Rihla was the result of a semester long group project in Design Thinking that began with an exploration into the future of education in the UAE. 

We began with an Era Map and Trends Analysis that explored the history of education in the UAE, as well as the current trends that are influencing education. From this secondary research, we decided to further explore the aspect of accessibility in education.

We conducted our own primary research into the experiences of students with disabilities, as well as the different stakeholders involved in their education. Based on this research, we understood that the main reason students with "invisible" disabilities struggle in mainstream education is because parents and schools often fail to identify their disabilities early on. Since learning disabilities don't necessarily manifest in physical or noticeable ways, parents and schools may deny or dismiss the struggles faced by a student with invisible disabilities. So, we wanted to focus on assisting parents with identifying their child's learning disabilities.

Now, we moved to the solution stage. We began by setting some design principles and an intent statement that would help us develop a solution, and then moved to brainstorming.

As a result of our brainstorming process, Rihla was born. Rihla is an Augmented Reality gaming system that aims to enrich the learning experience for all students, while also aiding in the identification of learning disabilities through a series of fun, skill-based games. To explain how Rihla works, we created the journey of Zara, a student with undiagnosed dyslexia.

Lastly, we conducted some user testing by proposing our ideas to students with disabilities and their teachers, to understand whether they found this to be a useful solution. We received a generally positive response, with a few concerns which we decided to address by proposing a website version of Rihla.

Students with unidentified learning disabilities often struggle well into their adult lives, so we hope Rihla can draw attention to their struggles and make things a little easier by encouraging their parents to get them the support they need.