Educational Application

Small steps on a long way

Appolinary Zakharov, Alexei Popov, Mikhail Medvedev, Irina Grishina, Gennady Dobrynin, Michael Kogan, Vsevolod Pankov, Danila Ivanov, Vladimir Molodkina Viatcheslav Nechvolodov, Ruslan Iskandarov and students of grammar school № 1290, Moscow.

Step One. An Idea

Today mobile technology progressively penetrate to our every-day lives.Children are able to use modern gadgets before they can walk.

It was decided to create an educational app that will not only entertain but also teach.

We start with a simple thing - the multiplication table.

Step Two. Image.By reference to the wishes of children there have been created many concept art images of a teacher.

Step Two. Image.

As a result we got the image that we know.By interviewing children in the focus groups the name of our virtual teacher was chosen. Ms.Agness Weiss.

Step Three. Implementation.

At this stage, we created 3D-model of the character, recorded all required phrases and created the application code.

Step Three. Implementation.

Since the main target audience of the project are the children, the emphasis was placed on simplicity of operation. For this we used the speech recognition technology. No extra buttons - just the voice!

Step Three. Implementation.

Parallel with the preparation for release we launched focus groups in social networks. For various age groups we created a lot of unique content which can significantly expand a person’s outlook.

Step Three. Implementation.Some facts and figures:1. Eighteen month of hard, continuous work;2. Two teams of developers and more than 20 people in outsourcing3. The voice was recorded over six times.4. More than 120 character animations5. Initial size of the application was about 1 Gb6. In the course of character’ 3D model optimization we have reduced

the number of bones from 270 to 70;7. Geography of the project participants: Moscow, Novorossiysk, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Ireland, America;8. Three times we faced with problems which put the realization in question;9. Budget - what is made with love can’t be measured with money!

Step Four. Release.

It was decided to release the Application in April 2013.It was important to see how the audience will meet our "Teacher."

Step Four. Release.

Reviews of the application speak for themselves.

Step Four. Release.

On social network sites competitions are held in which children show their talents of writers and artists. Winners meet with Ms. Agness Weiss and receive prizes.

Step. Five. Future Plans.

Especially for the new academic year, we have updated the application. In the future we plan toexpand the subjects studied. We will not be limited to mathematics. Next in line are Russian language, geography, history and much more! We want Ms. Agness Weiss to become a real friend to children, a friend who will not just entertains, but also helps to get education!