Proposal sample

February 2009

Planning Interactive Storybook

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents .............................................................................................................................. 1

Planning Phase of “The thief and Felfeli’s chicken” Interactive storybook .......................................... 1

I) Developing the Concept ................................................................................................................. 1

II) Scope and purpose ........................................................................................................................ 1

III) Learner characteristics ................................................................................................................. 2

IV) Constrains .................................................................................................................................... 2

V) Planning document ....................................................................................................................... 4

VIII) Treatment .................................................................................................................................. 4

IX) Specification ................................................................................................................................. 6

X) Style manual.................................................................................................................................. 9

XI) Sign off ......................................................................................................................................... 9

Planning Phase of “The thief and Felfeli’s chicken” Interactive storybook

I) Developing the Concept This is an interactive fiction story book for Iranian children 7-9 years old, written in English to help them learn new English vocabulary while they are having fun using this application.

II) Scope and purpose Main Goal: To Develop an interactive book for kids to have fun learning English.

Objectives:

• Users will be able to apply new English vocabulary in different situations. • Users will be able to read and comprehend simple English sentences. • Users will be able to develop positive attitudes to English. • Users will be able to have opportunity to experiment and notice language. • Users will be able to encounter new vocabulary and language. • Users will be able to enjoy the story and be keen to find out what happened in the story

as their decision consequences. • Users will be able to improve their critical thinking.


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III) Learner characteristics - Users age :kids 7-9 years old - Educational level: Primary schools - Gender

o Both boys and girls - Urban - Socioeconomic: varied - User location: Iran

User’s Basic abilities and Prerequisite skills

o Their mother natural language construction is completed and it should be cognitively developed.

o They can talk about what they are doing.

o They are able to retell the story.

o They can tell you about what they have done or heard.

o They can plan activities.

o They can argue for something and tell you why they think what they think.

o They can use logical reasoning.

o They can use their vivid imaginations.

o They can use a wide range of intonation patterns in their mother tongue.

o They can understand direct human interaction.

o They understand situations more quickly than they understand the language used.

o They use language skills long they are aware of them.

o They are very logical – what you say first happens first. ‘Before you turn off the light, put your book away’ can mean 1 turn off the light and then put your book away.

o They have a very short attention and concentration span.

o Young children love to play and learn, and learn best when they are enjoying themselves.

o Users should have basic computer skills like work with mouse (special kid mouse is recommended).

o Kids should be able to read simple text in English.

IV) Constrains Hardware


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Computers Minimum requirements: o Processor 200 MHz or more o Internet speed more than 56kb o 128 MB memory or more o 128 MB for graphic card or more o Flash player installed o Internet explorer

Software

It should be OS independent Budget Constraints

Considering audience population and market, and final price the budget constrain is about 40,000 RM. Learner’s intellectual aptitude is generally around average and they prefer visual and auditory learning. Kids are already motivated to use computers in order of learning tool.

Considerations for the Design of Instruction

o Pace: Learners have average learning pace.

o Practice: examples and lessons will be developed based on the fact that learners have no previous practice and experience in Persian language.

o Context of examples: Environments shown in movies should be familiar and understandable and tangible for users.

o Context of practice items: Learners may start specific exercises to solve their problem, therefore there should be a general introduction during first lessons start from easy and not technical level then it will be more difficult during each skill from start to end.

o Structure: main topics should be related to each other to be accessible and completely understandable for learners. Considering audience age media such as : sound, video and animated images that will help to have more interactive environment for kids are preferable.

o Medium: Due to user’s characteristics and topic, any media that can provide large screen to see details by learners is preferable.

o Response mode: users should have been satisfied with their results in new language learning. They should feel comfort and relaxed after doing each lesson with their kid.

o Number of examples: each lesson should contain at least 5 min sample training which will be done by trainer.

o Learner control: learner can start with their preferred exercises after passing general identification and know environment and general methods. Each lesson should provide tools for learners to navigate through lesson, go back and forward, play fast and this kind of controls.

o Vocabulary: Product should presents in English language for children who know English in average level, images tags and descriptions should be in English.


