Pangea Chat is a social messaging platform that lets students learn a language while texting their friends and helps teachers implement communicative pedagogies within beginner-level language courses.
Using advances in natural language processing and game design, our solution offers a low-stress and high-support environment for beginner-level students to learn languages through authentic text conversations. With a combination of in-app materials and guiding teacher instruction, Pangea Chat facilitates communication and helps students develop more advanced language proficiency.
We are in the midst of a research and development project funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) grant.
The new system will provide automatic Diagnostic Language Assessment within the context of open-ended text chats. This Intelligent Language Learning Environment will automatically a) form hypotheses about student strengths and weaknesses and b) test these hypotheses with system-generated practice activities. The machine learning algorithms used in Pangea Chat will be trained on chat data and previous activity scores to predict future activity scores with increasing accuracy. The initial goal is to triangulate these data points to deliver engaging and well-leveled practice games. Long-term, we plan to produce Diagnostic Language Assessments solely from open-ended and authentic conversations.
NSF has awarded Pangea Chat this grant based on the intellectual merit of the proposed technology and potential for broad social and commercial impact of the product. In Phase I, we have 12 months to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed innovation and, in Phase II, up to 24 funded months to scale and commercialize.
We are looking for a Backend Developer who is as passionate about clean and scalable code as they are about game design and language learning. The position is remote optional. You will be one of the first full-time hires, supported by technical advisors and the founding team. There is considerable room for growth and professional development.