Background‍

After the success of the financial literacy game "Level Up," we identified an opportunity to extend our offering to a classroom setting. This move was driven by feedback from educators and parents, as well as Greenlight's strategic interest in expanding our educational footprint. Our goal was to create a scalable product that educators could use to teach financial literacy in an engaging way.

Challenge‍

The initial concept was to simply provide existing game content to classrooms. However, after speaking with teachers, it became clear that the requirements for a classroom setting were different. Issues such as accessibility, lesson length, and the need for collaborative activities were highlighted. We had to adapt the content to better suit the educational environment, making it easy for teachers to integrate into their curriculum's while keeping it engaging for students.

Approach

Research & Educator Engagement

• Interviews & Workshops: Conducted interviews with teachers and hosted workshops to understand the key challenges they faced with financial education and how our game content could be adapted.
• Classroom Pilot Program: Partnered with a few schools to pilot early versions of the content and gather feedback directly from both teachers and students.

Product Adaptation

• Content Tailoring: Adapted "Level Up" game content into structured lessons that matched the pacing and needs of classroom environments. Created shorter, focused modules that could be taught in a standard class period.
• Collaborative Elements: Added group activities to foster collaboration and discussion among students, ensuring that the classroom experience was interactive.

Tooling & UX Strategy

• Lesson Planning Resources: Created downloadable lesson plans, worksheets, and guides to help teachers easily integrate the content into their existing curriculum.
• Design System Extension: Extended the existing design system to fit the needs of a classroom product, ensuring consistency while accommodating new interaction patterns.

Testing & Feedback Loop

• Iterative Testing: Collected ongoing feedback through the pilot programs and made iterative updates to the lesson structure, dashboard features, and content to ensure alignment with educational needs.
• Teacher Community: Established a small community of educators to provide regular input and share best practices for using the tool in their classrooms.

Outcomes

• Educator Adoption: Positive feedback from pilot schools led to broader adoption, with over 200 classrooms signing up within the first three months.
• Student Engagement: Teachers reported a high level of student engagement, with collaborative activities being particularly well-received.
• Product Differentiation: The classroom tool differentiated Greenlight's offering, expanding our value proposition beyond individual users to educational institutions.
• Partnership Opportunities: Successfully used the classroom product to establish partnerships with educational organizations, increasing our reach and credibility in the education sector.

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