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o Reinforcement: using applauds and clapping voice to motivate and encourage kids to continue learning.

o Time: users should feel relaxed and comfortable to do practices correctly. Lessons should not be time consuming.

V) Planning document

Instructional Goal

To Develop an interactive book for kids to have fun learning English.

Project timeline

The project will be divided into twelve segments that will be completely developed for signoffs at weekly bases. This gives us ten weeks. Another two weeks for any change or delay that could happen during the project time. The completion of whole project will take 12 weeks

weeks 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Analysis and planning

Proposal Sign off

Storyline sign off

Character and interface design

Flowchart sign off

Story board sign off

Development phase1

Prototype sign off

Change and finalization

Staffing The carefully picked project members are: The project manager Two Instructional designers Two SME Two graphical designer A programmer

Table1-Planning document

VIII) Treatment Title’s Tone

This application aim to cover needs of medium level of competency learners, using A relax, enjoyment and fun images, it should met kids environmental characteristics such as being fun and easy to access and having a colourful interface which attracts kids attention and make


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them feel good and entertained while they are using it to learn something. Level of comprehension is average and learners, children with reading score of average or below average (the application will read all text so the complete level of reading skill is not compulsory), listening skill of average should be able to use application easily.

It assumes that users have basic knowledge of ICT and are able to work with computer, Mouse and CD ROM and can react to simple commands like click on picture and so on.

As a matter of fact instruction is vital for guiding learners in the right way, but it should be a combination of text, sound, and image because sometimes when kids cannot read, there should be something else or they may get lost in this new environment and as a result they will decide to finish their exploration sooner than what developer want them to finish it, it means before getting results and before learn something new.

Approach

Instruction: to instruct users in each page there will be a clickable character that kids can use to get instruction about each page activity for example character will guide them to click on the rabbit but for general usage of application like how to go forward/backward r use dictionary there will be a guidance at the start of the book before starting the reading. The interface has designed as simple as possible to avoid complexity and misunderstandings. Buttons will be designed big enough to be easily clickable and noticeable. There will be an interactive map to help them to find where they are in each step.

There will be a dictionary button in each page that user can use to look up the words or phrases on it, it will be an English to Farsi dictionary.

Metaphor

Although this is a mysterious story and main character is chasing his chicken, each page child will be one step closer to solving the maze, so it will be shown as puzzle pieces that will be completed at the end of the journey, user may print the complete picture at the end to colour it.

Emphasis

There are various multimedia elements in this application; sound should be clear and understandable, animation should be short and not distractible. Text should be readable.

Sound can play a very strong role in this case. As we mentioned before, our audiences are kids who are able to understand English but may not be able to read professionally so we need come up with something that solves this problem and it can’t be anything but sound.

Look and Feel

As mentioned above, this application is designed for kids therefore the overall look and feeling should met kids environmental characteristics such as being fun and easy to access and having a colourful interface which attracts kids attention and make them feel good and entertained while they are using it to learn something. To be more elaborate, everything should have some level of interaction like animated characters or for example buttons, as soon


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as kid rollovers a button, it would become alive and as kids love animation it would make the learning environment fun and more tolerable for learners.

Other than that, warm and joyful colours would be used in the application in order to bring joy into kids’ life when they want to spend their time in front of their PCs. As a matter of fact, interactivity should be in its highest level, because they are kids they are supposed to play and have fun and finally learn something. So, being interesting can be obtained by interactivity which would be possible by taking the advantage of Director or other multimedia software for sure.

Colourful, saturated colours, warm colours, easy control, cool, familiar environment, using a character as a friend, expressive tool, easy to learn are other compulsories.

Navigation button: Considering users age Navigation buttons should be big and completely recognizable using familiar and cognitive symbols for kids with saturated and eye catching colours like using right and left arrow button or question mark for Help button, preferably it should be read by the character. It’s been decided to use big buttons and a clear navigation for this application. This can help kids to like it more and make them feel more comfortable. Also buttons have short animation themselves o prevent kids to get bored.

