Re - Engaging   Students :   A   Learning   Launch   Experiment 

 Salman Fong ,   June   27   2020 

 1 . Challenge 

 At    an    EdTech    company    that    I    worked    at ,    we    were    undergoing    a    massive    digital    transformation    program .    Our    team    was    tasked    with    finding    innovative    solutions    that    we    can    bring    to    the    market    quickly    to    broaden    our    offering    by    utilizing    our    existing    content .    The    company    was    a    traditional    publishing    house    catering    textbooks    to    a    large    number    of    schools    &    universities .    It    was    not    easy    to    change    the    existing    business    processes .    The    backend    content    creation ,    organization    and    data - management    was    a    time - consuming    process .    But    it   provided    the    high    quality    content    that    the    market    had    come    to    expect    of    the    company .    We    can not    compromise    on    the    quality    for    sure ,    but    we    need    to    streamline    the    process    to    be    a    bit    more    nimble    and    fast .    The    turnaround    time    for    material    revision    was    in    the    order    of    months    if   not    years ,    which    meant    that    we    can not    deliver    up - to - date    content    to    the    students    in    a    timely    manner .    Another    more    important    challenge    that    was    facing    the    academic    institutions    was    the    high    number    of    dropout    rates .    Students    just    stopped    attending    schools .    Reasons    varied    -    lack    of    interest / motivation ,    socio - economic    factors    etc .    And    that ’s   the    challenge    that    we    were    willing    to    take    on    initially .    How    can    we    keep    the    students    engaged    and    motivated    so    they    do n’t    drop    out    -    since    this    has    a    huge    impact    on    their    future    career    and    on    the    community    as    a    whole .             Even    though    this    concern    had    been    in    the    minds    of    the    business    executives    for    a    while    and    there    were    various    ideation    exercises    taken    up ,    none    of    them    were    put    to    practice ,    as    they    were    stuck    in    the    processes .    The    legacy    teams    were    not    adopting    the    approaches    from   the    Design    Thinking    framework .    When    I    joined    the    company    it   was    in    the    mid-2010s .    My    small    team    was    excited    about    applying    newer    methodologies    to    these    burning    issues .    We    noticed    the    increasing    significance    mobile    phones    were    playing    in    our    lives    in    general ,    and    students ’    lives    in    particular .    Our    team    started    observing    the    effect    of    smartphones    on    students ,    and    how    the    smartphones    had    become    so    ubiquitous    and    so    personal .    Majority    of    the    students    relied    on    these    devices    as    primary    source    of    information / entertainment / distractions !    So    we    decided    to    develop    a    prototype    mobile    app    that    can    deliver    key    information    to    them    at    the    right    times    so    they    can    stay    on    top    of    their    course    assignments .    This    was    to    be    our    ‘ learning    launch ’    experiment !    We    had    come    up    with    a    few    hypotheses    to    test :    ( 1 )    Friendly    reminders ,    delivered    via    smartphones ,    to    students    regarding    their    upcoming    assignments    is    going    to    help    them    stay    on    track ,     ( 2 )    We    could    gain    more    insight    into    the    users ’    app    engagement    which    can    further    drive    feature    developments ,    ( 3 )    We    could    make    future    content    delivery    ‘ mobile - first ’    for    an    optimal    UX    and    improved    engagement . 

 2 . Selection 

 Based    on    the    challenges    our    team    faced ,    and    the    overall    course    of    our    business 

 transformation ,    we    decided    to    use    the    ‘ learning    launch ’    design    thinking    tool    for    our    purposes .    As    stated     here ,    learning    launch    is    a    quick    and    inexpensive    experiment    to    validate    a    growth    idea    before    committing    additional    resources    to    build    out    a    full    product .    We    chose    this    tool    because    of    it ’s    real - world    driven    feedback    that    can    help    us    iteratively    improve    upon    the    initial    ideas .    It    can    also    help    us    park    our    disproven    hypotheses    for    the    time    being    and    ensure    we    focus    on    the    really    valuable    ones    that    meet    the    current    market    conditions .         Following    Michael Just ’s    instructions     as    stated    in    Module    4 / Week    4    of    the    Design    Thinking    for    Innovation    course ,    we    focussed    on    testing    out    the    various    hypotheses    to    get    to    the    different    ‘ trues ’ .    We    had    to    pick    the    best    idea(s )    to    work    on    to    have    a    positive    business    impact .    We    wanted    to    avoid    a    lot    of    guesswork    and    incorrect    projections    just    so    we    can    come    up    with    a    business    plan .    We    wanted    to    learn    quickly    from   our    ideas .    We    wanted    to    identify    the    ones    that    showcase    the    ‘ burning    need ’    of    our    customers .    We    wanted    to    know    the    real - world    truths    about    the    various    ideas    we    were    exploring .    These    reasons    helped    us    zero    in    on    the    learning    launch    tool    as    the    preferred    one    for    this    experiment . 

