Cognitive overload
Character motion, dialogue, and lesson content can compete for limited working memory.
LumiPal
An AR Learning
Companion App
Overview
LumiPal is an AR learning companion that helps Grade 1–8 students deepen their understanding by teaching concepts to an AR + AI companion. Through scaffolded questions, focused study sessions, companion care, progress tracking, and teacher controls, it makes independent learning more active, motivating, and connected to classroom goals.
Experience the projectBackground & Problem
Extended reality (XR) offers learners more immersive and interactive ways to engage with educational content, both in classrooms and daily life. Research shows that virtual learning companions can strengthen motivation, engagement, attention, and social presence by making learning feel more responsive and supported. But immersion alone doesn't guarantee real learning in some recent designs: interactive features and multimodal media might distract from the lesson itself, and the smoothness of XR experiences may create an illusion of mastery, leaving learners confident without truly understanding the material. Emotional attachment to these companions can also risk replacing relationships with teachers, parents, or peers. These tensions led us to explore and design an AR companion that could preserve presence and motivation while using deliberate scaffolding to reduce distraction, manage cognitive load, and keep learning at the center of the experience.
Illusion of learning
A fluent interaction may feel understood before a learner can explain or transfer it.
Emotional overreliance
Companion care should sustain learning—not displace teachers, parents, or peers.
Key Questions
How might we design an AR companion that creates a meaningful learning experience while minimizing distraction?
How might we help children move from receiving answers to actively retrieving, organizing, and explaining knowledge?
How might the experience sustain motivation and assess learners' knowledge while preventing an illusion of learning?
Pain Point & Solution
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Illusion of mastery:
Students may mistake passive assistance for genuine understanding.
✓
Learning by teaching:
Position LumiPal as the learner so children teach, answer guiding questions, and expose gaps in their own understanding.
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Cognitive overload:
Students may lose focus when immersive interactions compete for their attention.
✓
Focused scaffolding:
Use concise, spatially aligned guidance and reduce decorative behavior.
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Unstructured self-study:
Students may find independent learning lonely and difficult to sustain.
✓
A calm study routine:
Provide a manageable 25-minute focus session with completion feedback.
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Screen-time rewards:
Students may be rewarded for time in the app rather than meaningful learning.
✓
Meaningful motivation:
Connect gems and companion growth to teaching, focusing, and reviewing.
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Disconnected learning goals:
Users may struggle to connect standalone learning apps with classroom priorities.
✓
Teacher-aligned learning:
Add controls for classes, students, materials, topics, and instructional oversight.
Solutions
Solution 1: Learning by Teaching LumiPal
LumiPal is positioned as the learner. Children chat with LumiPal as little teachers—explaining concepts, sharing what they know, and asking questions—to review what they have learned. When they encounter barriers, LumiPal offers guiding questions that help them continue thinking and uncover gaps in their understanding.
💡 Design rationale
- Learning by Teaching (Fiorella, 2023): Students become the “teacher” and explain ideas to LumiPal. Teaching helps them organize and strengthen their knowledge while deepening memory.
- Inquiry-Based Learning (Gholam, 2019): LumiPal asks guiding questions instead of only giving answers, encouraging children to think, reflect, and explain.
- Active Participation (Greene, 2013): Children are not just watching or receiving information. They interact with LumiPal, make choices, answer questions, and practice ideas step by step.
Solution 2: Study with AR LumiPal
A focused 25-minute study session provides calm and structure without constantly interrupting the learner’s attention. When the session ends, LumiPal reminds the learner to take a five-minute break.
💡 Design rationale
- The Pomodoro Technique is a time-management method designed to maximize focus and prevent mental fatigue by breaking work into 25-minute intervals of intense concentration, separated by short five-minute breaks.
Solution 3: Progress and Meaningful Rewards
Lessons taught, knowledge points, study streaks, daily missions, and gems make progress visible without rewarding passive screen time.
Solution 4: Companion Care and Growth
Children choose and personalize a companion with rewards earned through meaningful learning behaviors, supporting autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
💡 Design rationale
- Motivation (Maslow, 1943): LumiPal motivates children through a companion-raising system. By learning, teaching LumiPal, and completing activities, they unlock progress and build emotional connection.
Solution 5: Teacher Controls
Admin Mode connects class setup, student management, learning materials, learning paths, and instructional oversight.
Final Paper & Prototype Demo App
Experience the projectKey Takeaways
This design, completed as my final project for MSTU 5000: Extended Reality (XR) and Games as Learning Tools, was well received by my professor and earned me an A in the course.
Through this project, I gained valuable experience in researching and designing an XR learning experience by applying instructional design models and learning theories (e.g., ADDIE Model, Bloom's Taxonomy, and the Kirkpatrick Model) to address a real learning challenge.
Some key takeaways for me are that this experience deepened my understanding of designing learner-centered environments and EdTech user behavior. I gained insights into how students interact with educational XR tools and learning companions, improving my ability to identify user needs and design for real learning contexts.
I also learned to design and build UX prototypes through vibe coding with Figma and Codex, create character demos with Meshy, and produce AR effects in Unity.
I also learned how to balance user needs and ethical design. I learned to navigate the ethical challenges of AR- and AI-driven education, ensuring that design decisions remain user-centered and responsible.