Purpose of the Project

• According to the PIRLS report (2006), out of 40 countries studied, standards of literacy in primary schools in England dropped from 3rd place in 2001 to 19th place in 2006.

• Research conducted in 2006 found the amount of time children spend playing computer games in the UK is amongst the highest internationally and this has been linked to low literacy achievements (Twist et al, 2007).

Digital Natives – Digital Immigrants

According to Mark Prensky, Digital natives are “native speakers” of the language of computers, video games and the Internet but are being taught by ‘digital immigrants’, those who grew up in a pre-digital age and therefore do not inherently speak or think the same way as digital natives.

1st Phase – Kick Starting the Project

1. Letter to local primary school headmaster requesting support.

2. Timeline and proposed schedule forwarded.

3. On acceptance, 1st interview arranged with key stakeholder (KS) where initial demonstration was given.

4. KS then mustered up as many teachers as he could for the first demonstration and a date was finalized.

2nd Phase – Prototype 1

1. First demonstration given to teachers. Questions and Answers ensued. Feedback of what they would like in the first prototype.

2. Based on the feedback from this first demonstration, the development of prototype 1 began.

NOTE: I also used resources being used in primary schools provided by the KS as well as my own research to inform the content of the level.

3. The 1st prototype was then demonstrated to the teachers and feedback was given.

3rd Phase – Prototype 2 to 4

1. The 2nd prototype was demonstrated to the teachers based on the first feedback and again feedback informed the next prototype. A questionnaire was given out based on this prototype.

2. The 3rd prototype was then demonstrated and again feedback informed the next – but penultimate final prototype.

3. The final prototype was based on the children’s feedback.

Final Phase – Conclusion

This project followed an iterative process which primarily followed the input of the teachers.

The final prototype also incorporated the feedback of the pupils which was then tested on them during observations.

The result was only on a qualitative level … but the teachers and pupils were happy with the prototype.

Some Pointers to Consider

Don’t underestimate the time it will take if your project requires observations … mine became threefold beyond estimated time! That ate into my data analysis time which suffered big time …

Do think ahead about what you plan to do for your project … I already had decided what I wanted to do a year in advance and started to develop my demonstrator level in good time ….

Mmnn … there’s a multitude of considerations dependent on your own project … but I would suggest that you plan as well ahead as you can.

Good luck to you all with your future studies …