 3 . Application 

 In   order   to   apply   this   model ,   we   committed   to   building   a   prototype   app   first .   It   was   to   be 

 responsive   with   less   barrier   for   adoption   by   students .   With   minimal   resources   -   small   team ,    shortened   time   period ,   AND   not   much   of   a   budget   -   we   went   about   building   a   responsive   mobile    app   that   was   bare   minimal   in   functionality .   From   a   broad   set   of   features   we   had   originally    planned   for   a   full   fledged   mobile   app ,   we   pared   down   to   the   basics .   We   ended   up   deciding   to    support   just   three   key   features :   ( 1 )   Login   for   enrolled   users   only ,   ( 2 )   View   course   info ,   along   with    assignment   dates   ( 3 )   Opt - in   for   reminders   and   notifications .    This   helped   us   to   clearly   get   the    relevant   usage   data   to   prove / dis - prove   our   hypotheses   that   we   set   out   to   test .      Around   100   pre - approved   users   were   given   access   to   the   app .   This   helped   us   keep   the   user    count   to   a   manageable   level .   We   were   able   to   integrate   certain   analytics   features   into   the   app    so   we   can   collect   meaningful   data   for   our   analyses .   That ’s   where   our   learning   would   kick   in .   As    an   alternative   mode   of   data   collection ,   we   were   able   to   bring   in   a   few   student   volunteers   to    observe   first   hand   how   they   used   our   app ,   with   candid   feedback .       With   both   the   modes   we   were   able   to   monitor   &   gather   a   few   weeks   worth   of   data ,   which    revealed   to   us   the   various   usage   patterns ,   shortcomings   and   the   missing   features .      We   really   wanted   to   test   our   assumptions   about   the   friendly   reminders   helping   them ,   and    whether   the   students   prefer   nuggets   of   content   optimized   for   mobile   model   of   interaction   -   brief    short   duration   vs   long   duration   assignments . 

 4 . Insight 

 Throughout   this   rollout   our   team   was   committed   to   providing   the   best   possible   experience    and   to   gather   the   maximum   quality   data   for   future   analysis .   Applying   learning   launch   helped   us    bring   a   certain   rigor   and   discipline   into   prototype   building   &   data   collection   processes .   It    certainly   helped   me   see   the   value   of   design   thinking   as   a   key   framework   in   the   business    context .         As   we   started   interpreting   the   collected   data ,   we   observed   key   patterns   that   validated   our    hypotheses !   Users   certainly   liked   the   reminders   -   almost   all   of   them   opted - in   right   away   -   that    helped   them   complete   and   turn - in   their   assignments   on   time .   They   really   were   spending   more    time   in   the   reminders   screen   of   the   app   than   any   other .   Another   interesting   outcome   was   that    they   really   preferred   short   assignments   to   long   ones .   Given   the   nature   of   frequent   distractions    when   using   a   smartphone   it   was   no   surprise   that   short   bursts   of   key   engagements   provide   a    better   experience   for   the   students .   That   in   turn   keeps   them   motivated   to   learn   a   few   concepts   at    a   time .   This   turned   out   to   be   a   very   useful   insight   in   the   whole   experiment .   Till   this   point   our    content   creators   were   focussed   on   creating   a   huge   blob   of   linearly   delivered   course   material .    But   this   experiment   and   its   results   highlighted   the   changing   learning   landscape .   This   meant   that    our   business   has   to   quickly   adapt   to   the   market   conditions   and   produce   content   to   meet   those    conditions .   We   did   have   the   content ,   we   just   need   to   ‘ bite - size ’   the   content   so   we   can   keep   the    students   coming   back   for   more   thereby   helping   them   achieve   their   learning   goals !      That    last    value    alone    proved(to    me ,    atleast )    how    worthwhile    design    thinking    is !   In    a    traditional    world    people    would    have    hypothesized    this    model ,    but    would    never    have    ventured    to    test    it   out    in    the    real    world    at    such    a    micro - scale .    To    me    this    was    an    eye - opener .    Since    this    experiment ,    I ’ve    been    keen    to    apply    the    various    tools    of    Design    Thinking    to    optimize    the    execution    time    of    an    idea    -    ideate ,    prototype    &    validate ,    iterate - repeat ,    release .    Certainly    learning    launch    is    an    invaluable    tool    in    the    arsenal ! 

