xLingual
Learning a new language always feels like a daunting task. We seek comfort in what we know and the idea of learning something new, especially something as complex as a language, intimidates us. macOS focused on creating a simple user experience so that everyday actions felt second nature. xLingual aims to take the simplicity of macOS and combine it with a platform to help users learn a new language. Whether you want to learn Spanish, German, Arabic, Hindi, etc., xLingual has a course waiting for you.
xLingual targets anyone who has been wanting to learn a new language but always felt there was a barrier to entry, whether that was a mental barrier or a platform barrier. Whether users are as young as elementary school students, or in their older stages of life, xLingual aims to level the playing field regardless of the user so they can accomplish the task they set out to do: mastering new languages.
01
The Process
The goal when thinking about this project was to create something that would blend seamlessly into the existing macOS and use interactions and visuals users are already exposed to on a day-to-day basis. By reducing the mental load of having to learn an entirely new platform, users can instead focus fully on learning a new language and free up mental bandwidth. xLingual provides a platform for users to learn a new language or languages at their own speed and being able to learn the language with the help of their friends.
This proposed solution aims to use modules and games that focus on the different skills when it comes to learning a new language: speaking, writing, and reading. Users can aim to increase their comprehension skills by tackling modules and games that target these specific skills. xLingual will track the progress of users as they progress through their modules and hit milestones and achievements as they play different games to build and refine their skills.
Learning offline is a key aspect to xLingual’s learning model, so users can explore products within the platform itself so they can supplement their learning off the screen. Whether its a board book for younger users or tangible products like electronic flashcards, xLingual aims to encompass all the different aspects of learning to ensure there are no gaps to your learning experience.
02
The Solution
Dashboard
The goal was to keep interactions intentional and simple for users. Users have access to the left toolbar which houses their social elements of friend requests and online statuses. As achievements are unlocked, milestones are hit, or as messages are sent and received, users have an easy way of being notified of key events.
Each language has the main dashboard page, which is “My Progress”, and then access to the modules themselves, followed by learning insights where they can see their learning trends, graphs, stats, and suggestions on how to improve their learning experience. To promote friendly competition, leaderboards are involved to entice users to compete against each other and learn consistently.
The dashboard home page lets the user know how much they have learned that specific day and how long it is until they’ve reached their goal. Visual cues of a learning streak are shown to the user to provide constant encouragement and allow the user to see their consistency in a visual form.
xLingual gets into the details and tracks letter mastery for the user so they know where they should spend more time. An achievement feed and visual skill mastery are available for users to look through to track their progress.
Social Capabilities
The social element that was embedded into the traditional school experience is what made school fun. Learning new content and concepts provided its own challenge, but the exposure to friends and peers is what made that experience bearable and fun. xLingual attempts to mimic the social experience found in traditional learning environments and bring it to the digital platform so make learning fun.
Users can message their friends, see what they’re working on, and video call each other to work on modules and games together, or to keep each other motivated to hit their daily goals together.
Language Programs
xLingual wouldn’t be much of a language learning platform if it didn’t offer a variety of languages to choose from to learn. Users are easily able to select languages to be enrolled into and begin learning instantly. Users are provided an overview of the different skills they’ll be learning and the estimated completion time of going through the modules in its entirety.
Wanting to keep a social element prominent across the platform, users can see if any of their friends are learning the language they are interested in, in hopes of getting users off the fence about learning a language and deciding to learn it, knowing they have the support of friends throughout their learning journey.
Games
The Games home page offers a combination of a social feed with the selection of games to choose from to further the language learning experience. Featured games are surfaced for the user, with the ability to explore and see all the game offerings.
Example Game: L is for León
On the right is an example of what a game could look like. Users have the ability to adjust their difficulty level as they play the game. The difficulty level toggles different skills that are prioritized as they play the game.
On the right, users are shown an animal and provided a multiple choice route so they can select what the animal is that is shown. Users have the ability to ask for a hint, save the animal for later if they know they particularly struggle with it, or to skip it if they aren’t confident with their answer.
As users answer correctly or incorrectly, users can see their progress on the right most as the animals begin to get grouped by whether users answered the question correctly or incorrectly, or if they skipped or saved the question.
Storefront
Wanting to not solely be a digital experience where users may feel like they have to be glued to a screen in order to learn the language, xLingual has its own storefront where users can explore products to supplement their learning.
Broken up by skills, users can browse products that will help with their reading skills, writing skills, speaking skills, or just view products that have been popular with other users also learning that same language.
03
Future Considerations
From an experience and feature standpoint, one of the things that can introduced as a feature for users is the ability for users to be able to carry on their learning from a desktop experience to a mobile experience. xLingual wants to reward users for wanting to learn wherever they are in whatever setting they happen to be in. Sometimes users don’t have access to their MacBooks but will have their iPads or iPhones accessible.
One thing xLingual would have to get to instill confidence in its users is to receive some sort of accreditation that the modules, games, and products are all a means to successfully learn the language and isn’t just a waste of time. Adding new languages means having to create entire new modules and games, and the best way to expedite that process would be to follow a template that has been certified and replicable across different languages.
Moving forward, xLingual could expand beyond just the space of learning a new language. Throughout different academic stages, students tend to rely heavily on YouTube or other media forms to learn concepts they feel their teachers and professors aren’t doing a good job at teaching. xLingual could be a stepping stone to launch a suite of learning programs based on macOS for students and non-students alike to learn concepts in a fun and easy way.