Something else that should be considered is the need to a character for example an animal or puppet to communicate simpler with pupils, kids will learn better and feel more comfortable and environment will be more familiar through the using of the special character.

The character will start its relationship and connection with learners from the first time application is presented to them and will come along through all procedures, levels and make learning more fun and friendly. The character will be as interactive as possible to raise enthusiasm and kids’ motivations. Character Interactivity also will be useful in order to give kids control and prevent from any confuses that happens during usage of multiple characters.

IX) Specification Storyline

The storyline is originally based on an Old Persian storybook named “The thief and Felfeli’s chicken”, written by “Manouchehr Ehterami” but changed to an interactive fiction story using Hayes-Roth’s (1998) principles of interactive fiction and Volger (1998) “Hero’s Journey” as a starting point in constructing the storyline.

The literature guideline is based on guidelines for children’s books by Lukens (2003).

Playback System

Computers Minimum requirements:

o Processor 500 MHz o 100 MB hard drive o 128 MB memory o CD-R drive

(Note: Software is OS independent)


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Elements to be included The design of the screens; images and overall prototype navigation will be designed according the standards developed by Alessi and Trollip (2001). Sound: 44.100 KHz, 16 Bit stereo Graphic resolution: 16 bit colour Movie: size 800 x 600 at 16 bit colour Button: size about 10 x5 and react to user mouse over, animated flower can be used as navigation button inside story page. Two main navigation buttons on each page; bottom right with right arrow symbol to go to next page ,, bottom left with left arrow symbol to go to previous page. Contrast with background colour to be recognizable. Application navigation: There are 4 navigation icons and button in main pages.

• Home • Sound • Map • Help

3first navigations; home, sound, map will be shown under the text box with linear arrangement and help button will be placed on top right of the page that is familiar for the kids that used computer applications before.

Font: sanserif fonts that give user feeling of technology and multimedia interface. Colour: using maximum of 5 colours in a page, text colour and background colour of text box should have contrast.

Functionality

Main menu page consist of: Start , Explore map, about us, Exit

Stat button has linked to a pop up page about choosing character gender and cloths

Map is a pop up page showing whole map of Iran and explored and remained cities to user.

About us is text page describing client company.

Exit button has linked to pop up warning message to ask user confirm about leaving the application.

Once upon a time, there was a good kid named Felfeli

Map Sound

Main Menu


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• Buttons and navigation: As mentioned above, there are 4main navigation icons and two buttons to go forward/backward through pages. Home button: navigate to the main menu. Sound button: on press of this button, the sound can be turned off/on. If turned off, the icon will turn into a mute icon. User can also click on the text to ask for narration. Map: It will expand to a bigger map to show user where she is. Help: on click a expanded page will be shown to user to Instruct them through the page interactivity and how to use it.

• Text: If user double clicked the text narrator will read it.

• Easter eggs and hot spots: There will be at least 3-9 hot spots in each page; they shouldn’t be too much animated to prevent distracting of story flow, e.g. on mouse over of a bird it will fly from a branch of tree to other one.

• Characters: At the start of the book Character will be chosen by user either girl or boy and user can choose different traditional and modern cloths for character.

User Interface o First scene is a short intro about company and the story title and logo there is start

button to go right away to main menu. o Main menu page consist of: Play , User Instruction, Explore map, about us, Quit o Character choice page: By default it’s a boy with traditional cloths and user will

choose among characters by clicking on them, selected character will be shown by gray rectangle on their background as symbol of selected item.

Main Page:


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Figure 1-Main page

X) Style manual Logo should be placed in top left area of page.

Font style is sanserif fonts, Arial for story text with 18px size.

Navigation buttons are daisy flowers with orange yellow frame (#FECC08)

Placement of buttons: same as picture above.

Use of certain keyboard conventions: user can navigate and explore through application using mouse default function. Keyboard function is just F1 is a shortcut key for help and Esc for quit the page.

Help button should be an animated red (#ED1C24) question mark symbol placed in top right of all pages.

XI) Sign off

Lecturer's stamp/signature___________________