The Concept

icchāA learning platform that empowers refugees and volunteer tutors.

In Nepali, it means “a desire, a wish, a will”

Concept Goals:1. Help refugees gain English communication skills

2. Allow volunteers to rapidly create content

3. Equip refugees the opportunity to practice content during the week

icchā : Components

Web InterfaceDigital Component

Creating, Sharing & Viewing

iPod / mp3Physical Component

Portable, Sharing & Viewing

(Possible donation/fundraiser project)

FORGEIf icchā proves to be a valid concept, they are willing to buy more iPods in the future.

[informal] User Testing

Validating my concepts

3 refugee families have an iPod

Tutors have uploaded the playlists on the iPod

Tutors told me their desired content

Testing the concept

Challenges: have to use GarageBand, Image Search/Creation and iTunes

Capturing & simplifying the lessons: vocabulary vs. basic phrases

Creating the content

‣ Conveying clear concepts

‣ How to teach basic phrases through repetition

‣ Teaching verbs through a progression of files

Prepared the alphabet (A-G) and numbers (1-9)

Walked through the playlists

Re-visited this past Saturday, gave more content

Our visits to the family

‣ Tutor uses the iPod to teach material‣ Listen together, then correct pronunciation

‣ Family members help each other on their English‣ They share the iPod

‣ Synced iPod with new playlists‣ Received information about playlist/song usage

Super Analyzer [for itunes]

Super Analyzer [for itunes]

Find ways to analyze a playlist vs just the artist

Might be useful to tutors to see

Times of day, # of times played during the week (separate when I listened to them vs when the refugees listened to the songs)

Super Analyzer [for itunes]

Whatʼs Next

Next StepsFigure out how to extract iTunes data

Keep creating more playlists to explore the variety of information that can be captured

Interface wireframes, branding

Learn XML, find existing code