language.
Thanks to Virtual Reality that's now possible.
Solution - DuoVR
DuoVR is a Virtual Reality extension for users to learn a language in a fun, social gamified experience.
How it works
In a Universe...
In a universe of different cultures there's a world of French, in that world there's a city of French speakers, In that city there's a district of learners of the same level & in that district is you.
Players learn by exploring these worlds becoming more fluent as they progress.
Learn by playing
There's you...
The DuoVR experience encourages learners of all kinds to learn a language by exploring a world made for them. There are different types of learners out there. Different learning styles, different learning abilities and I made a point to take these different learners into account.
Learning styles that I took into account:
- Kinesthetic
- Audio
- Visual
- Reading/Writing
And these learners learn best when the environment is:
- Social
- Scaffolded
- Positive
- Reinforcement
- Solves an iminent problem
Gamification
Quests
Quests are the basic building block of DuoVR.
Quests in Duo VR have 3 types:
- Basic: These are specific quests you get to teach you a grammar and/or cultural concept.
- Evergreen: Constantly happening, mainly used for learning vocab.
- Social: Quests that require you to work with others.
ex: Your first evergreen quest, learning the top 500 words of a language. This is one of the best ways to get fluent fast.
Socializing
Everything is better with friends...
Socializing is an important part of learning & is one of the basic principles that makes for a successful learning experience.
Especially when learning a language. What's the point if you don't talk to anyone?
That's why after you've completed the top 500 words quest you will start to be given "social quests."
Karma
Help yourself by helping others.
In addition to social quests users will also be introduced to the Karma system after they've learned the top 500 words.
The Karma system is a way of encouraging people to help others and get rewarded while doing so. Rewards include extra experience, in game achievement trophies, extra health, even recognition as a Duolingo tutor.
Level Up
Level up the world while you level up yourself.
Learning languages brings us together. It can remove cultural barriers that & lead us to be more curious & empathetic.
Overall learning languages is just a human good.
That being said one thing that I found stood in the way of people learning is the feeling of progression. People simply don't feel like they're progressing in a classroom. That's why it's important to have a visual representation of leveling up so that users can how far they've come.
Prototype
This is a prototype of what the world of DuoVR could look like...
Reflections
Learning to learn.
One of the most profound things that I learned through this process was learning how to learn. This project taught me how to teach myself to learn other skills like web design & 3D.