Disclaimer: This project idea is the intellectual property of the WILSON Team.
Team: WILSON (Watson Immersive Language Simulating Ontological Nexuses)
Link to Business Case Analysis.
Overview of the Project – There are over 1 million foreign students enrolled in U.S. universities and many more students all over the world looking to learn or improve their English language skills. An example of where there are high enrollments of foreign students are in the big cities of the U.S. such as the CUNY schools in New York City. With the many foreign students we have surveyed from the CUNY system, we found that there were commonalities in the struggles they experience when transitioning into schools in another country. Struggles would include: feeling they are not adequately prepared enough to handle their school work and a lack of confidence in their abilities causing them to not ask questions in class which could result in lower grades and not communicating with their peers that would hinder them from not getting out of their comfort zone. This would be detrimental to the growth process for students and schools having students with lackluster performance and higher enrollments into remedial courses.
Approach to address the problem – With today’s emerging technologies, learning outcomes can be improved at an exponential rate and better prepare students for the real world. One of the most sought out skills to learn in the world is the English language. The obstacles language learners may experience can now be overcome with WILSON – a product aimed at the Higher Learning market to transform the way students from the United States to all over the world learn English as a second language. With today’s limited interaction in learning programs, a VR experience that is supported by Watson can bring new possibilities to language learning. Stress, anxiety, and depression that new language learners may experience can now be mitigated. Informal scenarios, job interviews, public speaking can now be practiced with this application. The possibilities are endless.