Initial idea update: so far the app Alphabet Magic (app name, but I may change this down the line ) will be an app that focuses on understanding the alphabet and letter sounds, the concept of the app revolves around a popular teaching technique called Orton–Gillingham Method used to teach dyslexic children, how to read by focusing on the connection between letters and their sounds. The premise is more or less the same as it will work with alphabet cards, where the users can point their devices to the cards and a letter or word will pop up, users will be able to interact with the letter /word by tapping on it to hear the pronunciation/letter sound.
This week I decided to sketch out the two main features of the app, letters and words. At first both these aspects would have been in one AR experience but I felt this will make the ar experience too overwhelming, another concept was to have the ar experience work on both sides of the cards but this probably wouldn’t work as the users would have had to keep flipping the card and the whole user experience would probably not have worked very well. So splitting it into separate features will probably be more efficient. However, I am planning on testing these two features just to double check it works well.
During this week I collected all my secondary research and put it in a padlet, this really helped with organising the research and also pinpointing some priorities for the app.
With the research, I gave myself some questions to remind myself and answer to help more with creating the AR experience
What are the target audience’s interests, and behaviours?
Interest
Through research and websites such as starting blocks.gov that highlight signs of child development, I found kids around this age tend to love toys, and animals, be creative, and show enjoyment in success such as getting answers or questions right.
Behaviours
Specifically for children with dyslexia, some children may show behaviour such as
Difficulty learning to sing or recite the alphabet
Difficulty keeping a simple rhythm
Confused by letters which look similar, particularly b/d, p/g, p/q, n/u, m/w
Difficulty paying attention, sitting still, listening to stories
Poor auditory discrimination
From this, I was able to make two user personas Alex where I was able to narrow down some pain points/challenges this helped a lot as I felt like I was getting to know my users a bit more
From here I moved on to Ideation, I made a mindmap and placed all my ideas in one place trying to figure out what would be the main priority for the AR experience, but also trying to take into consideration limitations such as timing and coding.
Throughout this process, I had to keep in mind my users for example within the user’s personas Alex struggles with phonics awareness so audio cues of pronunciations of letters and words should be key. Furthermore teaching methods that I found through research such as the Orton–Gillingham Method used to teach children with dyslexia how to read focus on the connection between letters and their sounds, as a result, children can assign more meaning to the language and develop better overall comprehension, therefore the ar experience may best work revolving around this existing method of teaching to children with dyslexia.
Animations will make the ar experience more enjoyable but too many animations may be distracting and take away from the experience, for example, the user persona Sophia gets easily distracted so a small number of animations may be a good solution for this.
Another Idea was to include gamification of AR elements, while this idea could prove to be very beneficial I have to take into consideration timing as there are 26 letters and words to get through and also figuring out how this gamification may work (it sounds a bit difficult to code)
So after all the brainstorming, the main features of the AR experience will include
will work using Alphabet flashcards
overlay for letters
an overlay objects /words
Audio cues of pronunciation of words/letters
small animated visuals that may come from the letters and words
I also believe not having too many features within the app will make this a bit more achievable and also make the learning journey less overwhelming. Something I should note is this process was all based on Secondary research, however, I am trying to see If I can gather my own primary research by reaching out to charities teachers/specialists at this point I have not found anyone yet, but I am still looking.
This week I decided to play around with swift/reality-composer and reality kit to try to feel a bit comfortable using it to create the app. I think I’ll plan to play around a bit more to try more complex things to feel more comfortable
This was an image target AR application made using reality composer when the camera comes into view with the image target the 3d model pops up, I’ve also added some behaviours where once you tap the screen the 3d object hops.
this was coded in swift using reality kit, here I was just trying to figure out tap gestures, so once you tap the 3d object it changes colour.
Time management
SMART GOALS
Specific
I want to make an app that uses AR to augment alphabet flashcards to help make learning the alphabet for kids have dyslexia more enjoyable and engaging and exciting.
Where: In London
How: I want to make an app using swift, reality kit and blender that works on alphabet cards.
When: June 6th 2023
With whom: alone
Measurable: In order to evaluate my progress I’ve created goals to be met weekly to ensure I keep track of my progress. I’ve ensured these goals are attainable but also small and simple goals to prevent me from being too overwhelmed with a task.
Achievable: In order to make my goals achievable, I have been practising using swift, reality kit, experimenting with AR, and practising using blender to create 3D models to be used in the experience.
Relevant: Dyslexia is a very common learning disability and many children are faced with the challenges that dyslexia can bring.
Time-bound: 3 months
At this point, I don’t think I can do a full MoSoCow analysis just yet as I am still thinking about how the AR experience will work and what should be prioritised but I know the Mo(Must have) section should contain
This week I’d like to focus on user research and developing the AR experience more specifically how it will work
AR experience
so far
The experience will be an AR image target application in which users will use alphabet cards.
The experience will include visuals
After trying out both unity and swift arkit I have decided to use arkit with reality composer, I’m also familiar with the Xcode interface, unlike unity so I feel a bit more comfortable using this software.
what to figure out
How to make the experience benefiting for teachers and children with dyslexia ( for example simple and user-friendly UI )
Should I make my own alphabet cards or use pre-existing ones ( I may go for the second option due to timing )
How to make the experience simple but effective I do not want too many complex features within the experience due to timing as there are 24 letters to get through and also my own personal abilities.
ipad or iphone an AR experience may be better on an Ipad however I do not own one so it would be hard to test out the experience so it may be best to stick with Iphone.
