Stormwind Case Study

Nudging Learning Goals

Summary

Of the hundreds of thousands of students that enroll in online courses every year, the average completion rate is less than 7 percent; nearly every student that enrolls in an online course fails to complete it. The utopian vision for the future of education has not been without issue and MSTQ was tasked with improving it—designing an IT learning experience that motivates students to complete the courses they enroll in.

DeviceProgressive Web App

Hacking Motivation

01

Early progress toward a goal, even if it’s artificial, can have significant effects on sustained effort and motivation—a phenomenon known as the endowed progress effect. A 2006 experiment found that people were more likely to complete a loyalty program if they were awarded points just for signing up. Generally, people don’t like to waste progress that’s already been made.. After the endowed progress, there are a variety of mapped behavior design techniques to deploy to keep the students focused on their goal.

Motivation map and psychographics for course completion.

02

Endowed Progress

We designed an onboarding experience that restriced the platform’s navigation until the student first enrolled in a course. “Smart suggestions” were made after a brief onboarding survey. Thereafter, we awarded students a few percentage points towards the course completion. Simple tasks, such downloading and reviewing the course syllabus, were also rewarded with completion points. Before even starting their first lesson, the student would be nearly 10% of the way done with a course.

03

Research shows that when we are interrupted in pursuit of a goal, it leads to an even stronger motivation to complete the goal, also known as the Zeigernik effect. Netflix knows this well. Once a student enrolls in a course, if he or she started a daily lesson and failed to complete it, an email notification is triggered as a reminder of the incomplete lesson. If the lesson is completed, the next lesson in the sequence is immediately presented. Incomplete tasks occupy our minds more than complete tasks. Applying this technique, the UI always presents tasks in a sequence.

04

Goal Visualization Effect

When a student is logged in, a progress meter for the most recently enrolled course is persistently displayed across each screen; a visualization their progress. Course completion appears more attainable this way, according to the Goal Gradient effect, thereby increasing effort and commitment.

05

Social Comparison Theory suggests individuals evaluate their abilities by comparing themselves to others who share similar attributes. By using self-evaluation techniques and upward comparison, people can be motivated to enhance their abilities and perform better. Creating a leaderboard amongst colleagues sustained long-term effort towards engaging in the student’s course.

Inquiry Based Learning

06

One of the most important value propositions that distinguished Stormwind from its competitors was the ability to have direct interactions with educators, in real time. The playback experience brings forth the ability to ask the instructor questions and solidify their conceptual understanding both during live stream sessions and recorded sessions.

Question input fields in proximity to video player.

20% Increase in Usage Rate

The redesign of the learning management system saw increases in all engagement metrics during its testing period: average time spent, course completion rate and subscription renewal rate.