The recent pandemic has chained the children away from this environment under the pretext of caution. This will have a negative impact on their growth and even create a barrier if not taken care of.

How might we restore social learning for preschool children during the pandemic?

What is Kinderbus?

Kinderbus is a system that helps toddlers to learn concepts in a safe space like home and then apply those concepts in a Modular Classroom Bus where students are catered to individually and unlike online classes their learnings are consolidated through play.

The entire system is managed by the parent and teacher through a central platform called Kinder through which children access their classes, material, Homework, and schedule.

It also informs the parent of all activities and able to constantly monitor to reinforce their trust in the school.

Key users

Toddlers

Teachers

Parents

Secondary users

Driver

Assistant/ Maid

Administration

Competitive Analysis

There were no competitive products on the market, Our research was thus based on E-learning Sites and community sites that brought diverse groups of people together.

There was a meeting on the advantages and disadvantages of online courses and the age groups that attract towards what platform.

Opportunities and Challenges

Opportunities

Challenges

Opportunity #2

Adventure & reconnecting with nature

Breaking kids out of a routine we have settled into and implementing concepts and indulging in their curiosity in observation of real-life situations (learn traffic rules by observing policemen from the bus, etc.).

Time and availability

Allowing the teacher to interact one on one with each child needs in mind, also parents can personalize the schedule according to their needs.

Opportunity #3

Independence

Helping kids have a certain level of autonomy to inculcate responsibility and be more open to new experiences.

Opportunity #4

Isolated Learning

The lesser mingling and interaction through play causes lesser holistic growth. This combined with a lack of people of the same age group around them will cause a gradual loss in motivation.

Challenge #1

Bad Infrastructure

Not being able to attend classes or catch up on missed classes due to Wi-Fi or background distraction. The child will eventually fall behind and lose interest.

Challenge #2

Opportunity #1

Interactivity & Engagement

Opening a possibility for the ability to act and interact. Encourage them to learn by play, Mischief, and creativity in a holistic manner.

Learning in a Traditional sense requires discipline and curiosity, whereby e-learning relies more on intrinsic motivation.

It is important to provide a free and open environment for kids to have fun for comprehensive growth.

Summary

covid proofing

Ensuring the safety of children, Staff, and parents is paramount. Also, the feeling of being secure is important to convey to the parents visually to encourage them.

Challenge #3

Easing back to school

We have gotten used to a certain routine and lifestyle. We must not forget the difficulty people had in adjusting to this new "Normal", it would be similar to reverting back to the old times. Especially for toddlers.

Challenge #4

Feasibility

Making it Cost-effective and reasonable in such unprecedented times for both school and parents.

Challenge #5

Working

Interviews & insights

Getting up close and personal with children aged 5-13, Parents and Teachers to see patterns of behaviors in a real-world context.

(Due to covid restrictions all interviews were conducted on a video conference).

Goals of interview

1. Lifestyle

Understanding lifestyle (present-day vs Pre-Corona)

2. Interaction

Support Desired from Students and Teachers.

3. Digital Media

Value and Use of Digital Media today.

4. Academic value

Academic outlook (Present-day vs Pre-Corona)

when asked, out of 10 parents only 4 were foreseeing themselves sending their kids to school any time soon.

Insights from interviews

Students want a direct influence

They like to study and imitate their teachers and surroundings. Each child has different needs and it's not plausible to care for each through video.

Insight #1

Parent-teacher dynamic

when studying from home the responsibilities of a teacher falls on parents who took it upon themselves to teach or learn concepts.

Insight #2

Willing to do more

Children were observant of their parents and were more than willing to pitch in for chores or taking care of parents.

Insight #3

Tech literacy

Children adapted quickly to screen and were very easy to grab their attention but almost as easy to lose.

Insight #4

importance of surroundings

The first realization that spaces are meant for specific purposes, a quick bus ride was able to change the mindset. Thus they felt more connected.

