I Read Dog

Understanding dogs through their body language

The I READ DOG project collaborated with four professional dog trainers aims to provide a learning solution to facilitate dog owners better understand their dog. The team from NYU Educational Communication and Technology department provided an immersive e-learning curriculum and developed an educational simulation game prototype. 

My Role

Project Manager

Design Lead

Skills

Instructional Design

UX/UI Design

Prototyping

Usability Testing

Tools

Articulate 360

Figma

Miro

Duration

5 Month

Background

n 2022, 70% of U.S. households report owning at least one pet. This equates to 90.5 million households nationwide. Of those 90.5 million people, 69 million own at least one dog.

A new study from Center for Canine Behavior Studies found that 85% of 4,114 dogs had behavioral problems. The pet training services industry in the United States is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6% during 2020 to 2026, Training is an essential part of owning a dog, and strengthens the human-animal bond.

Problem Scenario

E-commerce in the pet industry is booming, while the demand for the dog training industry has increased as more people have dogs during the covid.

Learning about dog training online is starting to become a new solution, with more and more dog owners and dog trainers are getting involved.

“In fact, many dogs have already used body language to alert people before the behavioral problems happens, but sometimes the owner didn't notice that”

Sara Miles(SME)

"How might we help dog owners better understand their dog's needs and emotions?"

  1. Motivating owners to learn about dog training knowledge

  2. Lower the dog training knowledge barriers, All levels of dog owners can learn

  3. Using gamification to help owners learn

Design and Development

we are aiming to help learners become a proficient in dog body language

Learner Procedural Workflow

Design Implications

We should consider our priority decisions of tasks about how to teach step by step.

Most learners prefer to learn dog body language through videos and interactive media

We need to minimize the cognitive load to ensure our contents match our goals.

Design Concept: Learning Path

Implementation and Evaluation

Tutorial Design 

We use Rise 360 as the tool to build our learning tutorial (first version), which allows us to create beautiful, fully-responsive courses in a short time. The tutorial includes different kinds of media and exercises to give learner an immersive and engaging learning experience.

01. Videos to give examples

We use videos to give examples of dog's body language and context. Videos can enable learners to recognize naturally occurring phenomena and analyze a situation.

02 interactive widgets to reinforce comprehension

We use interactive widgets such as scenario and process to further explain concepts and have learners apply what they've learned to real-life situations. Interactive widgets can:

  • be carefully scrutinized and constantly checked

  • enable the linear sequencing of information

  • provide concrete examples of abstractions

  • ask for participation from learners and bring social cues

  • create emotional context

03 knowledge check

We use knowledge checks such as sorting, flashcards, and sequencing to test learners' knowledge.

Knowledge check can create friction to have learners better remember and also have them aware of their own knowledge gap. 

Game Design 

Game-Based Learning

Player will adopt a dog in the "dog city" and player will finish different kinds of tasks with their dog to enhance the relationship and build connections.

Knowledge Check

During the game, players will have many opportunities to check their knowledge of dog body language, and when players make a wrong choice, a tutorial will be automatically recommended for the corresponding learning content.

Scenario-Based Game

  1. Game-based Learning: Apply what they learn to the real-life scenario

  2. Guiding players to make the right observation and identification steps

  3. Help players identify their misunderstandings 

Design Achievement

Compared to traditional offline dog training classes, I Read Dog explores a more flexible and engaging approach to education by introducing a holistic observation approach to our project through the playful e-learning curriculum and the simulation game. This product is applicable to learners of all levels and we want to provide a different perspective to help dog owners better understand their dogs, including dog's behavior and physical condition.