 5 . Approach 

 Before   we   started   down   this   path ,   our   go - to   design   thinking   tool   was   the   mind   mapping   tool .   It    is   valuable   in   its   own   right   in   order   to   get   an   understanding   of   ‘ What   is ? ’    But   for   our   challenge    here ,   we   opted   for   the   learning   launch   tool   since   we   had   a   clear   objective   to   apply   it   to .   We   had    a   few   assumptions   to   test   out ,   and   we   were   at   a   key   point   in   the   product   life   cycle   where   we   had    to   prove   if   the   new   highly - impactful   idea   would   work   in   the   real   world .       If   I   were   to   do   this   again ,   I ’d   definitely   pick   the   learning   launch   tool ,   as   it   clearly   satisfied   our    needs .   It   provided   us   the   data   we   needed   to   convince   the   business   stakeholders   to   change    course   and   support   our   team   with   more   resources   for   real   product   build   out .   That   validation   was 

 crucial .   It   also   helped   our   team   focus   on   the   right   set   of   data   to   use   for   analysis ,   and   also    prodded   us   to   ask   the   right   questions   in   order   to   get   the   best   insights .   Plus ,   everyone   in   the    team   enjoyed   the   discovery   &   the   learning   process .   It   kept   us   engaged   and   excited !      And ,   at   the   end   of   this   experiment   we   set   out   to   build   the   Release   1   of   our   product ,   improving    upon   the   prototype !   This   time   with   a   clear   roadmap   of   new   features   &   milestones   per   the   market    research .            Salman Fong    June   27 ,   2020 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: Salman Fong, Salman Fong
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Re - Engaging   Students :   A   Learning   Launch   Experiment 

 Salman Fong ,   June   27   2020 

 1 . Challenge 

 At    an    EdTech    company    that    I    worked    at ,    we    were    undergoing    a    massive    digital    transformation    program .    Our    team    was    tasked    with    finding    innovative    solutions    that    we    can    bring    to    the    market    quickly    to    broaden    our    offering    by    utilizing    our    existing    content .    The    company    was    a    traditional    publishing    house    catering    textbooks    to    a    large    number    of    schools    &    universities .    It    was    not    easy    to    change    the    existing    business    processes .    The    backend    content    creation ,    organization    and    data - management    was    a    time - consuming    process .    But    it   provided    the    high    quality    content    that    the    market    had    come    to    expect    of    the    company .    We    can not    compromise    on    the    quality    for    sure ,    but    we    need    to    streamline    the    process    to    be    a    bit    more    nimble    and    fast .    The    turnaround    time    for    material    revision    was    in    the    order    of    months    if   not    years ,    which    meant    that    we    can not    deliver    up - to - date    content    to    the    students    in    a    timely    manner .    Another    more    important    challenge    that    was    facing    the    academic    institutions    was    the    high    number    of    dropout    rates .    Students    just    stopped    attending    schools .    Reasons    varied    -    lack    of    interest / motivation ,    socio - economic    factors    etc .    And    that ’s   the    challenge    that    we    were    willing    to    take    on    initially .    How    can    we    keep    the    students    engaged    and    motivated    so    they    do n’t    drop    out    -    since    this    has    a    huge    impact    on    their    future    career    and    on    the    community    as    a    whole .             Even    though    this    concern    had    been    in    the    minds    of    the    business    executives    for    a    while    and    there    were    various    ideation    exercises    taken    up ,    none    of    them    were    put    to    practice ,    as    they    were    stuck    in    the    processes .    The    legacy    teams    were    not    adopting    the    approaches    from   the    Design    Thinking    framework .    When    I    joined    the    company    it   was    in    the    mid-2010s .    My    small    team    was    excited    about    applying    newer    methodologies    to    these    burning    issues .    We    noticed    the    increasing    significance    mobile    phones    were    playing    in    our    lives    in    general ,    and    students ’    lives    in    particular .    Our    team    started    observing    the    effect    of    smartphones    on    students ,    and    how    the    smartphones    had    become    so    ubiquitous    and    so    personal .    Majority    of    the    students    relied    on    these    devices    as    primary    source    of    information / entertainment / distractions !    So    we    decided    to    develop    a    prototype    mobile    app    that    can    deliver    key    information    to    them    at    the    right    times    so    they    can    stay    on    top    of    their    course    assignments .    This    was    to    be    our    ‘ learning    launch ’    experiment !    We    had    come    up    with    a    few    hypotheses    to    test :    ( 1 )    Friendly    reminders ,    delivered    via    smartphones ,    to    students    regarding    their    upcoming    assignments    is    going    to    help    them    stay    on    track ,     ( 2 )    We    could    gain    more    insight    into    the    users ’    app    engagement    which    can    further    drive    feature    developments ,    ( 3 )    We    could    make    future    content    delivery    ‘ mobile - first ’    for    an    optimal    UX    and    improved    engagement . 

