In an exciting reveal at duocon 2023, Duolingo, the world's leading mobile learning platform, unveiled its groundbreaking foray into new subjects, transcending cultural boundaries much like its language courses. To kick things off, Severin Hacker, Duolingo's co-founder, and CTO, showcased updates to Duolingo Math which is aimed at enhancing learners' real-world math skills.

Why Math?

I was shocked to learn that more than 90% of adults in the US confess to experiencing math anxiety. Then I began recalling my own experiences and struggles with math in school, things started to make more sense. It’s clear math anxiety is a big issue, often preventing people from truly embracing the subject and becoming proficient.

• Learn by doing, not viewing. Math is usually taught with textbooks, videos, and lectures. But, math is a lot more fun when you can touch it, break it into pieces, and move it around. This is the new way to learn math, especially with the breakthrough technology at our disposal.

• Enjoy all the best features of Duolingo but for math. After a decade of developing the world's most popular language-learning app, the Duolingo team knows a thing or two about how to make learning engaging and effective.

• Train your brain with something useful. While brain training apps and sudoku can be a good mental challenge, they aren't helping you develop a valuable skill. Improving your mental math skills will have far-reaching effects.

What does Duolingo Math teach?

Elementary math, including topics like multiplication, addition, and fractions for students

Everyday math skills for adults to exercise their brains like calculating tips and hourly wages.

I hope that eventually, they can expand to more complex variations like geometry, trigonometry, algebra, calculus, and statistics.

Music to our ears

In addition to language and math, the Duolingo team is also focused on preserving creative arts such as music.

Why Music?

Studies show that learning music helps with reading, verbal, listening, and math skills.

It can delay the cognitive decline associated with aging.

Though music education has many benefits, more than 3.6 million students in the U.S. don’t have access to music education.

For those wanting to pursue further instruction, private lessons can cost up to $400 per session.

Engineering Director Vanessa Jameson lifted the curtain on Duolingo's Music course, expertly integrating music education into the app's signature gamified interface. This update promises an engaging musical journey for users, adding a vibrant dimension to Duolingo's educational collection.

What does Duolingo Music teach?

• Not like other apps that focus on a specific instrument

• Focused on teaching music literacy, including reading, identifying notes, and playing familiar songs

Method to the madness

Bozena Pajak, VP of Learning and Curriculum, shared insights into the 'Duolingo Method,' the guiding principles behind content creation and course development. You can learn more in their official writeup here.

Duolingo's commitment to effective teaching was further underscored by the introduction of an immersive learning experience for advanced English, a curriculum tailored for learners seeking higher levels of language proficiency.

In a recent 2023 report by Statista, there were around 1.5 billion people worldwide who spoke English either natively or as a second language, slightly more than the 1.1 billion Mandarin Chinese speakers at the time of the survey. Hindi and Spanish accounted for the third and fourth most widespread languages. All of these languages are currently available to learn on Duolingo for free.

Paired with the Duolingo English Test, this update will surely bolster educational resource access to billions of people who can benefit from learning English.

If it ain’t broke, keep updating it!

The event also showcased a wide range of exciting features designed to enhance the original language learning experiences. Among these is 'DuoRadio,' dynamic audio lessons reminiscent of podcasts, offering immersive practice.

Duolingo also unveiled a groundbreaking tool to learn the intricate writing systems of Japanese and Mandarin, two of the app's fastest-growing languages.

Moreover, the platform's 74 million monthly active learners can anticipate Adventures, an interactive mini-game challenging users to apply their language skills in real-life scenarios like ordering a coffee in a cafe. Additionally, the return of 'The Duolingo French Podcast,' narrating the captivating tale of 1920s dance icon Josephine Baker, promises an enriching auditory experience.

Special guest

At the heart of this transformative event was an exclusive interview with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, conducted by Duolingo's co-founder and CEO, Luis von Ahn. Malala's impassioned advocacy for universal education resonates deeply with Duolingo's mission of making the best education universally accessible. Her inspiring words echoed the ethos of duocon 2023: celebrating dedicated learners worldwide and advancing toward a future where education knows no bounds.

Plus she reveals her learning streak and recommends a few binge-worthy shows she’s been into lately.

With this announcement, Duolingo reaffirms its commitment to revolutionizing education. The vibrant community has eagerly anticipated these updates, and the multi-subject approach marks a momentous stride towards a brighter, more educated world.

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Links

For more details on the talks and product announcements, visit Duolingo Duocon.

Download Duolingo Math

Download Duolingo + Duolingo Music

Disclaimer: I am not paid or endorsed to promote anything discussed in this write-up. I choose to cover tech updates that I use and find interesting.