(Pittsburgh, PA) In a Tuesday press conference, scientists at the Duolingo language-learning software company announced they are closing in on the perfect learning experience. Scientists say they have almost added every animation and effect that the marketing department predicted would help students learn, and hope to finish soon.
“In 2011, our program began teaching the world to speak to each other,” the announcement began, “and now our little owl has progressed to teach more people than all language schools combined.” They repeated the opening in several languages, including Klingon.
Duolingo is known for its characters and game learning style, and has greatly increased their animations in recent years. Researcher Gabriella Frezz says they saw a large initial bump in users when characters expanded, and again when they received basic animations. “That made it clear to us that the language skills are driven by animation, and we have been chasing that rabbit ever since.”
“Right now, we have characters dancing, lightning at several points interrupting the lessons, and a completion animation, but we know we can do more,” Frezz said. “Imagine if we added a cut scene for a spy chasing bank robber through a window at some point in the lesson, or maybe several cut scenes? Surely this would increase engagement and help people learn.”
Several new animations were demonstrated, including a five minute, unskippable animatic of the duo owl running around high-fiving other characters if a student gets three questions right in a row. “This one is really good,” said the speaker. “Since we added it, people are staying in lessons five minutes longer than before.”
Some skeptics doubt the constant distractions help students learn. One attendee noted that when searching google, “duolingo turn off animations” ranks highly for autocompletion. But Frezz says the research shows longer engagement helps important metrics, like stock price. “As an almost-vested employee, I’m excited to help keep people learning in the app as long as possible.
