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My role
In October 2017 I pitched Samsung top management a new business opportunity: Bixby EDU, an educational marketplace to improve Samsung phone users learning, using computer vision and AR.
After the pitch I received an internal seed funding to run a POC for 5 months.
I’ve been responsible for product strategy, design direction, partnerships and hired UX designers, UX researchers, Front-end engineers and VR Artist.
While designing the experience (UX/UI) and securing strategic partnerships I lead the team during the creation of the POC and directed the research for the user testing sessions.
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Why Bixby EDU
Too often, internet and our smartphones are becoming the external hard drive for our memories.
We are experiencing an increasing lack of attention, often coupled with difficulties to memorize or fully understand.
There is a surging need to reconcile the use of mobile devices with the experience of our surrounding environment. The demand for educational tools is huge, and mobile devices can play an important role in this movement, provided that we develop products that actively engage the users with real-life experiences as well as methodologies designed to foster information retention and knowledge building.
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The Opportunity
Imagine walking in a museum, in a park, in a new city and being able to learn in a fast and interactive way from monuments, art pieces, nature, and more. Bixby EDU is the first computer vision-assisted mobile learning platform, with the ambition to provide fun and engaging learning experiences based on surrounding objects. Bixby EDU leverages Samsung Bixby Vision technology in order to bring interactive educational content to every Samsung phone’s camera. Arts, History, Languages, Science, and more disciplines will be offered via the Bixby Vision function.
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The Vision
The vision I proposed to Samsung is to create the first marketplace for computer vision-assisted educational content.
Samsung will develop the apps framework and CMS allowing external partners to upload their content using Samsung APIs. In this way we will offer meaningful content on every Samsung device and retain our Bixby users.
On the other side our partners, museums, cultural institutions, cities and so on, will reach new customers through our platform. So this is a win-win situation. Think like an Apple Store or Google Play of mobile education.
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The POC
During the first 5 months of 2018 I lead the Proof of Concept for this project. I hired a UX researcher, a Front-end engineer, and a VR Artist, I secured a partnership with two fine arts museums in San Francisco, Legion of Honor and de Young museum and worked together with their team to define the main paint points and visitors needs.
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Landscape Analyses
With the UX researcher we conducted a landscape analyses on mobile learning methodologies, contextual learning using AR and computer vision, learning frameworks and mobile educational games.
From the current research and trend in adult m-learning and gamification, we learned that we should have focused our design and ideation on educational features that take in account adult experiential learning through augmented reality, spaced repetition opportunities (like Memrise App) and gamification tools.
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Learning Objectives: Edutainment
We believe that merging edutainment with experiential learning is the most effective way to engage and retain users in experiencing memorable and educative moments through their mobile devices. We created an edutainment framework by creating a mix of stories, visual materials and games.
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User Interviews & Testing
In March and May 2018 we conducted 2 user testing sessions with 5 participants each. The user interviews goals were to gain insights into participants: smartphone behaviors and preferences, art museum experiences and attitudes about tech in art museums. The user testing goals have been designed to test assumptions relates to: educational and entertainment content and the edutainment lenses usability for the during and post experience.