Educational Consultant

Pedro Cardeal

Digital Corporate Education · eLearning Operations · Learning Experience Design

15+ years transforming business needs into impactful digital educational solutions — from diagnosis to large-scale operations. I combine technical expertise in L&D, instructional design (ADDIE, SAM), and consultative client management to design learning experiences that deliver results.

Currently developing Questopia — an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) EdTech platform based on spaced repetition, gamification, and AI. A project tied to my master's research in Design at UFPE.

Approach

How I Work

My work always starts from diagnosis: understanding the client's context, mapping learner needs, and identifying the gaps between where they are and where they need to be. From there, I develop conceptual proposals and design educational solutions — learning paths, online courses, L&D programs — oriented around success metrics.

In 15 years designing learning experiences, I learned that impact lies at the intersection of pedagogical rigor and product thinking. The same techniques that work for teaching — reducing cognitive load, creating feedback loops, designing progressive journeys — work for engaging and retaining learners in large-scale educational operations.

I work with domestic and international clients in Portuguese, English, Spanish, and German, adapting educational solutions to different cultural and organizational contexts.

Own EdTech Platform

Questopia

EFL teaching platform based on spaced repetition, gamification, and AI

Status: MVP in iteration Role: Founder & Learning Designer Research: Master's project in Design — UFPE

The Educational Challenge

Teaching English as a foreign language in Brazil faces a structural retention problem. Students study vocabulary and grammar, are assessed periodically, and move on — without structured review. Cognitive science shows that spaced repetition is one of the most effective methods for long-term retention, but existing tools (like Anki) require discipline and autonomy that most learners cannot sustain on their own.

EFL Student

Low vocabulary and structure retention. Multiple activities competing for study time. Abandons solutions requiring significant setup effort or autonomous discipline.

Teacher / Language School

Time spent on recurring review activities. No data on student error patterns. Needs tools that complement (not replace) their pedagogical practice.

Diagnosis and Research

  • Qualitative research with English students to map study routines, barriers, and openness to review tools
  • Key insight: solutions that compete with free time get abandoned — review must fit into gaps between existing activities, preferably via channels students already use
  • Interviews with English teachers about workflow and operational pain points
  • Key insight: the tool must generate value for the teacher (error data, time savings) for them to adopt and recommend it to students

Educational Design Decisions

Short review sessions

Based on microlearning and spaced repetition principles. 5–10 minute sessions that fit into the routine without competing with other activities.

Assist the teacher, not replace them

A decision driven by research. The teacher is the adoption channel — if they perceive a threat to their role, they won't recommend it.

Focus on EFL for Portuguese speakers

Strategic pivot: an audience with genuine urgency (job market, travel, certifications), without compliance barriers or parental mediation.

Gamification + AI for personalization

Progression mechanics and immediate feedback for engagement. AI to adapt level and content to each learner's individual performance.

Iterations

Iteration 1 — Web MVP (Middle School)

First functional prototype at questopia.com.br, aimed at students ages 10–14. Initial tests revealed low adoption: the audience didn't have sufficient urgency to maintain engagement — spaced review competed with more appealing activities without a clear motivator. The audience also presented compliance and parental consent barriers for academic research.

Iteration 2 — EFL Pivot (current phase)

Strategic redirection toward English as a Foreign Language, serving Brazilian Portuguese speakers. The new audience is more accessible (young adults and adults), has genuine urgency (job market, certifications, exams), and doesn't run into parental consent issues — making it viable as a research project for the master's in Design at UFPE. The platform is live at english.questopia.com.br, currently in engagement testing and seeking active users to validate or invalidate the retention and adoption theses.

EdTech EFL / English Teaching Spaced Repetition Gamification AI in Education Instructional Design Academic Research
Reference Projects

Experience in Corporate and Digital Education

Large-Scale eLearning Operations

Teacher Training — Ministry of Education of Chile

International project · Partnership with Kyclos · 2017

Challenge: Teachers in Chile needed to adopt a new teaching methodology, but traditional training didn't scale and generated low retention.

Solution: Designed a training program applying instructional design and active learning principles — structured sessions, support materials, and post-training follow-up. Methodology personalization for the local cultural context, stakeholder management, and performance indicator tracking.

Result: Teachers trained at scale with effective adoption of the new methodology in the classroom. The program demonstrated that educational solutions work when experience design reduces the gap between learning and applying.

Large-Scale Training Instructional Design Stakeholder Management International Project
Social Impact Educational Program

Pro Criança — Educational Program Design

Social impact · 100+ students · 2019

Challenge: An existing educational program with low engagement and learning outcomes below expectations. It lacked a structured journey guiding participants from first contact to practical application.

Solution: Redesigned the educational journey focused on key value moments — clear onboarding, gradual progression, and continuous feedback. Applied learning psychology to reduce cognitive load and increase retention, with a curriculum focused on learner autonomy.

Result: Significant increase in engagement and completion, impacting 100+ students. The same principles of good educational design — reducing friction, creating early value, supporting the journey — apply to formal, corporate, and digital education.

Educational Design Learning Psychology Learner Journey

Other Deliverables

Research and Diagnosis

Xtrategie · 2025 – Present

Participant recruitment (B2B/B2C) and qualitative interview facilitation for data collection on needs, pain points, and behavior — a skill directly applicable to educational needs diagnosis.

Qualitative ResearchDiagnosis

Data and Process Analysis

Rede Brunfarma · 2024 – Present

Performance KPI analysis, process mapping (BPM), and report development to support strategic decision-making.

KPIsBPM