The image shows an iPad with a colorful display on the screen, featuring a personalized greeting to Kathryn and options for exploring immersive teaching activities and educational inspiration in subjects like biology, history, and social sciences. The iPad is positioned against a pastel gradient background.

Transitioning to Playful Learning

Created a platform that helps teachers adopt playful learning methods. From user research to prototyping, the design supports resource sharing, personalized recommendations, and classroom accessibility.

Client
Anglia Ruskin University

Year
2024

Scope
Field Research, User Interviews, Wireframing, Storyboard, Prototyping, User Testing,

Tools

Figma, Google Forms, Midjourney, Miro

About

This project explored how to support teachers in shifting from traditional instruction to playful, creative learning methods.

We collaborated with Anglia Ruskin University and drew inspiration from Copenhagen’s PlayLab - a learning environment designed to make teaching more engaging and interactive.

Challenge

How might we help teachers adopt playful learning practices, despite cultural barriers, lack of confidence, and limited access to resources?

Process

The Design Framework used in this project was Design Thinking, where we followed the 5 steps in the process.

Empathise

Define

Ideate

Prototype

Test

Empathise

We began by immersing ourselves in the context of playful learning:

A shelf with colorful magnetic letters spelling 'MACHINE BREAK' and various small parts organized in plastic bins.

Field observation at PlayLab to understand the physical and cultural learning environment.

Stakeholder interviews with teachers representing both enthusiasm and skepticism toward playful learning.

Empathy maps to capture motivations, frustrations, and accessibility needs.

Define

#1

Teachers differ widely in confidence and openness to playful learning - solutions must support both beginners and early adopters.

From research, we synthesized several critical insights that shaped our design direction:

#2

Accessibility matters: classrooms must be engaging but not overwhelming (important for neurodiverse students).

#3

Resource management and clear organization are critical; chaotic or cluttered spaces discourage teachers from trying new methods.

#4

A peer-driven system for sharing activities and experiences increases teacher motivation and trust.

Ideate

We explored a wide range of possible solutions, using creative tools to encourage divergence:

Photos of an interactive classroom with students engaging in activities involving computers, tablets, and educational tools

Using prompts on Midjourney, we generated an idea visualisation for the physical classrooms, enabling interactive teaching.

Hand-drawn notes and sketches on a piece of paper, illustrating solutions for immersive space, including digital assistants and classroom setup concepts.

Storyboard with illustrations and descriptions showing a woman named Kathryn engaging with digital teaching tools, immersive experiences, and creative teaching methods in a classroom and digital environment.

Ideation workshops using sketching and Crazy 8s to explore concepts for both physical and digital solutions.

To illustrate the value of our solution, we created a storyboard that follows Kathryn, a teacher exploring immersive learning. This visual narrative mapped her journey from initial awareness through hands-on adoption in the classroom.

By grounding the concept in a relatable scenario, we highlighted how the platform simplifies onboarding, inspires collaboration among educators, and unlocks creative teaching opportunities. The storyboard became a powerful communication tool — aligning the team on user needs while making the solution tangible for stakeholders.

Prototyping

We developed two complementary prototypes:

A 3D model of a small apartment or house with a living area, dining area, kitchen, bedroom, and outdoor patio. The outdoor patio has a plant, and the interior includes furniture such as a sofa, table, chairs, and kitchen appliances.

Physical PlayLab Concept

A flexible classroom setup with

movable furniture,
color-coded storage, and
interactive walls, allowing teachers to quickly adapt the environment.

Tablet screen displaying a webpage about human anatomy, with a background image of digital human body and skeleton, and sections for lecture info and student feedback.

Immersive Teaching Platform

A digital tool where teachers can browse, share, and review playful teaching activities. A built-in quiz helps match teachers with activities tailored to their subject, experience, and comfort level.

Together, these solutions addressed both the physical space and the knowledge-sharing ecosystem needed to foster creative learning.

Testing

We tested the digital platform prototype with teachers by asking them to complete specific tasks, such as exploring activities and using the quiz feature. The sessions revealed several opportunities for improvement:

Navigation required too many clicks, slowing down task completion.
Activity descriptions lacked depth, leaving teachers unsure about how to implement them.
Image-heavy layouts felt overwhelming, reducing clarity and focus.
Quiz questions were too general, making recommendations feel less personalized.

These insights highlighted the need to simplify navigation, enrich content descriptions, balance visual elements, and refine the quiz for more tailored results.