 2 . Selection 

 Based    on    the    challenges    our    team    faced ,    and    the    overall    course    of    our    business 

 transformation ,    we    decided    to    use    the    ‘ learning    launch ’    design    thinking    tool    for    our    purposes .    As    stated     here ,    learning    launch    is    a    quick    and    inexpensive    experiment    to    validate    a    growth    idea    before    committing    additional    resources    to    build    out    a    full    product .    We    chose    this    tool    because    of    it ’s    real - world    driven    feedback    that    can    help    us    iteratively    improve    upon    the    initial    ideas .    It    can    also    help    us    park    our    disproven    hypotheses    for    the    time    being    and    ensure    we    focus    on    the    really    valuable    ones    that    meet    the    current    market    conditions .         Following    Michael Just ’s    instructions     as    stated    in    Module    4 / Week    4    of    the    Design    Thinking    for    Innovation    course ,    we    focussed    on    testing    out    the    various    hypotheses    to    get    to    the    different    ‘ trues ’ .    We    had    to    pick    the    best    idea(s )    to    work    on    to    have    a    positive    business    impact .    We    wanted    to    avoid    a    lot    of    guesswork    and    incorrect    projections    just    so    we    can    come    up    with    a    business    plan .    We    wanted    to    learn    quickly    from   our    ideas .    We    wanted    to    identify    the    ones    that    showcase    the    ‘ burning    need ’    of    our    customers .    We    wanted    to    know    the    real - world    truths    about    the    various    ideas    we    were    exploring .    These    reasons    helped    us    zero    in    on    the    learning    launch    tool    as    the    preferred    one    for    this    experiment . 

 3 . Application 

 In   order   to   apply   this   model ,   we   committed   to   building   a   prototype   app   first .   It   was   to   be 

 responsive   with   less   barrier   for   adoption   by   students .   With   minimal   resources   -   small   team ,    shortened   time   period ,   AND   not   much   of   a   budget   -   we   went   about   building   a   responsive   mobile    app   that   was   bare   minimal   in   functionality .   From   a   broad   set   of   features   we   had   originally    planned   for   a   full   fledged   mobile   app ,   we   pared   down   to   the   basics .   We   ended   up   deciding   to    support   just   three   key   features :   ( 1 )   Login   for   enrolled   users   only ,   ( 2 )   View   course   info ,   along   with    assignment   dates   ( 3 )   Opt - in   for   reminders   and   notifications .    This   helped   us   to   clearly   get   the    relevant   usage   data   to   prove / dis - prove   our   hypotheses   that   we   set   out   to   test .      Around   100   pre - approved   users   were   given   access   to   the   app .   This   helped   us   keep   the   user    count   to   a   manageable   level .   We   were   able   to   integrate   certain   analytics   features   into   the   app    so   we   can   collect   meaningful   data   for   our   analyses .   That ’s   where   our   learning   would   kick   in .   As    an   alternative   mode   of   data   collection ,   we   were   able   to   bring   in   a   few   student   volunteers   to    observe   first   hand   how   they   used   our   app ,   with   candid   feedback .       With   both   the   modes   we   were   able   to   monitor   &   gather   a   few   weeks   worth   of   data ,   which    revealed   to   us   the   various   usage   patterns ,   shortcomings   and   the   missing   features .      We   really   wanted   to   test   our   assumptions   about   the   friendly   reminders   helping   them ,   and    whether   the   students   prefer   nuggets   of   content   optimized   for   mobile   model   of   interaction   -   brief    short   duration   vs   long   duration   assignments . 

