How to make learning as addictive as social media | Luis von Ahn (re-release)
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. I have been using Duolingo to learn Korean, and I definitely could say at times I've been really hooked. Like many of us feel, I don't want to lose my streaks. So how did the app make language learning fun?
What makes Duolingo addictive like social media?
In this archive talk, educational equity technologist Luis Van An shares how Duolingo's developers harnessed the psychological techniques employed in social media and gaming apps to to make the app compete with addictive platforms. And in doing so, how they've been able to spread access to language education across the world. Stick around after his talk for a brief Q&A between Luis and TED's Head of Media and Curation, Helen Walters.
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So I'm from Guatemala.
How did Luis von Ahn's background influence his approach to education?
So Guatemala is right below Mexico. And for the Americans in the audience, and let this sink in, because it really applies in most ways, for the Americans in the audience, you can think of it as Mexico's Mexico. Just like the US doesn't want illegal immigration from Mexico, Mexico doesn't want illegal immigration from Guatemala. It's a smaller country. It's a poorer country. And, well, what can I tell you? it has much better Mexican food. Guatemala is a very poor country. And a lot of people talk about education as something that brings equality to different social classes. But I always saw it as the opposite, as something that brings inequality.
Why did Duolingo choose to focus on language learning?
Because what happens in practice is that people who have a lot of money can buy themselves a really good education and therefore continue having a lot of money, whereas people who don't have very much money barely learn how to read and write and therefore never make a lot of money. And this is especially true in poor countries. Now, I was fortunate that I received a rich person's education, even though I didn't grow up rich. And it's because I'm an only child, and my mother, who was a single mother, spent all of her resources on my education. And this allowed me to come to college to the US and eventually get a PhD in computer science. Now, because of all of this, About 10 years ago, I decided I wanted to do something that would give equal access to education to everyone.
Oh, by the way, this is what I want to talk to you about today, giving equal access to education to everyone. At the time, I was a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, and I decided to work on this with my PhD student, Severin. The way my brain works, all of education is just too general of a problem.
How does Duolingo use smartphones to enhance education?
So I decided, let's start by teaching one thing. And then I started thinking, okay, well, what should we teach first? Should we teach math? I mean, we both love math. Me and my co-founder, we both love math. And, you know, we didn't decide to do math. Then we started thinking, well, maybe we should teach computer science. But eventually ... and this is maybe surprising to people in North America, eventually we decided that the best subject to start with was teaching foreign languages. And let me tell you why.
What psychological techniques does Duolingo employ to engage users?
There's a number of reasons. One of them is that there's a huge audience for it. There's about two billion people in the world learning a foreign language. both in school and outside of schools. Most of these people, by the way, are learning English. About 80 percent of them are learning English. And the reason for that is because English can truly transform your life. In most countries in the world, knowledge of English can significantly increase your income potential. So this is another reason why we decided to start with foreign languages, and it's because you can directly make more money if you learn another language, in particular English. And see, this is pretty different than many other subjects.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:07–0:26
2
What makes Duolingo addictive like social media?
0:26–1:29
3
How did Luis von Ahn's background influence his approach to education?
1:29–2:11
4
Why did Duolingo choose to focus on language learning?
2:11–3:14
5
How does Duolingo use smartphones to enhance education?
3:14–3:42
6
What psychological techniques does Duolingo employ to engage users?
3:42–4:14
7
How does Duolingo's freemium model support education accessibility?
4:14–5:05
8
What role do notifications play in user engagement on Duolingo?
5:05–15:07
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from TED Talks Daily
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