6 - "Continue Prototyping" Software Revised and Elaborated

So far the main focus of the design has been on the physical console, and not so much on the software that will run on it. So we decided that it was time to think about the software that we want to have on the console in detail, as this is where the true purpose of the console will come from. Our aim all along has been to make the console educational and fun, so we want the applications on the product to fulfil this goal. Previously we had stated decided on 6 areas of software that would be useful, to recap they were;

• Games
• Stories
• Drawing
• Music and Nursery Rhymes
• Numbers and Counting
• Camera

After review of this we decided revision was in order. The first section ‘Games’ was initially introduced mostly because we thought children like games, so it was pretty much taken for granted that they should be on there. But after thinking more about what the software would be it became apparent that we had no useful ideas to go in this section that would have any kind of educational use, that would not be better placed in another one of the sections. Hence this section was removed, as each of the others will be composed of educational games, making it somewhat redundant. We do not want to just provide pointless games because we can, they would distract from the educational games and detract from the overall goal of the product.

We also thought of having an alphabet and words program and a colouring-in program, as these are logic compliment to the numbers and counting and drawing programs respectively. Another addition is to be a picture gallery where the user can view pictures they have taken with the camera.

After these changes the new list of applications looks like so;

• Stories and Nursery Rhymes (Nursery Rhymes has been moved, as it fits better with stories than music)
• Drawing
• Colouring In
• Alphabet and Words
• Numbers and Counting
• Music
• Camera
• Gallery

As you can see the number of applications has increased from 6 to 8, so will no longer fit on the 6 buttons of the current design, so we may have to increase the number of buttons accordingly, as further grouping the programs will become confusing.

Now it is worth describing in more detail the reasons why we have chosen the application types that we have, as we have not really done that in any detail so far. We have tried to provide programs that will be educational and be entertaining. The reason for the range of programs is intended to span a wide range of the skill sets and the types of things that children learn within the age range of the product.

Stories and Nursery Rhymes:

This application will read stories and play nursery rhymes aloud to the user while showing them the text that is being output. This is basically an emulation of what many parents do with their children, they read books with them pointing out the words and trying to familiarise the child with written text. It is to encourage reading or at least make the concept of written language more understandable and familiar.

Drawing:

This application is one of the least directly educational programs, as drawing is not generally seen as particularly educational, but it certainly has its merits. By having the drawing be done using a stylus it will help to develop the child’s motor control of their hands and pens in general, and will greatly aid their competence in terms of writing and drawing ability. Drawing also acts as an outlet channelling children’s active minds and encourages creative thinking.

Colouring-In:

The purpose of this application is largely the same as the above drawing one, but further encourages development of pen skills as it asks the user to follow specific areas.

Alphabet and words:

This application has one of the more obvious educational uses, as it will be designed to specifically test and teach literacy and writing skills. It will do things like provide the user with an image and ask them to write what it is called, or ask them to reproduce words or letters, things along these lines.

Numbers and Counting:

Again the educational use of this application is quite obvious, it will be designed to specifically test and teach arithmetic and numeracy. It will do things like provide the user with an image and ask them to count how many of certain things there are, or ask them to select the answer to a presented arithmetic problem and other things along these lines.

Music:

This application will provide the user with a virtual keyboard and allow them to play their own music, as well as having the option to play along with children’s songs, being shown the notes. This would encourage a familiarity with music and the child to express creativity in another way.

Camera and Gallery:

This application has the least real educational use and is more for fun and largely because cameras are cheap and quite standard to put on products like ours. It does have merit though; it will encourage social interaction, exploration and other healthy outbound behaviour. Obviously the gallery is just to view the photos that the child has taken.

The above talks almost exclusively about the educational uses of the applications, as we largely consider those the most important, or at least the most difficult to achieve. In terms of entertainment the drawing, camera, music and stories and nursery rhymes should have clear entertainment values. The alphabet and words and numbers and counting will be made fun by having all of the challenges as much game like as possible. The entertainment value of these will largely be based on the individual user’s preferences though, as all children are likely to enjoy each to different extents. This is one of the benefits in having a variety of applications that span a range of skills and challenges, as different users will hopefully find enjoyment in some parts of it.