[PRD/Requirements]: Improve learner notifications, nudges, reminders

[tczerwinski726]

Description of the problem

Target Metric:
Increase the % of active learners who log in at least once per week/month.
Secondary Metric: Increase the % of learners who complete all of the lessons in their first topic.

Problem:
While many learners begin lessons on Oppia, a large number do not build a habit of returning across multiple sessions to systematically build skills across multiple topics. Currently, Oppia’s system for learner notifications, nudges, and reminders is limited, resulting in missed opportunities to re-engage learners who may benefit from encouragement or timely prompts. Without a more effective reminder system, learners are less likely to progress through lessons to completion, which reduces the overall educational impact of the platform and weakens long-term engagement. Improving how and when we deliver notifications is essential to support sustained learning habits, increase lesson completion rates, and ensure learners experience the full value of Oppia.

Possible solutions / ideas for addressing the problem

Hypothesis: If we improve our notification strategy by offering notifications, nudges, and reminders that are personalized, timely, and context-aware, then learners will be more likely to return and complete all of the lessons in their first topic.

Candidate User Stories:

As a learner who may or may not have a logged in account, I want reminders and nudges to keep learning, so that I stick with it and build some great skills.

As a parent who is the owner of the device the learner uses, I want to feel confident and excited that the learner is making progress and learning important new skills, so that I know that the time the learner spends with my device is well spent.

As a learner interested in specific topics, I want to know when Oppia releases new content in my areas of interest, so that I can learn the new material.

Specific Ideas:

1. Device Push Notifications (via the Android app itself): The app can schedule reminders on the learner’s device (e.g., “Ready to continue your math lesson?”).

2. In-App Nudges (shown while the learner is in the app)

• Progress prompts: “You’ve finished 30% of this lesson—want to continue?”
• Contextual encouragement: “Great work! Just 2 more steps to complete this concept.”
• Call-to-action banners: At the top/bottom of the screen nudging users to continue or try a new topic.
• Timed reminders: Gentle nudges if the learner is idle for a while inside the app.

3. Passive Reminders

• Home screen widgets: A simple widget that lets learners resume quickly.
• Badges / indicators: App icon badges (the little dot showing something’s waiting).

4. Habit-Forming Nudges

• Streak reminders: “You’ve practiced 2 days in a row—come back tomorrow to keep your streak alive!”
• Achievement unlocking: Triggered after a milestone, nudging the learner to continue.

Any other relevant context/info

No response