 4 . Insight 

 Throughout   this   rollout   our   team   was   committed   to   providing   the   best   possible   experience    and   to   gather   the   maximum   quality   data   for   future   analysis .   Applying   learning   launch   helped   us    bring   a   certain   rigor   and   discipline   into   prototype   building   &   data   collection   processes .   It    certainly   helped   me   see   the   value   of   design   thinking   as   a   key   framework   in   the   business    context .         As   we   started   interpreting   the   collected   data ,   we   observed   key   patterns   that   validated   our    hypotheses !   Users   certainly   liked   the   reminders   -   almost   all   of   them   opted - in   right   away   -   that    helped   them   complete   and   turn - in   their   assignments   on   time .   They   really   were   spending   more    time   in   the   reminders   screen   of   the   app   than   any   other .   Another   interesting   outcome   was   that    they   really   preferred   short   assignments   to   long   ones .   Given   the   nature   of   frequent   distractions    when   using   a   smartphone   it   was   no   surprise   that   short   bursts   of   key   engagements   provide   a    better   experience   for   the   students .   That   in   turn   keeps   them   motivated   to   learn   a   few   concepts   at    a   time .   This   turned   out   to   be   a   very   useful   insight   in   the   whole   experiment .   Till   this   point   our    content   creators   were   focussed   on   creating   a   huge   blob   of   linearly   delivered   course   material .    But   this   experiment   and   its   results   highlighted   the   changing   learning   landscape .   This   meant   that    our   business   has   to   quickly   adapt   to   the   market   conditions   and   produce   content   to   meet   those    conditions .   We   did   have   the   content ,   we   just   need   to   ‘ bite - size ’   the   content   so   we   can   keep   the    students   coming   back   for   more   thereby   helping   them   achieve   their   learning   goals !      That    last    value    alone    proved(to    me ,    atleast )    how    worthwhile    design    thinking    is !   In    a    traditional    world    people    would    have    hypothesized    this    model ,    but    would    never    have    ventured    to    test    it   out    in    the    real    world    at    such    a    micro - scale .    To    me    this    was    an    eye - opener .    Since    this    experiment ,    I ’ve    been    keen    to    apply    the    various    tools    of    Design    Thinking    to    optimize    the    execution    time    of    an    idea    -    ideate ,    prototype    &    validate ,    iterate - repeat ,    release .    Certainly    learning    launch    is    an    invaluable    tool    in    the    arsenal ! 

 5 . Approach 

 Before   we   started   down   this   path ,   our   go - to   design   thinking   tool   was   the   mind   mapping   tool .   It    is   valuable   in   its   own   right   in   order   to   get   an   understanding   of   ‘ What   is ? ’    But   for   our   challenge    here ,   we   opted   for   the   learning   launch   tool   since   we   had   a   clear   objective   to   apply   it   to .   We   had    a   few   assumptions   to   test   out ,   and   we   were   at   a   key   point   in   the   product   life   cycle   where   we   had    to   prove   if   the   new   highly - impactful   idea   would   work   in   the   real   world .       If   I   were   to   do   this   again ,   I ’d   definitely   pick   the   learning   launch   tool ,   as   it   clearly   satisfied   our    needs .   It   provided   us   the   data   we   needed   to   convince   the   business   stakeholders   to   change    course   and   support   our   team   with   more   resources   for   real   product   build   out .   That   validation   was 

 crucial .   It   also   helped   our   team   focus   on   the   right   set   of   data   to   use   for   analysis ,   and   also    prodded   us   to   ask   the   right   questions   in   order   to   get   the   best   insights .   Plus ,   everyone   in   the    team   enjoyed   the   discovery   &   the   learning   process .   It   kept   us   engaged   and   excited !      And ,   at   the   end   of   this   experiment   we   set   out   to   build   the   Release   1   of   our   product ,   improving    upon   the   prototype !   This   time   with   a   clear   roadmap   of   new   features   &   milestones   per   the   market    research .            Salman Fong    June   27 ,   2020
### Output: 