Pod is an educational app designed to help high school students in Israel prepare for their final exams. Its mission is to support students from marginalized areas by improving their test scores and leveling the academic playing field. By curating and centralizing existing government-sponsored, free learning materials into one engaging and accessible platform, Pod provides with equal learning opportunities to all students, regardless of their background.
Pod
Collaboration
Ministry of Education & GalGalatz
Role
Product Manager (Strategy, UX Research) and Illustrator
The Pod Pitch
The Problem
Studying for the Israeli standardized testing in high school is a challenge for teachers and students to navigate. Classrooms are large, teachers are understaffed and the material is varied. There is no way to track individual students' progress in different subjects and most of the tools offered to help students prepare for their exams aren't being utilized.
The Solution
Pod brings together 2 main tools provided for free by the Ministry of Education - the Bagrut Podcast and free exam simulations into one platform. It allows for students and teachers to track individual students' progress in various subjects. There are quiz questions in the middle of episodes to ensure that students are grasping the material and gamification to create friendly competition between classmates so they have intrinsic motivation to study and stay on track. The goal is to raise students' test scores in marginalized areas in Israel and start integrating AI into the school system.
The Vision
With a tool like Pod, teachers would be able to track individual students rather than their class as a whole. Research shows that this is vital for students' wellbeing and academic success. We believe it would be a first step in helping kids in marginalized areas score higher in standardized testing, affecting their acceptance rates in their army service and to universities.
Press on the screens to try out the Pod prototype!
We also believe that this is a first step in exploring alternative approaches to learning today with AI integration. The sooner we start automating existing tools for learning, learning will acelerate.
Mine and Alma's Story
Alma and I met in our first year studying at Bezalel and from the moment we met we have had the honor of doing many amazing projects together and even completing the AV1 trek in the Dolomites. We both come from backgrounds in alternative school systems and strongly believe in the power of using design for redefining what education can look like for future generations.