EF WEARABLE EXPERIENCE
A Gameful Mobile Experience to Inspire Learning
This was a research project that I led by working closely with the Head of Product to envision how wearable technology can disrupt the education industry. A draft concept was initially produced followed by focusing on identifying how wearable technology may come to play in assisting kids to learn better and faster. This research project had scope for potential external collaboration and partnership.
Concept Project Seeking for Partnership
ID Lead: Tien S. Huang
OPPORTUNITY
Kids smartwatches are increasingly becoming essential items in Chinese households due to the concerns for children's safety and security issues. Even though this market already seems saturated in China, the integration of educational value has not yet been explored. We wanted to use this soaring trend for kids’ wearables to create a device that fuses learning and interactions into one holistic experience. The aim was to create a smartwatch that offers an immersive English-learning ecosystem for the EF students inside and outside of the classroom.
FOCUSED GROUP
The EF Kids Smartwatch is the first kind of wearable solution designed for educational purposes for 7-9 Years Old Kids In China.
MAIN COMPETITORS IN CHINA
According to the IDC Q2 report (China Quarterly Wearable Tracker), 23.07 million wearables were shipped in China in 2019 alone. This number surged by another 34.3% in 2020. Xiaomi ranked the highest in its sales thanks to its wireless earbuds. Huawei was runner-up on the league table with its new product line of wristbands, smartwatches and kids watches as the biggest selling points. Apple smartwatches took 3rd place followed by the brand Okii/moo which showed a growth of 13.9% in sales compared to its previous year. Qihoo 360 managed to stay in the top 5 of the ranking by making nearly 7 million sales after acquiring the kids watch brand Kido. The table shows that Xiaomi, Huawei, Okie and Qihoo 360 (Kido) together make up the majority sales of the wearable market in China with 53.2% in total.
AIMED DEMOGRAPHIC
Based on the national income and spending statistics in China (with 11.7% spent on Education and Entertainment), it was clear that only the top 10% of the salaried class can afford EF’s courses (Small Stars: 18000RMB for 10 month; High Flyer: 20000-23000RMB; Trailblazers: 18000RMB -25000RMB yearly in 2018). Hence, our targeted market is the upper class of the demographic group and our aim is to build products tailoring to their tastes and expectations. We have, therefore, selected the flagship and most high-end kids wearable models among the top 5 brands as benchmarks used in our research project.
THE EF FEATURES
Kids smartwatch is convenient, portable, and used on a daily basis. It can be a great medium used to enhance English learning by providing kids more opportunities for practice on the go through an integrated EF learning experience. The goal is not to build an average product with average specs. With such a competitive market, it is essential that our product differentiates from the rest and offers new exciting features.
With a wide range of wearable products available on the market, it is inevitable that our targeted customers will make comparisons between our product and existing ones. Therefore, High quality and Reliability are our default. Furthermore, it is only when the basic essential functions such as location tracking, privacy, and safety are fulfilled at a high standard that our targeted customers (parents) will consider the watch as a good addition to the EF service. Secondly, offering Distinguishable Physical Features that sets our smartwatch apart from the rest is also considered a key element to success. Colour E-ink screens, collectible bands, or holographic screens as such are all differentiators that can motivate parents/kids to own our product. Lastly and most importantly is offering Exclusive Learning Software/Interactions that position our product as a professional English learning tool. EF speech scoring engine, integrated AI English tutor, or a gamified learning activity bonded with real and virtual worlds are all worth exploring.
EF’s matching Tech Spec
*High quality and Reliability
*Distinguishable Physical Features
*Exclusive Learning Software/Interactions
BASIC FORM EXPLORATION
Test on kid’s wrist
FUNCTIONAL EXPLORATION
LEARNING BY PLAYING
Play is a catalyst for learning for everybody - especially kids!
Video Game is a great example that not only offers enjoyment but also generates self-belief, optimism, and motivation through seamless immersions of all types of play such as Story-telling, Social, Pretend play. We can employ a similar model of gaming to make learning more fun, engaging and sticky.
GAMEFUL LEARNING
By employing the gameful model, the learning itself becomes a playful and fun process and when learners have fun at learning, they continue to pursue it for its own sake. It is how nature assured us how to learn about the world and our places in it.
A HABIT LOOP BASED ON GAMIFIED EXPERIENCE
Through gamification, young learners can generate rewarding feelings and engagement to the contents and practices, and naturally form a habit that can lead to effective learning.
