*Note: This is an updated and add-on to the post by Johnny Wu on May 28, 2019 https://virtual.educ.ubc.ca/wp/etec522/2019/05/28/roham-mahimker-ceo-and-co-founder-of-prodigymath-games/
Mission: To help every student in the world love learning.
Prodigy Math is an online learning adventure that uses game-based learning to motivate students to practice their math skills which are aligned with the curriculum. The games are filled with engaging and fun math questions in the form of battles, quests, spells and rewards. With the success of Prodigy math, the company has since released Prodigy English in April 2022. Prodigy English focuses on developing reading and writing skills by having students develop a world of their own.
With an emphasis on safeguarding student data and accessibility to educational resources, Prodigy uses a “freemium” business model to keep the educational content free and offers optional memberships that generate a small percentage of their revenue.
Profile
Rohan is an engineering graduate from the University of Waterloo. His own love of Pokemon games inspired him to create Prodigy because he thought “Why can’t math be as addictive as a video styled Pokemon game?” Along with his co-founder Alex Peters, they created SMARTeacher, the legally registered name for Prodigy.
Reflection
One of the first game-based learning apps I used in my classroom was Prodigy math. It was a motivating factor for many of my students who had their hesitations about the subject. I liked that students could access it for free from home on their own device and the fantasy world made it fun to learn math. Moreover,I like that I am supporting young Canadian Entrepreneurs and was excited to hear that Prodigy’s success had led to its expansion to Prodigy English this year.
References:
Hi Jocelyn,
Rohan Maker is a true entrepreneur. Combining 2 passions, Pokemon games, and teaching math. Adding lightness and engagement, it multiplies the possibilities of success and divides the difficulties of topics that are sometimes so complicated for students and teachers. Congratulations!
My students are also very motivated by this learning game and it is clear that he was inspired by Pokemon games. When my students first started using it, I was immediately reminded of playing Pokemon Yellow on my gameboy. The content is quite challenging and it is impressive that the gamification element is sufficiently motivating. I also love that it adjusts the difficulty for each student.
This is an excellent example of innovation and the power of gamification. With the current advancements in Chatbot AI’s, I wonder how this fantastic company will be able to adapt. From my daughters experience, it seems to work on the basis of increasing difficulty in the questions so that they get around 80% correct. Could this be adjusted depending on the student? Are there part of the worlds that are more or less challenging?
I had understood the concept of gamification and done game like learning experiences with students but using Prodigy for the first time was when I really understood the impact games could have. Rohan was able to create something that many gamification programs were lacking – fun. Students love the graphics and constant challenges. Rohan saw an opportunity of taking the fundamentals of good game design in his experience with Pokemon and apply it to learning. A real innovator in the space and someone who could execute on a vision to bring fun and learning to millions of students.