TaleemAI: Community-Powered College Guidance

TaleemAI at a Glance

TaleemAI is a high-fidelity mobile prototype designed to support Pakistani high-school students who are preparing college applications without formal counselling. The experience blends verified peer mentorship, AI-assisted nudges, and curated admissions data so first-generation applicants can make informed choices despite limited institutional support.

Motivation & Opportunity

• Lack of formal counselling: Interviews revealed that most colleges do not employ admissions counsellors, forcing applicants to rely on peers or relatives who often recycle outdated information.
• Fragmented research workflow: Students bounced between prospectuses, social media, and alumni messages; some boarding-school participants even missed deadlines when phones were confiscated during exam periods.
• Socio-technical constraints: Although 70% reported smartphone access, devices were frequently shared and internet speeds were inconsistent, making it difficult to track requirements and scholarships.

My Role

• Led formative research with seniors, alumni, and gap-year applicants to surface the institutional and socio-technical barriers they face.
• Translated insights into experience principles that kept guidance trustworthy, easy to follow, and resilient even when students had limited access to shared devices.
• Facilitated FigJam ideation, storyboarding, and low-fi prototyping sessions to compare product directions before converging on a mobile app.
• Built the high-fidelity prototype and component library, ensuring visual consistency across applicant and buddy flows.
• Planned and moderated usability tests that informed navigation changes, clearer AI cues, and a dedicated buddy registration flow.

Core Functionality

• Guided Onboarding & Dual Modes: Distinct applicant and buddy pathways verify current university students while tailoring support for applicants seeking mentorship.
• Buddy Connect: Authenticated mentors answer questions, offer realistic campus insights, and can be filtered by university or expertise.
• Scholarship & Deadline Hub: Centralised workspace keeps upcoming deadlines, bookmarked universities, and funding opportunities glanceable with reminders.
• University Explorer: Structured program pages aggregate admission requirements, alumni spotlights, and quick links to official sources.
• TaleemAI Assistant: Contextual chatbot supplements human mentors with quick answers and nudges when device access is limited.
• Community Forum: Applicants learn from peer threads while highlighted buddy responses signal trusted guidance.

Iterative Design Process

1. Discovery: Conducted interviews and secondary research on guidance interventions to map institutional and cultural barriers.
2. Ideation: Used FigJam to explore alternatives (web hub, mentorship marketplace, AI-only concierge, gamified guidance) and selected a hybrid mentor + AI mobile approach.
3. Prototyping: Converted scenarios into storyboards, paper prototypes, and low-fi flows to validate information hierarchy and mentorship mechanics.
4. Refinement: Built the high-fidelity prototype, introduced clear Applicant/Buddy flows, and tuned AI assistant microcopy based on usability feedback.

Validation & What Changed

• Clarified the conversational assistant by pairing the floating avatar with onboarding microcopy—testers no longer misinterpreted its purpose.
• Elevated the “Saved Deadlines” heading and contrast so the tracker was immediately understood during evaluative sessions.

Looking Ahead

Future iterations will pilot moderated community prompts, prototype offline reminders for boarders with limited device windows, and explore partnerships with university outreach offices to sustain the buddy network.