Insight #5

Controlling classroom

Teachers found it more difficult to control class as you cant talk one on one, when kids get restless it's harder to separate them they resorted to using high pitched voice, or by their names.

Insight #6

Always moving together

User Journey in kinderbus

Conceptualization of space

Kinder: A one stop platform

Today we coordinate our Timetables via whatsapp, exchange homework via mail and hold classes via zoom. As versatile as these applications are, they were not designed with having kids aged 7 in mind.

Kinder aimed to empathize with children to create a central platform within which the parents, teachers and kids could exchange information, have calls and monitor progress without any 3rd party plugins and the entire UI was designed to guide the user with the least amount of decisions.

The app was built from start to finish in 3 days and I was responsible for the entire product from research and ideation to building the UX and UI

Menu tree

Onboarding

Home

Material

Assignment

Classes

Map

Profile

Schedule

View/ Submit

Description

Track location

Sticker

PPT

Video Call

Setting

Footer

Settings

Contact

Help

FAQ

Onboarding

Interface

Dashboard

The app opens directly onto a colorful student-focussed homepage that allows easy navigation into classes or access materials and submits homework.

Class-ified Information

Before you enter a class you are provided with all details for the day, what is the subject and content, and duration in a simple and playful UI.

Say cheese

Replacing background video with bright colors eliminate the distractions in class and add a feeling of being in the same space.

Stickers, Groups, & more

Giving students tangible rewards helps keep them focussed and motivated and also when they get restless you can move them into separate groups within a classroom just like real-life (activity corner, Reading corner, etc.)

Its adventure time

Creating a fun picnic vibe to get students ready for such excursions where they will relearn physically what they learn online and also play with their friends every week.

Tracking and monitor

We empathize with parents, hence we have built in a system that lets the parents monitor their children from home, track all activity on the bus, see the teacher responsible and if required easily contact them all in a single click.

User testing

After completion of initial prototyping, I met back with parents and shared with them a possible world where such a solution would cater to them and their children.

The number of parents willing to send their kids to school jumped by nearly 100%, 7 out of 10 parents were willing to send their kids to school (prev. 4). It was important to them that their child stay safe and in a monitorable location but also not inhibit their growth.

They mentioned such a set up allowed for easy monitoring and ensured the kids had fun.

Summary

Digital Transformation in schools is not about innovation or technology, it’s more a matter of culture. Through a digitalization of the learning experience, both teachers and students are able to improve their skills, with a common goal: to create a more engaging and effective education process.

Empathising with the current situation and catering in a rational feasible sense is a key skill, this project forced me to really address the core problem of human interaction, emotional connection, etc. Times like these remind us how much those dependent on us really need us.

what can i improve

Making additional user persona, with a strong focus on parents and secondary users.
Making a working prototype of the app on Adobe XD
Conducting a larger user testing of the product and the app
Testing the product at a real preschool.
Larger research on topics like emotional growth and harmful effects disregarding it
Conducting a cost to benefit analysis
Creating a Diary research of a student and teacher's experience with and without the app.

what i learned

Initially, I was very pleased with the project and the progress I made. but then the demanding side of me kicked in as I saw an opportunity to smoothen the information flow, UI among many important areas.
Being a part of a very demanding yet closely-knit group helped me learn the values of focus, time management, and attention to every pixel.
We paid painstaking detail to every segment of the project, this finally paid off in the end with each iteration.
Initially, this was planned as a quick project with a tight schedule but the more people opened up to us we realized how much it affects our lives. This inspired us more and at the end of the day I didn't just grow as a designer able to read and solve problems but I grew more as an individual.

I am interested in a 10-month internship and taking on new adventures.

wish to get in touch?

Let's talk

Ballon App

Let's go

Elements - Infusing Emotion into Product

Other Projects

Provide planet Extra Time

Thank you

Portfolio

CoNt@ct Me

Radhakrishnan Strate School of Design

r.arunachalam@strate.design

Ballon Elements Khemri Trinity

3D Models Landscape art Pixel art

All rights are reserved Radhakrishnan 2020