STAGA's Evolution from Teacher-Led to Student-Driven Learning
About
STAGA is groundbreaking educational software designed to revolutionize music education. It offers a multilayered learning experience that fosters skill development, creativity, and collaboration, creating an educational experience that goes far beyond conventional methods.
The Task
Until now, STAGA has been used primarily in schools, where music teachers guided students through theory. In this update, we decided to transform the learning method by removing the dependency on teachers and empowering students to learn independently. My task was to create a new version of the product that enables students to learn music comprehensively without teacher assistance.
Process
We analyzed our user journey, mapped touchpoints, and interviewed teachers to identify where students needed them most. Our primary focus was creating a pathway for students to learn independently at their own pace—making the experience intuitive, engaging, and designed to prevent users from getting stuck. We also introduced a new persona: the parent.
Onboarding
We created a seamless parent-student onboarding flow from the moment of purchase through the beginning of the learning experience.
For parents: We designed a brief onboarding process focused on creating an account, understanding STAGA's educational approach, and familiarizing them with their administrative capabilities.
For students: We intentionally developed a quick, motivation-building onboarding experience that transitions automatically into the learning process, capitalizing on their initial enthusiasm.
Student Home
The student home serves as the landing page each time a student enters STAGA. Since the primary goal is to continue their learning journey, the main call-to-action prominently features "Continue Learning".
We display the overall course completion percentage along with specific details about their current position. To enhance engagement, we added a convenient shortcut allowing students to listen to and share their musical creations directly from the home screen.
Beyond structured learning, we introduced a "Playground" page where students can freely play, practice, create, and explore music outside the formal curriculum.
Learning Platform
We chose to integrate Genially into our product for the learning components, embedding interactive content directly within STAGA. Our curriculum approach divides music into four foundational layers: beat, harmony, bass, and melody.
Each layer contains multiple lessons, with every lesson further divided into sections delivering bite-sized learning content paired with practical exercises.
From a UX perspective, we implemented interactive presentations featuring guided narration supported by abundant visual elements—photos, animations, and musical examples. Navigation is intuitive, using arrow keys that allow students to move back and forth at their own pace.
Grid Exercise
Grid exercises provide guided practice where students fill in correct notes and beats within musical grids. These exercises begin with simple, single grids but progressively increase in complexity.
This component presented one of our greatest challenges. In previous versions, students needed to complete the entire grid correctly to succeed. We implemented two significant changes:
- Layer-by-layer submission: Once a student successfully completes a layer, it's locked in place.
- Comprehensive hint system: Each layer offers multiple levels of hints, ranging from subtle clues to near-complete solutions.
These improvements maintain educational value while significantly enhancing the user experience.
Creative Mode & Sharing
Creative Mode offers students an unrestricted environment where they can freely apply what they've learned to create original music. This feature allows students to save their compositions and share them with parents.
Based on user behavior analysis, we refined the interface to address two key issues: students forgetting to save their work, and others becoming so engrossed in creation that they spent excessive time making multiple tracks instead of continuing their learning journey. We implemented a streamlined workflow that limits students to creating one track per session with automatic saving functionality.
Parent View
As we developed the parent persona, we identified several key needs. Parents primarily want to track their child's progress, understand what they're learning, and observe their development in an intuitive, accessible way.
To address these needs, we granted parents access to the Playground, allowing them to experience the same creative environment their children enjoy. We also provided visibility into the lessons their children have completed.
The parent dashboard offers clear progress tracking with estimated course completion timelines, giving parents valuable insights without requiring technical music knowledge. This transforms music learning into a potential family experience.
STAGA, clearly.
What is STAGA?
STAGA is music education software. It teaches music through four layers - beat, harmony, bass and melody - and mixes skill building, creativity and collaboration.
What did this redesign change?
STAGA was used mostly in schools, with a music teacher guiding students through theory. The new version removes that dependency so students can learn music on their own, at their own pace.
What was Itamar Katan's role?
Itamar Katan was the product designer. His task was to create the new version of STAGA that lets students learn music without a teacher.
Who is the new version designed for?
Students who learn independently, plus a new persona: the parent. Parents get their own onboarding, a progress view and access to the Playground.
How does STAGA keep students from getting stuck?
In grid exercises, each layer locks in once it is correct, and every layer has several levels of hints, from a small clue to a near-complete answer.
How is the learning content delivered?
Lessons are interactive presentations built with Genially and embedded in STAGA. Each lesson is split into short sections with narration, visuals and a practical exercise.