cosmo is a tablet application in which students discover the english language in a playful, indirect and context-based way. My bachelor thesis focuses on how collective learning, meaningful gamification and demonstrating the value of languages can encourage students’ intrinsic motivation in the long term.
87 % of teachers observe motivation problems among students. One area that is also often associated with frustration and declining motivation is language learning.
Language is a fundamental element of human culture and communication. In general, language enables us to express thoughts, ideas and emotions, share knowledge and shape our social environment. In today’s globalised world, language proficiency is crucial to be successful in professional, academic and social contexts. It enables communication across cultural boundaries, fosters intercultural understanding and provides both cognitive and social development.
But language learning at school is often associated with frustration and declining motivation in the process. Students often lack an understanding of possible areas of application of the learning content and an awareness of the added value in later life.
Intrinsic motivation is motivation that we generate from within ourselves and not through the influence of external incentives. It is the type of motivation that motivates us to stick with something in the long term and that makes us enjoy doing it.
According to the Self Determination Theory, intrinsic motivation is dependent on three needs: Mastery, Autonomy and Relatedness. The fulfilment of these three needs encourages intrinsic motivation.
It was important for us to work closely with our focus group and experts when developing our project. Therefore, we worked with three secondary schools in the area around Schwäbisch Gmünd and conducted regular interviews, user feedback and user tests.
In our application Cosmo, students create their own digital world – giving it more and more colour and life. This world becomes a mosaic of their personal interests, words and experiences.
The students start in a neutral, empty world and can fill it with their personal interests. We have created a catalogue with a wide range of topics. The interests can be hobbies, such as music or sport – but also topics that the students would like to explore, such as friendship and faith. We offer a colourful variety of topics that have something for everyone.
The students can generate an individual visualisation for their field of interest. To do this, they describe what the field of interest should look like and the visualisation is generated – using generative AI with a diffusion model.
When the generated visual appears, the entire application also changes colour. We want to create an immersive experience for the students in which they can fully immerse themselves in the world of their interest and explore it.
The students can generate individual missions based on the fields of interest using various parameters. The missions always include a real-life problem that the students solve and offer different ways of solving them. In this way, the students use and learn the language quite unconsciously.
If the students need support during a mission, the assistant Cosmo is there for them. Cosmo is a generative AI, a large language model.
After the students have written a text, they can get it corrected. The mistakes will be reflected together with the assistant and the origin of the mistakes will be identified. Students also have the opportunity to translate words, practise pronunciation or get help with general topics.