OCTO Community · In development
Study together.
Help each other move forward.
Starting a study session is not always easy. Keeping going can be just as difficult. That is why we are building a community where you can develop a study routine, share materials and make progress alongside other students.
Planned for after OCTO’s first release.
One workspace
Your studies and your people, in one place.
Making plans on WhatsApp, studying together on Discord, practising flashcards in a separate app and keeping summaries somewhere else: your studies can become scattered across many places.
OCTO aims to bring your materials, connected study tools and community together. Study groups, shared materials, to-do lists and personal progress will connect to the workspace where you study, making it easier to move from arranging a session to getting started.
Build your own
study rhythm.
To-do lists, achievable streaks and milestones along the way.
Personal progress
A clearer place to start
A clear to-do list will help you decide where to start. An achievable daily streak will make consistency visible. Achievements will recognise the milestones you reach along the way.
For students who enjoy an extra source of motivation, we are planning a personal virtual ocean. Studying will help you unlock marine life, coral and decorations, turning your ocean into a visible reflection of your progress.
Choose a task study see progress come back.
Make it easier
to study together.
Shared sessions. Shared materials. Your own goals.
Learning together
Make a plan. Keep each other going.
Study groups will make it easier to arrange sessions, get started together and hold each other accountable. You will work towards your own goals alongside students who encourage you to keep going.
For those who enjoy a challenge, optional leaderboards and competitive achievements are also planned.
We want students to share their own flashcards and summaries, publicly within OCTO or with selected students. Before sharing, you will confirm that the material is entirely your own intellectual property and choose who can access it.
Arrange a session study recognise each other’s effort arrange the next session.
Give your effort
a visible result.
An optional virtual ocean that grows with your progress.
Motivation you can see
Another goal to work towards
Study time, streaks and achievements will form the basis of the points system we plan to develop.
The proposed first use for points is unlocking marine life, coral and decorations for your virtual ocean. This connects your study activities to the optional ocean game, with another goal to work towards.
The precise rules for qualifying study time and streaks still need to be defined.
Study effort points unlock something choose the next goal.
Grow together
Good things are worth sharing
A community grows when students find value in using it together. We therefore plan to reward invitations with points or credits once an invited student actively starts studying.
Each invitation can bring someone new to study with, strengthen a group or add original learning materials to the community.
The conditions for invitation rewards still need to be defined.
Experience the value invite someone become active together.
Help shape the OCTO community
Want to stay updated on OCTO and the community we are building? Join the waitlist.
Join the waitlistA little more about
the community
Are these community features available yet?
These are planned features for after OCTO’s first release. We are developing the direction for study groups, shared materials, personal progress and rewards. Join the waitlist to stay updated.
Do I have to play the ocean game or compete?
No. The virtual ocean, leaderboards and competitive achievements are planned as optional sources of motivation. The community is intended to help you build a study routine and make progress with other students.
How would points and invitation rewards work?
We plan to base points on study time, streaks and achievements, with ocean items as their first proposed use. Invitations could earn points or credits once an invited student actively starts studying. The precise rules for qualifying activity, streaks and invitation rewards still need to be defined.
What learning materials would I be able to share?
We want to support sharing your own flashcards and summaries, either publicly within OCTO or with selected students. Before sharing, you would confirm that the material is entirely your own intellectual property and choose who can access it.
Why we are exploring this direction
Research on gamification and Duolingo’s own product data offer useful starting points for our design. These findings do not predict the impact OCTO will have.
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+3.3%
Day-14 retention
In a Duolingo A/B test, separating the streak from the personal daily goal increased Day-14 retention by 3.3% in relative terms.
Our design choice: Keep the daily streak achievable.
Duolingo · Improving the streak (opens in a new tab) -
22%
More likely to complete the daily lesson
Duolingo reports that learners with at least one Friend Streak were 22% more likely to complete their daily lesson. This is an association, not a proven causal effect.
Our design choice: Make it easy to keep coming back together.
Duolingo · How We Built the Friend Streak (opens in a new tab) -
g = 0.257
Small effect on intrinsic motivation
A meta-analysis of 35 independent interventions involving 2,500 participants found a small positive effect of gamification on intrinsic motivation. Hedges’ g = 0.257; 95% confidence interval: 0.043–0.471. This is an effect size, not a percentage.
Our design choice: Test whether these features help our students get started and keep going.
Li, Hew & Du (2024) · Meta-analysis (opens in a new tab)