Saima's development marks a significant change in online learning.
Recently, the University of Michigan published an article highlighting Mat Sharafyan's journey and Saima's evolution from ideation to implementation. The piece highlights how personal challenges fueled innovation, leading to the creation of a tool that benefits a global audience.
This innovation is part of a broader trend where technology continues to reshape modern life. Be it communication or healthcare, commerce or education—every aspect of modern life has changed due to technological advancements. With artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation, our experiences become more personalized and efficient, transforming the way we process huge volumes of information. These developments are particularly significant in online learning, where they improve accessibility and engagement for non-native speakers and diverse learners.
How it All Started
Any concept emerges from a certain issue or a demand. And the inspiration behind Saima also emerged from a real challenge. We all remember the wretched 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic forced educational institutions to quickly adopt online learning. This shift had caught an Armenian student, Mat Sharafyan, as he embarked on his Master of Applied Data Science at the University of Michigan, taking him out of traditional classroom settings and presenting unforeseen challenges of distance learning, including language barriers and concentration issues.
As a non-native English speaker, Mat found himself frequently adjusting the playback speed of recorded lectures, striving to balance comprehension with efficiency. The constant toggling—slowing down for complex segments and speeding through familiar content—proved overwhelming and time-consuming. An hour-long lecture could take three hours of study. This inefficiency impelled Mnatsakan to develop a solution that could unite the pace of information delivery and individual speeds of cognitive processes. Acknowledging that all non-native English speakers globally (who, according to statistics, are about 1.1 billion people) might face similar difficulties, Mat and his co-founder decided to research the field and look for ways to address this challenge.
Engaging coursework and a collaboration with a neuroscientist inspired Mat to conceptualize Saima, the world's first AI-based personalized adaptive speed solution. Unlike traditional playback speed functionalities, this innovative Chrome extension uses artificial intelligence to dynamically adjust video playback speeds, ensuring a consistent and optimal words-per-minute rate tailored to each user's comprehension abilities. Saima analyzes speech patterns, speeding up through pauses and slowing down during complex informational segments, minimizing the need for manual adjustments.
How Saima Shapes New Language Learning Experience
Saima's development marks a significant change in online learning. While traditional educational models with a one-size-fits-all approach often limit individuals with diverse linguistic backgrounds or learning preferences, Saima offers a customizable learning experience, acknowledging that comprehension rates vary across individuals. This personalization not only enhances understanding and focus but also ensures that language barriers do not disturb educational processes. Over one hundred users of institutions like the University of Michigan and UC Berkeley, where Saima launched its beta version in 2022, gave positive feedback, stating this speed controller helped students understand lectures delivered by non-native professors and simplified their academic journey. Based on users’ feedback, Mat and his co-founder Shushan worked on improving the tool and launched a free version of Saima and its paid subscription plans as a Chrome extension.
As a result of cooperation with a professor of neuroscience, Mat’s team went beyond simply assisting non-native English speakers, making Saima a valuable tool for various learner demographics because, as we know, the consumption of information and its digestion involve cognitive processes. For instance, students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can benefit from the "focus boost" feature, which increases playback speed to maintain engagement and reduce cognitive drift. By removing prolonged silences and maintaining consistent audio levels, Saima helps stay focused and facilitates better information retention.
Saima's extensive influence is significantly transforming contemporary education. With more educational content moving online, we need tools that adapt to individual learning. Saima is an example of how technology fills in understanding gaps, making learning more efficient and accessible. Users of YouTube, Coursera, and Udemy have noticed that the integration of Saima into these platforms promotes a more interactive and responsive educational process. By aligning the pace of content delivery with the learner's cognitive rhythm, Saima not only enhances comprehension but also empowers students to take control of their learning journeys.
At its core, Saima signifies a transformation towards individualized education rather than simply being a technological advancement. Through addressing the unique challenges faced by non-native speakers and other learners, it paves the way for a more inclusive and effective online learning environment. Mat’s journey from a struggling student to an innovator serves as a testament to how personal challenges can inspire solutions that resonate on a global scale.