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A Modular, Inclusive Career Readiness Ecosystem for Diverse Learners
Case Study
September 2025
Project Overview
Nudra is an inclusive, emotionally adaptive learning ecosystem designed to support diverse learners particularly those navigating neurodiversity, emotional dysregulation, and overstimulation in traditional academic systems. Built through deep user research and co-design workshops, Nudra empowers learners by addressing their emotional, cognitive, and social needs. The system was created as a response to widespread gaps in self-advocacy, peer support, and career readiness challenges commonly faced by students who don’t thrive in conventional, one-size-fits-all educational environments.
The word “Nudra,” derived from the Sanskrit word for “to weave,” reflects the project’s core philosophy: learning should be adaptive, collaborative, and personally meaningful. Nudra doesn’t ask learners to conform; instead, it bends to fit them.
Product
Career Readiness Ecosystem
Team
Ishita Banati, Diego Collazo, Prathamesh Patil, Priyanka Rajput, Mili Rathod
My Role
UX Research, Product Design, Visual Design
Timeline
10 weeks
Target Audience & Stakeholder Impact
Nudra is an inclusive, emotionally adaptive learning ecosystem designed to support diverse learners particularly those navigating neurodiversity, emotional dysregulation, and overstimulation in traditional academic systems. Built through deep user research, Nudra empowers learners by addressing their emotional, cognitive, and social needs. The system was created as a response to widespread gaps in career readiness challenges commonly faced by students who don’t thrive in conventional, one-size-fits-all educational environments. The word “Nudra,” derived from the Sanskrit word for “to weave,” reflects the project’s core philosophy: learning should be adaptive, collaborative, and personally meaningful. Nudra doesn’t ask learners to conform; instead, it bends to fit them.
Research & Insights
Our research process involved over 20 in-depth interviews with students, faculty, caregivers, and education leaders. We also conducted multiple surveys and used stakeholder empathy maps and ERAF frameworks, followed by an extensive affinitization process to surface high-level problem themes. This was further refined through a Fit Analysis exercise, where we mapped user pains, gains, and jobs-to-be-done to corresponding pain relievers, gain creators, and products and services.
One quote that deeply shaped the direction of Nudra came from a student who said,
72%
of students felt emotionally unsupported in classrooms. Many described school as “a place to perform, not to grow."
68%
of students said they wished there were more moments in class where they could reflect and be recognized beyond grades.
63%
of neurodivergent students shared that they often
suppress their real emotions to “get through” the academic day.
54%
of educators expressed that they lacked accessible tools for supporting students’ emotional needs.
Survey
Responses
108
Student
Responses
83
Teacher
Responses
18
07
Parent
Responses
25
Interview
Candidates
Student
Interviews
18
Teacher
Interviews
04
03
Parent
Interviews
I don’t want to be fixed, I want to be understood.
Problem Statement
How might we design a modular and inclusive learning experience that nurtures emotional growth, fosters peer connection, and empowers diverse learners, without relying on stigmatized systems or clinical diagnoses?
This question emerged as our North Star through extensive user research and ecosystem analysis. It captured the core challenge: reimagining career readiness not just as a functional process, but as a human, emotional, and inclusive journey.
North Stars: The Design Pillars
Solution: The Nudra Ecosystem
Enabling Inclusive Educators
Design tools that are intuitive, supportive of learning styles, giving facilitators confidence to support diverse students.
These pillars ensured that our UX design process was rooted in accessibility, agency and emotional intelligence.
Nudra is composed of three interconnected parts: Sprint, Tactyl, and Horizon. Each element plays a unique role in supporting learner development across emotional, academic, and real-world dimensions.
SPRINT
nudra
Sprint is a six-week modular program designed to build emotional intelligence, peer trust, and reflective habits. Each week focuses on a core theme such as empathy, bias, identity, and resilience and includes co-facilitated activities like empathy walks, reflection clapperboards, and narrative journaling. The curriculum allows students to participate both as learners and as peer mentors, shifting the classroom dynamic from transactional to relational.
HORIZON
nudra
Horizon is a digital platform that complements the physical program. It offers students a space for weekly emotional check-ins, goal setting, gratitude logging, and journaling. Horizon helps learners track their personal growth while building a digital portfolio of insights and intentions tools that extend beyond the classroom and into career preparation.
Empowering Every Learner
Prioritize autonomy, reflection, progress tracking to help learners build clarity and confidence in their unique career paths.
nudra
TACTYL
Tactyl is a physical toolkit given to each student. It contains tactile reflection objects, token-based prompts, and peer exchange tools that function as a form of “emotional currency.” Students earn and give Tactyls based on qualities like courage, curiosity, and kindness. The Tactyl replaces traditional incentives like grades or praise with a system that affirms emotional and social contributions in real-time.
Building Lifelong Connections
Embed social features that encourage collaboration, storytelling and replacing isolation with shared growth.
Testing, Feedback & Evolution
Nudra was tested with over 20 users through co-design validation cycles. Students participated in pilot versions of the Sprint modules, exchanged Tactyls, and logged reflections on Horizon prototypes. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Students reported feeling seen and safe. Educators noted a shift in classroom energy from performance-driven to curiosity-driven. We tested with:
Undergrad & grad students who identify as neurodivergent or have diverse learning preferences
Students who had previously participated in our research phase (surveys or interviews)
Individuals who could give us experience-based feedback on classroom-based learning
Nudra goes where learners grow,
and creates the space for them to thrive.
Business Model Canvas Highlights
Phygital + Personalized
= Scalable Inclusion
Nudra’s value proposition combines physical toolkits and a digital platform to deliver a 6-week modular experience that is both customizable and scalable. This hybrid format ensures learning adapts to the student.
Conclusion
Nudra challenges the notion that emotional safety and academic success must be separate. It provides a warm, non-clinical alternative to traditional learning models one that recognizes emotion as a core component of learning, not a distraction from it.
By weaving together physical toolkits, modular experiences, and digital reflection platforms, Nudra builds not just learners but future leaders who are grounded, collaborative, and self-aware.
Relationship-Centered
Learning Model
Nudra prioritizes emotional connection over instruction through peer buddies and 1:1 mentorship. This relational learning structure reflects our affirming spaces where learners grow with support, not pressure.
Designed for Real-World Impact & Integration
Nudra operates on a B2B model, partnering with educational institutions and hiring companies. It provides value by enhancing career placement while offering educators non-clinical tools that meet DEI benchmarks.
Ishita Banati
+1 912 (272) 6584
ishitabanati.work@gmail.com
Savannah, Georgia
© 2026 by Ishita Banati. Created on Wix Studio.
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