Mirage Academy
Learn a new skill with an AI coach in your corner.
You answer first, get a hint whenever you need one and an explanation after every answer. Then you talk the idea through with an AI voice coach that pushes back and answers your questions. No more sitting stuck in front of a video.
- AI voice coach in every lesson
- Quizzes and assignments built in
- Certificate on your profile
Why did the trail-photo gallery fail to get used, based on what you just saw in that room?
- The button was placed in the wrong spot in the app
- The team built on their own excitement without ever asking a real hiker
- Hikers needed more time to find the new feature
- The design wasn't polished enough to attract users
- Not sure
- Fairly sure
- Very sure
Listen again to what Maya noticed. The excuses in the room were all about the feature's surface. She was pointing at something that happened long before the feature was built — or rather, something that never happened at all.
The ladder
Beginner to Master, one level at a time.
Every programme teaches one skill on the same 0–10 scale as your skill profile. The levels build on each other: what you make at one level becomes part of a final project.
- Level 0
- Level 1
- Level 2
- Level 3
- Level 4
- Level 5
- Level 6
- Level 7
- Level 8
- Level 9
- Level 10
- Beginner0–2
- Intermediate3–5
- Advanced6–8
- Master9–10
- Level 0–3
Foundations
Learn the basics and the words that go with them, and put each idea to work straight away in a small, guided piece of your own.
By the endYou can explain the core ideas and use them on a real task.
- Level 4–5
Application
Run the method on messy, real problems with constraints and trade-offs, again and again, until you trust it. Your results improve, and so do those of the people you work with.
By the endYou apply it with confidence and raise your team's work with it.
- Level 6–10
Mastery
Go deep into the principles behind the practice. Write it down, teach it, scale it across teams and set the direction others follow.
By the endYou stand out as an expert in your field and lead others in it.
Band names are the ones on your profile and your certificate.
How you learn
Built on how people actually learn.
A typical online course is built for watching: video first, a quiz at the end. The Academy is built on what learning research keeps finding: you remember more when you answer before you're told, explain it in your own words and come back to it over days.
Hear it and see it together
Every lesson is narrated in English or German, and designed slides and diagrams move on with the voice.
English · DeutschWhy it worksPeople understand an explanation better when the words come with matching pictures than from words alone.
Mayer, 2009
Answer before you're told
A question comes before every explanation. You say how sure you are and lock in your answer. Multiple choice is marked at once; written answers are checked by AI with a short note.
Graded automaticallyWhy it worksTrying to answer first, even wrongly, makes the explanation that follows stick better than reading it straight away.
Richland, Kornell & Kao, 2009; Kornell, Hays & Bjork, 2009
Never stuck on your own
Every question has a hint when you need one, and every answer comes with an explanation of why. If you were very sure and still wrong, the lesson points it out so you take a second look.
Hint · explanation · noteWhy it worksMistakes made with high confidence are the ones people correct best once they see the right answer.
Butterfield & Metcalfe, 2001
Explain it back to your coach
At the end of each lesson you teach the idea out loud to an AI voice coach, as if to the audience the lesson names. It asks follow-ups until your explanation holds.
Voice, with your consentWhy it worksExplaining an idea to someone else shows what you really understood and surfaces gaps you didn't know you had.
Chi et al., 1994; Fiorella & Mayer, 2013
Practise until it sticks
Every lesson has a small real assignment at your level and ends with a short chapter check. Your daily review brings each lesson's key idea back a day later, then at growing intervals.
Check · assignment · daily reviewWhy it worksRecalling an idea, spread over several days, beats re-reading it and beats cramming.
Roediger & Karpicke, 2006; Cepeda et al., 2006
Why it's different
Not another video course.
A video course hands you information and checks at the end whether some of it stayed. The Academy has you use it from the first minute.
Order
- Mirage Academy
- A question before every explanation
- Typical video course
- Video first, a quiz at the end
When you're stuck
- Mirage Academy
- A hint on the spot, an explanation after every answer, a coach to talk it through
- Typical video course
- Rewind the video or ask in a forum
Practice
- Mirage Academy
- Questions in every lesson, a chapter check, a real assignment and a daily review
- Typical video course
- A quiz per module
Speaking
- Mirage Academy
- You explain it out loud and get follow-up questions
- Typical video course
- You listen
Progress
- Mirage Academy
- Levels 0–10, on the same scale as your skill profile
- Typical video course
- Videos watched
Proof
- Mirage Academy
- A certificate with your confirmed levels, on your profile
- Typical video course
- A certificate for finishing
| Mirage Academy | Typical video course | |
|---|---|---|
| Order | A question before every explanation | Video first, a quiz at the end |
| When you're stuck | A hint on the spot, an explanation after every answer, a coach to talk it through | Rewind the video or ask in a forum |
| Practice | Questions in every lesson, a chapter check, a real assignment and a daily review | A quiz per module |
| Speaking | You explain it out loud and get follow-up questions | You listen |
| Progress | Levels 0–10, on the same scale as your skill profile | Videos watched |
| Proof | A certificate with your confirmed levels, on your profile | A certificate for finishing |
Inside a lesson
Six steps, in the same order every time.
