Playbits

Inspiration

Situation: Educational institutions frequently overlook accessibility requirements, resulting in exclusion and academic disadvantages for students with disabilities. A recent UNICEF report (2023) revealed that globally, over 50% of schools lack sufficient tools or resources to accommodate students with varying disabilities.

Challenge: Develop an accessible EdTech solution capable of transforming traditional educational content into formats accessible to students with disabilities. The solution should include features such as real-time transcription services, text-to-speech functionalities, automated sign language interpretation, and compatibility with various assistive devices. Consider addressing integration with existing learning management systems, compliance with accessibility standards (such as WCAG 2.1), and ease-of-use for educators and students.

What it does

The original problem statement broadly addresses students with disabilities. We chose to narrow our focus to students with cognitive and attention-related disabilities, particularly Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), rather than physical or sensory impairments.

Traditional educational content formats, such as lengthy text-heavy notes, are less effective for learning among students with ADHD. These materials are typically one-dimensional and passive, lacking the interactivity needed to maintain the students’ focus. Due to attention deficits and hyperactivity, students with ADHD require more dynamic and engaging learning experiences that support active participation and sustained attention. Our solution, Playbits, focuses on transforming traditional, text-based educational content into interactive, bite-sized revision flows tailored for students with ADHD. We break down content into flashcards, matching games and fill-in-the-blanks challenges, helping students revise and reinforce their knowledge more effectively.

Core features

[For educators] Educators can simply upload a body of text (e.g., Notes and reading material etc) which Playbits will automatically transform into an interactive revision flow.
[For students with ADHD] Students can engage with the generated revision flow, which presents the content in a bite-sized, structured sequence. The flow includes Flashcards to distill and reinforce key concepts. Flip-the-card matching game to reinforce connections and promote active recall. Drag-and-drop fill-in-the-blank challenges to test understanding.

With the core features, Playbits offers two-fold benefits:

[For educators] Playbits streamlines the process of adapting educational content for students with ADHD by automatically generating interactive, attention-friendly formats. This saves teachers time and effort.
[For students with ADHD] Playbits enhances the educational revision experience by turning text-heavy content into interactive, bite-sized activities. This helps students stay focused, promotes active recall and makes revision more effective and enjoyable compared to traditional note reading.

Playbits was designed with educators and students with ADHD in mind:

We understand that educators are busy with caring for their students. They possibly do not always have the time to design curated activities for student learning. Thus, we chose to leverage generative AI to automate the creation of revision content in various interactive formats. All educators need to do is to upload their text, and Playbits takes care of the rest.
We support active learning for students with ADHD. Research has shown the benefits of gameplay-based learning for these students, and encouraged educators to incorporate interactivity into the educational experiences. Thus, we chose to use the formats of flip-the-card-matching game and drag-and-drop fill-in-the-blank challenges to encourage mental stimulation and cognitive engagement.
We visually engage the students with ADHD. Playbits uses cute illustrations, thoughtful colour schemes and a clean interface to sustain interest. Also, we used flashcards to distill key information, providing visual anchors for students who may struggle to organise the content.
We provide bite-sized revision flows. The activities in the revision flows are short and focused, helping students who struggle with attention deficit to maintain attention during the revision process.