Project KHOJ

Background

I worked on this project with a not-for-profit organization called United We REACH. I was the co-manager of the team behind this project where I also worked extensively on the research, design, development as well as usability testing of this project.

Challenge

The current education system in Pakistan is falling short of imparting the education that the children need. The problems are wide-ranging and multifold. Two of the numerous issues including:

The one-sided way in which knowledge is imparted
Lack of knowledge regarding the country’s rich historical and cultural heritage

There is a lack of provision of quality education through the integration of technology to students from low socioeconomic demographics. Currently, these children have little to no knowledge of the culturally significant sites in Pakistan.

Process

I followed a 4 step process while designing and developing this application and those are listed as follows

User Research - This is the primary and secondary research phase in which I take most of the time as compared to the other phases. In this phase, I tend to identify my users and get to know them and the market around where I perform a survey and do some literature review. I interview my users and find out what they want and what are the pain points that they are currently facing with the existing product related to it if any.
Low-fi Prototype and High-fi Prototype - After thorough brainstorming, I make a mood board and try to list all the features that I am going to include in the system. I also make lots of Low-fi prototypes, user journey mapping during this phase. I then tested my low-fi prototypes with the users to get their feedback and improve the existing designs before moving on to the high-fi prototyping which I do using Adobe Photoshop or Adobe XD.
Development - In this phase, all the high-fi prototypes along with the functionality are implemented.
User Testing and Evaluation - The system is now ready to be tested by the users. I create tasks for them to perform and note how much time it took them to complete each task and the points where they were unable to perform any. I also take a pre and post-study questionnaire in which multiple functionalities of the system are rated by the users. This gives me more data to improve my system.

Solution

Project KHOJ is a 3D game built using Unity3D that aims to inculcate a sense of pride and appreciation for these places. In order to do that in an engaging and informative manner, the organization intended to release a series of games based around these sites, starting with a game based on the Khewra Salt Mines. These games would disseminate knowledge to the students in a manner that practices UWR’s teaching philosophy of focusing on critical thinking and activity-based learning. The primary learning objective of the game series is to inculcate in students a recognition of the need to preserve culturally significant sites in Pakistan.

The target audience were children aged 7-9 years old with average proficiency in the English language. The interactive game allows the user to move the player around various levels and complete different tasks while learning about the site through animated videos. The assessments are intertwined with the game narrative so as to not be a burden to the students. The students would be assessed to check their progress on the learning objectives directly and indirectly. The following types of assessments were included within the game:

Multiple-choice questions
Fill in the blanks
Clean the wall activities
In-game pick and drop exercises
In-game obstacle avoidance activities

Screens & BTS