We built an AI-powered support tool to help students build momentum before they fall behind—reframing support from reactive intervention to proactive confidence-building. Designed for a platform serving over 200K learners, the work laid the foundation for scalable, personalized nudges.
Self-paced learning sounds great—until you’re in it. Many students struggle with motivation, planning, and just figuring out what to do next. For students juggling work, parenting, burnout, or executive function challenges, those struggles are constant. Traditional systems don’t catch that.
I set out to design an AI-powered tool that actually helps students in the moment—not just after they fall behind. The goal was to use metacognitive (thinking-about-thinking) prompts to support agency and momentum, especially for students dealing with real-life challenges.
I directed a multi-phased research effort with students and faculty to understand where things fall apart and what kind of support feels helpful, not patronizing. I co-developed use cases for personalized prompts that could nudge students to set goals reflect, track progress, or reset. Then I translated those ideas into a user experience grounded in cognitive science and learner voice.
The initial prototype of the AI support tool, showcased the scripts, voice, tone, and topic guidelines developed in collaboration with the development team.
Students said the prototype made learning feel more manageable. It helped them reflect, plan, and build confidence—while giving faculty more insight into how students were doing. This work also set the stage for deeper personalization across our learning platform.
