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The TERENCE project is a 7th European Framework Program (FP7) Information Communication- Technology (ICT) Specific Targeted research Project (STReP).
14 partners are participating from 8 countries in the project, led by the University of L'Aquila with the goal to develop an interactive and adaptive e-Learning system to help 6-12 year old children with text comprehension difficulties in improving their skills. The effect of the system will be tested on Italian and English children.
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| The goal of the project is the development of an interactive storybook and a pedagogic tool at once. The base of the project is consisted of the following elements: |
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STORIES
The stories were particularly written for this purpose in both English and in Italian with special attention to the cultural peculiarities of the target audience.
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AVATARS
Children are accompanied by these figures who act as virtual friends helping the kids with the tasks by giving them playful feedback about their performance. The characters, their looks and the way it changes, improves is in relation with the improvement of the players.
Currently there are 5 avatars, each of which were designed based on children's characteristics of the target countries, so everyone finds one to like. Children are offered to choose one at the beginning of the game.
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GAMES
Each story is followed by a comprehension checklist, which is focused on the understanding of chronological order and the cause and effect in the story. The package is made of different type of games, each of which feedback system is based on generating a success feeling for the child: the avatars play a key role in.
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ADAPTIVE SYSTEM
Beyond the software the goal of the development is an adaptive learning system which is capable of understanding a child's comprehension level from his reactions and reading speed and is able to react dynamically respond to it. It would generate the following story based on the previous information.
To see a demo of the system in action please click here.
The Creative Technology Lab of MOME is leading the WP5, devoted to the development of the visuals and the user interface. Our tasks are:
- creating illustrations to the stories,
- designing and illustrating smart games and relaxing games,
- designing the graphical user interface.
The project was launched on 2010.10.1, with a time span of 3 years and a total budget of 2,730,828 Euros.
You can read more on the TERENCE official website: http://www.terenceproject.eu/ |
