[PRD/Requirements]: Improved learning help / practice / support (hints, tutor, remediation, etc) #41
Description
Description of the problem
Target Metric: Increase the % of learners who complete their first lesson / topic by 10%.
Problem Statement:
Many learners on Oppia encounter challenges when they do not fully understand a concept during a lesson. Currently, the support available is limited, which can lead to frustration, disengagement, and incomplete learning. Without stronger in-lesson help and remediation, learners may drop out when they struggle, rather than receiving the support they need to master the material. Enhancing learning support through timely hints, step-by-step guidance, targeted practice, or adaptive tutoring will help ensure that all learners can progress with confidence, increase lesson completion rates, and achieve deeper understanding.
Possible solutions / ideas for addressing the problem
Hypothesis:
If Oppia provides a structured, tutor-like feedback flow—starting with immediate feedback on wrong answers, followed by progressively more supportive hints, adaptive references to past questions or concept cards, and finally a full solution as a last resort—then learners will be less likely to get stuck or disengage, while also being less likely to advance without true understanding. This approach will increase lesson completion rates, improve concept mastery, and create a more supportive learning experience that mirrors the guidance of a human tutor.
Existing features:
- Pre-written hints – Optional scaffolding the learner can reveal step by step.
- Feedback on specific wrong answers – Corrects misconceptions immediately after an incorrect attempt.
- Reviewing past questions – Prompts recall of previously learned/reinforced concepts.
- Reference cards – Concept explanations and worked examples.
- Full solution – Last-resort option to prevent permanent blockage.
Guidance:
- Explore how current features work together to provide learner support, and identify existing issues with the learner experience.
- Explore the demands on authors when producing help features in their content, audit existing content to understand how often all of the help features are utilized, and identify how Oppia could improve the authoring of help support (maybe through AI-based content suggestions or by automating the triggers for various help features instead of placing the burden on the authors).
- Evaluate how we might incorporate more dynamic AI-based tutoring into the learner experience and how it might function in relation to existing features.
- Consider the learner's emotional needs and provide support for building resilience while struggling with hard material.
Any other relevant context/info
No response