Antsy helps teachers read the room. Teachers currently use subtle cues to guess when the class is collectively losing focus, but these can be easy to miss or misread. Students often feel discomfort publicly voicing their need for a break, fearing judgment. Antsy empowers students to discreetly communicate when they need a break, without interrupting class.
To use Antsy, the teacher places two small ant-shaped devices in their pockets at the beginning of class. Each student is provided a foot pedal that is activated by shaking (meant to mimic a common fidgeting motion). When a student activates their pedal, the teacher feels a gentle vibration from one of the ant devices. Once half of the class has activated their pedals, the ant devices begin to vibrate repeatedly until the teacher slaps them. If 90% of the class has activated their pedals and the teacher still hasn’t offered them a break, the ants will start making loud beeping noises.
Before landing on this concept, the team used lo-fi prototyping and bodystorming with both students and instructors to narrow down and refine the concept. This helped the team understand that instructors may prefer to feel each individual input to get a sense for the increasing need for a break.
Other learnings included the importance of using metaphors to create intuitive and catchy product interactions. The common “ants-in-your-pants” metaphor was emphasized throughout the design process, from the fidget-activated pedals to the literal ants in the teacher's pants.
The Antsy team hopes that this project will foster empathy between students and teachers to create more comfortable and productive learning environments.
