At Eedi, we believe that the future of EdTech is not just in the code we write or the UX we design, but in the insights we glean from data. Today, we're excited to share insights from one of the many rapid experiments we've conducted on our platform, illuminating our path toward enhancing the learning experience.
We started out with a problem: we noticed that - in comparison to our other lesson types - students did not put in much effort after watching one of our Teach videos. We wanted to test ways to enhance engagement with the Teach video though subtle nudges. We’re committed to open science, so today we’re releasing the experiment dataset.
We explored the impact of the free-text answer box across four variations, including a baseline group and three modified approaches, each adding different levels of prompts and feedback mechanisms to engage students. This feature encouraged students to actively participate by typing their responses, rather than simply clicking a button. It’s a small change, but could it have an impact?
Incorporating the principles of behavioural science into the design of our experiment, we aimed to:
Now, let's visually represent the four experiment variants:
The outcomes of our experiment may not rewrite the book on educational technology, but they add a valuable paragraph to an ongoing narrative. Each data point, each analysis brings us closer to understanding how digital platforms can better serve educational needs. More than the results themselves, it's the process of iterative experimentation that underscores our approach at Eedi.
If you are keen to read our detailed analysis report, reach out to bibi.groot@eedi.com.
Your Invitation: We're not just sharing our journey; we're inviting you to be a part of it. Explore the dataset, challenge our findings, or build upon them. Access the dataset here.
Challenge Yourself: How can we balance deeper engagement with the need to complete lessons? We want to hear from you if you have evidence-based ideas for follow-up experiments:
We tested small framing changes in this experiment, but there’s much more to explore. From experimenting with variable rewards to fostering an environment of cooperation and competition, we're on a quest to uncover strategies that significantly enhance student engagement and learning outcomes. Are there innovative approaches or ideas you believe could make a transformative impact? We invite educators, researchers, and enthusiasts to join us in this exploration. Together, we can harness the power of technology to unlock every student's potential.
If you're inspired by our work or curious about future experiments, we'd love to hear from you. Connect with us and take part in reimagining the future of education.
Acknowledgements: Funding through the LEVI programme has been instrumental in enabling us to share our research and data with the broader community.
P.S. This experiment is one of many in Eedi's ongoing series of experiments, each designed to chip away at the challenge of making online learning as effective and engaging as possible. We will be sharing more over the coming months.
