Designers
Risto Lähdesmäki, Rit Mishra, Luis Munguia, Skye MacLeod, Heloisa Munaretto, Roberto Moura, Barbara Fontenelle, Petri Heiskanen, Matias Vaara
Year
2024
Category
Product
Country
United States
Design Studio / Department
Product and Design
»Sora – Learning Management Platform distinguishes itself by focusing on a personalized learning process for students. Fostering a collaborative link between faculty, students, and parents, the platform guides students through their education journey while keeping all stakeholders involved. This novel school concept promotes self-organization, focuses on interests and progress, and alleviates preparation burdens for teachers. With a modern and consistent design, intuitive user experience, seamless integration between desktop and mobile applications, and an AI chat bot for support, this platform simplifies learning and champions accessibility to education.«
Annika Rupp and Tim Richter
And the Award goes to...
Three questions for the project team
What was the particular challenge of the project from a UX point of view?
From a UX perspective, the primary challenge in developing Sora Home was creating a platform that effectively caters to diverse user groups with varying needs – students, parents, and educators. The complexity lay in balancing simplicity and usability for younger users with the depth of functionality needed by educators and parents. Additionally, integrating a mastery-based approach required innovative design thinking and use of AI for the first time in a learning management platform. Lastly, continuously iterating the design based on user feedback was crucial to ensure that Sora Home remained user-centric and responsive to the evolving needs of its diverse user base.
What was your personal highlight in the development process? Was there an aha!-moment, was there a low point?
One of the highlights was when we realized a major friction point with any US based school: registration to new class. Students would do weird tricks just to get the class they would like in 1st come 1st served model. This is against our model: to let students choose the education they want. We designed the game changing concept we call Journey Builder. It allows students to choose classes they want, we let them know when they get it. It's a massively complex problem to be automated but also critical for us to scale. We delivered 1st version of Journey Builder in six months. It radically democratizes the way students can design their own educational journey, helps with our "fleet management" and gives us a way to assess demand and supply.
Where do you see yourself and the project in the next five years?
SoraHome is set to be the benchmark in the educational landscape, embodying the heart and soul of SoraSchools' mission to touch the lives of millions of young minds. SoraHome is more than just a learning management platform; it empowers curious young learners and gives more time for teachers to do what they love most: mentor and teach children. At the core of SoraHome lies a commitment to nurturing students through a vibrant student, parent, and teacher community, a blend of interactive and self-guided learning experiences, passionate educators, and a dynamic academic journey as unique as each student who embarks on it. In coming years we'll deliver the most loved K12 safe AI via the Sora Home platform for both student and teachers.