Every lesson follows one rhythm, so you always know what comes next. Here is lesson 1 of Product Discovery 101 as it runs in the product.
- Step 1: SparkA short story opens on a real moment of failure, so you feel why the idea matters before you learn it.In Product Discovery 101“The Feature Nobody Opened”: a team's new photo gallery goes live, and almost nobody uses it.
- Step 2: Three practice roundsEach round sets a concrete problem and asks you first. The concept comes after you have tried, with a hint if you need one.In Product Discovery 101“Assumption or Evidence?”, “Following the Assumption Chain” and “Naming the Practice”.
- Step 3: Real workMake something real at your level. This is the work your level summary grades.In Product Discovery 101Write an assumption log for a real feature idea and circle the riskiest assumption.
- Step 4: Teach backExplain the idea out loud to the AI coach, as if to the audience the lesson names.In Product Discovery 101Explain to the engineer who built the gallery why it failed before any code was written.
- Step 5: ReflectionAnswer one open question about your own work and see what the next lesson builds on.In Product Discovery 101“What assumption were you treating as fact, and how would you have known if it was wrong?”
- Step 6: Chapter checkA short multiple-choice check on what the lesson taught, with an explanation for every answer. The next day, the key idea comes back in your daily review.In Product Discovery 101Daily review: “What makes product discovery different from testing a feature after it launches?”
Explain It to the Engineer
Imagine you're explaining to a skeptical Trailhead engineer — someone who just spent six weeks building the photo gallery and is proud of the clean code. In your own words, explain why the problem wasn't the code, and what an assumption log would have caught before they wrote a single line.
This is a voice conversation. Speak normally — there is no written transcript.
The AI coach
A sparring partner, not a lecture.
At the teach-back step you explain the lesson out loud, and the AI voice coach plays the audience the lesson names. Its job is to make your explanation hold up.
- It asks follow-up questions until your explanation holds up.
- It corrects what is wrong and explains it another way when you need it.
- Ask it anything about the lesson; it answers from the course material.
- It raises the challenge when it's easy for you and adds support when it's hard.
- It never grades you, and it starts only after you agree to the voice terms.
What you leave with
Proof you can show, not hours you sat through.
Your work is graded against the same skill rubric the rest of Mirage uses, and your certificate goes on your profile.
A certificate on your profile
Finish a programme and its chapter checks to earn a certificate with your confirmed levels and a verification code. It shows on your Mirage profile, and you can download it as a PDF.
Product discovery
On your profileA level summary in your own words
Strengths are quoted from what you wrote. Gaps are listed against the level's indicators, so you know what to practise next.
“First we check who has the problem and how we know.”
- Name the evidence
- Size the problem
FAQ
What learners ask us.
Who is the Mirage Academy for?
For anyone on Mirage who wants to get better at a skill. Every programme starts with the basics and builds level by level.
What do the levels mean?
Levels run from 0 to 10 in four bands: Beginner (0–2), Intermediate (3–5), Advanced (6–8) and Master (9–10). Your skill profile and your certificates use the same levels.
What can I ask the AI coach?
Anything about the lesson you are in. At the teach-back step you explain the idea out loud; the coach asks follow-up questions, corrects what is off, explains it another way and answers your questions from the course material. It never gives grades and starts only after you agree to the voice terms.
What if I get stuck?
Every question has a hint, and every answer, right or wrong, comes with an explanation. Written answers get a short AI note on what was right and what was missing. If you want to move on, you can skip straight to the reveal.
Are there quizzes and assignments?
Yes, in every lesson: a question before each explanation, a small real assignment at your level and a chapter check at the end. Your daily review brings earlier lessons back a day later and then at growing intervals.
How are my answers graded?
Multiple-choice answers are marked straight away. Written answers are checked by AI against the question as asked, with a short note on what was right and what was missing.
Which languages can I learn in?
Lessons are narrated in English or German, depending on the programme.
Where does my certificate show?
On your Mirage profile. Each certificate lists your confirmed skill levels and carries a verification code, and you can download it as a PDF.
Start with the skill you want next.
Create your free profile and open the Academy from your dashboard.