Our society is short of inclusive channels & many people are lacking skills for constructive & meaningful discussions on important topics. We also have little time, patience and empathy to understand the views of others. Our research finds out that training can be exclusive to elite students and schools with resources, and the current design of how debating works deliberately puts people off.
LADL is a mobile app that builds a community of learning debating skills in a safe environment.
1. LADL has quality resources contributed by the community to help improve your skills.
2. You choose a friend or a family member to have a debate session on a chosen theme.
3. You get assigned a topic and either proposition or opposition randomly to stretch yourself to look at things from different perspectives.
4. The default game setting has 3 rounds of arguments and rebuttal timeboxed in 9 minutes to keep you on your toes.
5. You earn points and track performance based on peer review and level up accordingly.
6. You can play with other users at the same level as you. You can offer to mentor users at a lower level than you.
LADL is currently in the private beta phase, in which we invite selected groups for testing and feedback.
Breadth: We reached out to 27 educational institutions; 2 are engaged in testing and 2 are in ongoing conversations. 23 students and 17 young professionals provide feedback to us actively.
Focus on Target Population: 15 students and 14 young professionals have no previous debating training at school. Of 29 users, 16 are/were eligible for free school meals.
Depth: We collect user feedback regularly on different aspects of the app as well as suggestions about ways to enhance learning. Future updates will correspond with shifts in user career advancement or education opportunities around.
If you/your organisation is interested in trying LADL and/or exploring the possibilities of adopting the app for the context of your organisation, please contact debater.app@gmail.com. Looking forward to exchanging ideas with you!
