What is Duolingo's ability to teach about creating an add-on course? -

Duolingo has developed an online learning experience that is rewarding and efficient. This is how you can incorporate its most effective features for your class.

About 433 days ago, I created an account on Duolingo as the first time. I'm sure of the exact amount since that's what my streak runs. Since that time I've spent most of my time using their mobile app, as well as trying out the classes that are available in Spanish, Russian, German as well as Korean.

And indeed they are! Duolingo does not come without flaws, but it does deliver an experience for learning that provides an easier way of learning a new one than the other competitors (that I've tried). In addition, the learning experience it provides has lessons for educators in other specialties in addition. If you're looking to provide an engaging and interactive e-learning experiences, Duolingo provides a compelling approach.

Five observations I've made which can be applied to almost any elearning course.

1. Use many kinds of gamification to the maximum extent possible.

Gamification is when learning objectives are linked to specific functions or triggers in ways that reward learners or inspire competition. Duolingo is notable not just for using gamification well and effectively, but also for using the game in many ways. The ones I've identified are:

• Streaks. Not wanting to lose my streak is the primary reason for me to stay on the app. No joke.
• Points. Duolingo lets learners set a daily point goal, and also ties points to various other elements of gaming.
• The leaderboards are HTML0. I don't compete for a top spot every week and when I have to, I am enthralled by the task.
• Leagues. Early on, my determination to be in the top league helped me continue my winning streak. This kept me returning until I reached my Diamond league, and now each time I fall out of the Diamond league, my desire to be back at the high motivates me to play again.
• Badges. I had to reach the diamond league to obtain the diamond league badge. After that, I needed to be the winner of the diamond league in order for that badge. The next step is to win an award in all areas within a class so that I can get that Conqueror badge. Do you see how this never stops?
• Crowns. Earning crowns provides an uplifting feeling of satisfaction. I enjoy checking boxes off.
• Challenges that are timed. Timed challenges add another level of difficulty and also boost memory speed. In spoken language, you need be able to form sentences that are in the proper grammar pattern under pressure. This is a great illustration of how gaming is also a great tool for real-world educational goals.

supports many of these gamification options natively, and others can be achieved through modifications or by adding additional features. In the case of learners, they are able to earn points through tests, and points may be tied to leaderboards or you can put an amount of time for the tests, and badges may be given out when a student takes a specific action.

2. Be forgiving of errors.

I'd lost my streak of 433 days at Day 100 had it not been due to Duolingo's streak freezing. It initially felt as if I was cheating however the reality is that sometimes life happens. And if I'd lost a streak 100 days into because I had a crisis that came up at work or due to personal tragedy, the loss of that streak would be quite demoralizing. So much that I might actually quit the app.

Duolingo will also keep track of your mistakes in order to allow you to practice those sentences again for an extra boost in exp. In other words, there's always an opportunity to improve in Duolingo. Mistakes aren't permanent, they're only an area that could use some more time. In the event that life gets impeding your progress for just a bit then there's no reason to punish you for it.

3. Prioritize mobility--and flexibility.

Lessons on Duoliongo rarely take more than five minutes. It means that you'll have plenty of the time needed to complete the lesson. And if you're able to engage with the material there's almost always an incentive to do multiple.

But, since the material is so short and so mobile, there are also times when I've found myself trying to complete a lesson in a public area in which it's not appropriate to be repeating sentences out loud. Duolingo fixes this by offering choices that read "I cannot listen at the moment," or "I can't talk in this moment." The learners can keep learning regardless of whether they're in a busy or crowded space.

4. Explore a wide range of skills with a variety of learning styles.

When I started using Duolingo's lessons, they mostly consisted of transcribing sentences back and forward, with or without a word bank. Sometimes I would be asked to listen to a passage and then write the words I was hearing, or I was asked to read the sentence loud to assess my speaking. Mostly, the questions followed a few basic formats.

Since then, Duolingo has expanded question format and introduced new types of teaching exercises. Most popular courses on their site include an "stories" section, which includes builds reading comprehension skills. Additionally, they offer recordings to help develop listening comprehension. The regular classes now have longer audioquests in which learners must pay attention for a long time and answer a question about the content they have experienced.

In total, the various questions types cover three of the four primary aspects of learning a language including writing, reading, listening and speaking. Speaking, which would likely require a one-on-1 conversation with a instructor, isn't covered.

In the end, the diversity of different types of content creates the most interesting and entertaining experience. In the past year I began to get tired of reading phrases back and forth. As I age, I am tired of the normal lessons I am able to switch to other types of content.

It is possible to do this by offering different content types--or with a variety of problem types when building your quizzes. includes a number of different question types, including one-choice, multiple-choice (true false), fill-in-the-blank, matching, sorting as well as essay.

5. Always strive to be innovative.

In the end, if there's a single thing I've been continually delighted with about the Duolingo application, it's the fact that over the years I've been using it it's only improved. Every month they are updating their features in order to create a better learning experience. They've created new challenges, added an array of characters to enrich their stories, expanded their badges, developed additional question formats, they've also launched daily and monthly points challenges with their own gamification reward.

For me, as a user, am convinced that my use of the app is creating an positive feedback loop which will only increase my appreciation of the application with time. It's quite a thrilling impression.

However, many teachers aren't equipped to pour into a polished software such as Duolingo. But at a smaller scale, you can be attentive to your students when they provide comments, and think about ways to improve the experience that learners get from the course. If you're never bored so that you don't get caught off-guard by the competition.

It requires time and effort to design an enjoyable e-learning experience, but the payoff is immense.

Duolingo is a popular choice with its admirers and its detractors. Personally I'm frustrated that the Spanish learning process is getting more and more lengthy as the Russian course remains underdeveloped. A few languages, including Korean aren't equipped with sufficient support to learn and writing in the alphabet. I am concerned that some languages have been added sloppily--more to show off than actually a education experiences.

However, it can't be denied that Duolingo has put more effort into providing a superior experience for its learners than any other course I've experienced, and does this with an obsession with UX, UI, and the data of its users. The focus on data and UX has not only led to a more addictive app--but one that actually aids learners reach their goals of learning.

After one year of Duo's Spanish course, where I've obsessively tried to reach the highest level of each skill, I've barely reached Checkpoint 2. But the other day, I was having a brief chat in Spanish with a couple friends--one who had taken Duo's Spanish course, one of them is an ESL teacher who teaches mostly Spanish-speaking students. The teacher asked me about the plans we had planned to start the day, and I discussed the items that I have in my fridge and offered to cook breakfast for them.

This is a minor win however, nothing beats winning to inspire you to continue.