MathSuccess 2007

1

Intelligaia faced a stimulating challenge in developing a GUI intensive educational application.It covers topics in mathematics right from the basics like addition, subtraction etc to trigonometry and permutations and combinatorics.Hence, the target audience covered is children from elementary school to high school. Lot of emphasis was laid on concept clarity through extensive animation. The animation is supported by voice and text balloons.

Innovative lesson plans were incorporated to help students develop math skills in a quick and easy way.

The highlight of the product is peer learning in the form of avatars from different nationalities. The avatars have been illustrated and animated with novel gestures paying attention to the finer nuances of emotions.

The widgets in a very interesting and interactive way teach how to do things rather than learn things. These widgets have the added ability to print flash cards. These can be used as an effective learning tool. All the calculations are spoken in a robotic voice that is accent-neutral.

Technology

.Net Framework 2.0 and Macromedia Flash have been used to develop the application. Installshield was used to create different installs for different audiences. Different installs were created for Elementary, Middle, and High school levels. There is a Deluxe level that has all the levels.

Project Management

After consulting with the project sponsor, it was decided to develop the project lesson by lesson. An iterative approach was followed where one lesson's prototype was developed and approved by client and then the coding and development of the lesson would begin. While the coding for the first lesson was going on, the storyboarding for the second lesson would start. Hence effective and efficient use of time was made to ensure timely deliverables.

Patch delivery system was implemented at the company's site from where users could download software patches. These were done to fix bugs and improve usability and performance.

Effective communication was maintained with the client by using 37signals Basecamp tool.

Rapid Prototyping

Rapid prototyping was used to develop the different lessons. Each math concept had to be visualized and designed with animation effects. Rapid Prototyping was used as a working model that would help clarify the information requirements. The client could view the tangible design on the screen and point out instantly what was missing or needed to be enhanced. Once this was approved, it was 'frozen' as the final specification. This was then taken as the input for the development and coding phase.

Challenges

Product concept and visualization was refined through the course of development.
Designing the widgets was a daunting task keeping in mind the mathematical formulae that had to be explained to the children. At the same time the widgets had to be designed such that they were visually attractive and 'child- friendly'.
Extensive communication was required between flash animations embedded in C# application. Integrating the work of teams of animators from five different countries and adhering strict compliance with QA standards posed a major challenge.

Managing a team of programmers and designers to keep them motivated through the year-long project while meeting tight deadlines was a well-met challenge.

Future

We are now looking forward to selling this product on a global scale by translating and transcribing this into different languages.