System Overview
Piggyback is an application that helps young children retain attention and comprehension while watching the videos they consume daily. The application pairs YouTube videos with quiz questions that appear throughout playback - children answer using their voice.
Parents choose one of three interaction modes that control how their child engages with the questions:
| Mode | How it works |
|---|---|
| Flexible | Questions appear during the video. The child answers using their voice, but an incorrect or skipped answer does not block progress - they can keep watching regardless. |
| Strict | The video pauses at each question and the child must answer correctly to continue. An incorrect answer rewinds the video to the point where the relevant content was covered, giving the child a chance to re-watch before trying again. |
| Passive | The video plays from start to finish with no questions. The child watches without any interruptions. |
The application records and tracks each user's progress, saving data such as watch time, correctly and incorrectly answered questions, and video completion history.
Conceptual Design
The system is divided into a frontend and a backend that work together to deliver an interactive, video-based learning experience designed for children.
The frontend presents YouTube videos and displays quiz questions at predefined points during playback. Children pick one of three companion characters - Blossom the Bunny, Pippa the Pig, or Ash the Alligator - each with a distinct personality and teaching style. The chosen companion influences how hints and questions are presented. The frontend provides immediate feedback, optional video rewind after incorrect answers, and displays progress in a child-friendly interface.
The backend handles all processing and data management. It stores video activities, questions, and companion configurations, evaluates user responses, determines correctness, and tracks individual user progress such as quiz results and completion history. The backend exposes APIs that allow the frontend to retrieve learning activities, submit responses, manage access codes, and securely store progress data for later review by parents.
Background
EdPuzzle is a similar application. It also incorporates YouTube videos to promote learning. The website gives options to create video quizzes with multiple choice answers and even voice-recorded responses. The videos are linked and questions are added by teachers, with features to grade student responses and connect to LMS. However, Piggyback focuses on encouraging children to pay attention to everyday videos, not just educational content. Responses and grading are also done through voice detection in real time.