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Learning Solo is an AI-powered, short-form video learning platform built for IB and DSE students. It turns any exam topic into a personalised, TikTok-style avatar video with an interactive quiz.

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Inspiration

Hong Kong students preparing for IB and DSE exams face a brutal problem: content overload. There are thousands of YouTube videos, textbooks, and notes — but nothing that instantly explains exactly the topic you're stuck on, in an exam-relevant way, in your own language. Tutors are expensive. Generic videos waste time. We wanted to build something that felt like having a personal STEM tutor available 24/7 — one that could explain any topic on demand, quiz you immediately, and remember where you're weak.

We were also inspired by how deeply short-form video has changed the way our generation actually absorbs information. If students are already spending hours on TikTok and YouTube Shorts, why not meet them there — but with content that actually helps them pass their exams?

What it does

Learning Solo is an AI-powered short-form video learning platform for IB and DSE students. A student picks their curriculum, chooses a subject, and types any exam topic — within minutes, they receive a personalised avatar video explaining that exact concept in exam-relevant terms, delivered by an AI presenter.

After each video, an AI-generated quiz overlay appears with three multiple-choice questions. Correct answers earn XP, build streaks, and raise subject mastery scores. A built-in Study Buddy chat panel (powered by MiniMax and AWS Bedrock) lets students ask follow-up questions without ever leaving the page.

Key capabilities:

  • On-demand AI avatar video generation — any topic, any time
  • AI-generated MCQ quizzes with instant explanations via MiniMax
  • Bilingual interface in English and Traditional Chinese, with Cantonese text-to-speech via Cantonese.ai
  • Personalised onboarding for IB (HL/SL) and DSE (Core/Extended) curricula
  • Spaced repetition signals — the app surfaces weak topics automatically and routes students back to targeted content
  • Progress dashboard with XP, streaks, subject mastery radar chart, and activity history

How we built it

The frontend is built with Next.js 16 (App Router), TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS v4, deployed on Vercel. The UI is designed as a mobile-first, TikTok-style vertical swipe feed.

The AI backbone uses three external APIs:

  • HeyGen API — generates a talking avatar video from a subject and topic. We call POST /v2/video/generate with an avatar ID, voice ID, and a dynamically built educational script. The frontend polls GET /v1/video_status.get until the video is ready, then plays it in the feed.
  • MiniMax API — generates quiz questions (3 MCQs per topic), curates related subtopics for the Study Buddy, and powers the conversational chat agent.
  • Cantonese.ai — converts MiniMax-generated scripts into natural Cantonese audio narration, making the platform fully accessible to local Hong Kong students. User progress, video history, quiz scores, and spaced repetition scheduling are persisted in Supabase (Postgres).

Challenges we ran into

  • Template vs. direct API confusion — HeyGen's API surface area is broad and the documentation for templates vs. direct generation vs. interactive avatars is interleaved. We iterated through several approaches before landing on the clean POST /v2/video/generate with dynamic script injection.
  • Dual curriculum scope — designing a single onboarding and subject system that correctly handles both IB (HL/SL levels, global syllabus) and DSE (local Hong Kong syllabus, Elective modules) required careful subject mapping and curriculum-aware prompt engineering.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • A fully working end-to-end flow: student types a topic → HeyGen avatar video appears → quiz fires → XP and mastery update — all within a single seamless session
  • Clean bilingual UX that switches between English and Cantonese without a page reload
  • A spaced repetition engine that actually surfaces weak topics and routes students back to content they need — not just a gimmick, but a real learning science implementation
  • Supporting two distinct curricula (IB and DSE) with personalised onboarding and curriculum-aware AI prompts, making the app genuinely relevant to the full range of Hong Kong secondary students
  • Keeping the entire stack deployable with zero infrastructure — just a Vercel deploy and API keys

What's next for Learning Solo

  • More subjects — expand beyond Physics, Mathematics, and Biology to cover the full IB and DSE STEM subject range including Chemistry, Computer Science, and ICT
  • Cantonese video narration — integrate Cantonese audio directly into the video track so the avatar speaks in Cantonese for DSE students
  • Teacher/Parents dashboard — let tutors create topic playlists, assign quizzes, and monitor class-wide mastery gaps
  • Past paper alignment — map generated content directly to specific DSE and IB past paper questions so students can practice the exact question types they will face in the exam
  • Peer learning — let students share their generated videos and quiz results, creating a social study layer on top of the solo learning experience
  • Monetisation — a freemium model where basic video generation is free and advanced features (unlimited videos, Cantonese audio, teacher tools) are available via subscription

Reminder

Both login name and passwords of our demo link is "test"

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