Lenses of Learning (LOL)

A digital solution that helps young adult learners with ADHD in the USA. The solution is in the concept, prototype and pilot stages. 

LOL aims to make the learning process easier for young adult learners with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), age range 18 to 25, to improve their lifelong learning and career security by enhancing their social-emotional learning and meta-cognition. Late 2021, the LOL team began exploring this problem. It is estimated that more than eight million young adults have ADHD in the USA. The ADHD symptoms are chronic but not constant and this can mislead some people into believing that ADHD is the lack of willpower. This is not true because ADHD is an impairment regarding the brain’s chemical dynamics.

Due to these chemical dynamics, learners with ADHD are deficient in semantic memory, which is required in school and university quizzes and tests. Semantic memory is about understanding the factual knowledge and this information is not linked to a specific time and place. To develop semantic memory, episodic memory is needed. Episodic memory has the beginning, middle and end elements and is related to a period of time. Researchers believe that if students with ADHD are given enough opportunities to use tools to develop their long-term episodic memory, then they can reach the same level academically as their peers and this can make up for their deficiencies with semantic memory. LOL strives to help improve and strengthen the episodic memory of young adults with ADHD.

In 2022, LOL was a digital decision-making game and was in the prototype stage. The prototype would be built and tested in a pilot study. When building the prototype, the LOL team was uncertain about which product features to focus on. The MIT Solv[ED]’s Global Solveathon workshops and the workshops that came alongside the Solv[ED] Exploratory micro-grant helped the LOL team transform their approach and pave a clear pathway on how to find which product features are best. LOL is currently back in the concept stage and doing a qualitative study through structured interviews. Through this qualitative study, there is the possibility that the digital solution changes from a game to another type of digital solution. Also, based on the current progress with the qualitative study, the age range has changed from US secondary school students with ADHD to young adults with ADHD in the US. 

Early 2021, LOL was a digital decision-making game that helped US-based secondary students with ADHD (age 14-19) to learn world history better while also improving social-emotional learning and meta-cognition. The LOL team started the process of building the prototype and planned to test the prototype in a pilot study. For the market research, 11 US secondary schools agreed to interview where six were typical schools and five were special need schools.  From these 11 schools, two regular schools agreed to be in LOL’s pilot study. The special need schools said to come back to them once the prototype was ready. For the pilot study, the focus is on British history covered in the world history curriculum, particularly 1880s-1950s and Winston Churchill. The institutions that are collaborating with LOL for this pilot study are International Winston Society (USA), Blenheim Palace (UK), Harrow School (UK), St. George School Ascot (UK) and Churchill Archives Centre at the University of Cambridge. 

The LOL digital solution will serve young adults with ADHD with the age range 18 to 25 years old. Recent US government reports state that information about how digital technologies support people with learning disabilities, such as ADHD, for learning and education is still nascent and lacking in both steadiness and scale. Consequently, institutions and employers have different perspectives, understandings and approaches about learners with ADHD when it comes to learning and skill development. This negatively impacts these learners’ self-confidence regarding their ability to learn and develop skills. LOL strives to prevent this deterioration of self-confidence by addressing the problem during the years these learners are transitioning from university to the workforce.

The three team members are siblings. Hussain is an undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania and he has three to four years of experience in the non-profit sector which has enabled him to understand the challenges that arise with social impact. He has worked with two non-profits; one as a Data Scientist for a South-African based non-profit and the other as a Grant Writer for a U.S based non-profit called The Borgen Project. Hussain has also spent time tutoring his fellow classmates at high school and university. With both the non-profit and teaching experiences, Hussain has taken a deeper look at how he can make learning an easier process for students, especially for learners with ADHD. 

Farwah and Sakina are twins and they are currently completing their Certificate of Higher Education at Oxford University with a major in creative writing. They have a passion for writing which complements their task as game script writers at Lenses of Learning. Additionally, they also tutor their fellow classmates in their free time which is why they decided to embark on the Lenses of Learning journey.

A few months back, the LOL team reached out to Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA) & Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD) to interview their members for the qualitative study. CHADD is the USA’s largest national support organization for ADHD and ADDA provides networking opportunities, classes and support groups for adults with ADHD while also supporting the latest research in the field. The LOL team is in the process of receiving CHADD’s approval to interview their members. ADDA has agreed to help with the interviews. The $300 from Solv[ED] Exploratory micro-grant is being used to give $10 Amazon gift cards to each interviewee in the qualitative study. 

LOL has already received around $350 from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Cambridge to develop the prototype and do the pilot study.

The upcoming steps are:

-Complete qualitative study 

-Redesign the prototype

-Build the new prototype

-Test the prototype in the pilot study 

LOL strives to serve around 100 individuals by next year. 

LOL is a social enterprise with a ‘profit with purpose’ approach. This means impact is given equal priority as gaining profit. The LOL team’s key challenge is finding guidance from experts that understand the issues that come with building social enterprise startups, especially with the different obstacles that come from concept to growth stages. The team has searched for this guidance at many events; however, MIT Solv[ED]’s workshops have been the most useful and insightful ones, especially given the unique situation LOL is in (reaching the prototype and pilot study stages, and having to take a step back to concept stage based on the guidance provided at MIT Solv[ED]’s workshops). With this guidance, the LOL team will be able to swiftly tackle the typical financial and technical issues that come with building a startup.