Introduction

TVO is an Ontario based company that offers a wide variety of children’s game and educational material on their website for free. Ontario has one of the largest immigrant populations in Canada, and TVO recognises that Newcomers often need more support to integrate their children into an English speaking environment. As a result, TVO has decided to launch a project to develop a tablet based app to teach English to children from the ages of 5 - 13 years old. With a game-like concept — the goal is to create a fun, exciting, yet educational experience that will keep children motivated to learn English and build on language skills they will encounter in their everyday lives.

Kitty-Cat Chat has identified and targeted three skill sets that the app will focus on: vocabulary, using that vocabulary in realistic scenarios, and reading and listening comprehension. Our product will focus on common words and names for things such as greetings, clothes, foods, holidays, weather, and more.

The initial development of version one of the product is estimated to span a year, however product updates are planned in bi-annual installments to load the app with new lessons and vocabulary to keep the information relevant and exciting to the players needs.

Game Concept

The game play is fairly simplistic: the child will be able to choose the age bracket appropriate to them and choose the category they would like to focus on (food, weather, etc). The child will then be able to choose a cat based avatar as their “player”. The child will then go through a series of vocabulary exercises focused on memorisation and pronunciation. Once that level is cleared, the player will enter a role-play like scenario where a NPC will ask the player questions using vocabulary that was just taught to the player.

The goal is to simulate a practical conversation so a child can see how the words and phrases are used in daily life. At the end of the question based round, a paragraph will appear accompanied by a pre-recorded voice that summarises the interaction that the child just played through. This will encourage reading and listening skills to the child, in addition to repeating the lessons just learned. The player will earn points for every successful level cleared, and those points can be used towards buying the cat avatar clothing items to customise their look. This element is to introduce a reward concept for the player, further motivating their progress through the levels.

About the Organization

TV Ontario is publicly funded by the Province of Ontario and supported by thousand of charity sponsors and donors. TVO provides digital education content that supports learning inside and outside of the classroom, and they believe learning will change lives and the world. TVO creates efficient contents that covering on Ontario Curriculum for preschool and school aged students to support their learning. TVO has some channels such as:

• TVO Kids: to help children for early success in life and school.
• TVO mPower: to develop a positive attitude toward math for K-6 students.
• TVO Mathify: free one-on-one online after-school math tutoring for grades 6-10 students.
• TVO ILC: Ontario’s largest online high school that enables students to earn credits towards their OSSD.
• TVO Current Affairs: it gives journalistic content to inform Ontario issues.
• TVO Documentaries: it provides social, political and current affairs documentaries.

Target Audidence & Persona

Children (Primary User)

Children ages 5 - 13 will be the primary demographic for Kitty-Cat Chat. As the number of New Canadian families expands, there will be an increased need to practice speaking, reading, listening, and writing amongst children, to build their vocabulary and grammar skills. With the addition of fun activities guided by AI characters, children will find an encouraging and exciting environment to practise their new English vocabulary.

Parents (Secondary User)

Parents, typical within the age range of 25-45, are the secondary users to Kitty-Cat Chat. They will need to download, set up accounts, settings, and have the opptorunity to give feedback based on their child's experience with Kitty-Cat Chat. Parents will have access to analytics so they can help guide their children in their lessons, to keep track of words learned, and monitor if weekly goals have been reached.

Target audidence is children from 5 to 13 years old. Users should have a certain foundational level in English to navigate the Kitty-Cat Chat application. Access to tablet or mobile phone is needed.

Activities and Objectives

Activites

• Word games (word and image association, etc)
• Conversation practice between AI Buddy and child
• Sentence repetition for point rewards
• Story adventures to promote reading comprehension

Objectives

• Through word games, children will gradually build up a robust English vocabulary.
• Improve children's reading and pronunciation skills through sentence repetition.
• Activites will engage children’s enthusiasm and curiosity through dialogue exercises with the AI character, while also improving the child’s overall confidence.
• Cultivate children's independent learning ability through APP and reduce pressure placed on parents to tutor or supplement their child's education.

Navigation Stucture

Application Features

Kitty-Cat Chat is an educational application to encourage English literacy as a second language for children of new Candian families.

1. Engagment with AI characters
   • Conversational environment to learn vocabulary with an AI partner
   • Set up practice reminders to help promote consistency and maintain knowledge
2. Select Vocabulary Category
   • Users can choose their appropriate age group, as well as the category they would like to practise: such as food, music, culture, etc…
   • A positive way for a child to familiarize themselves with Canadian culture, local food, music, etc...
3. Learn while Playing
   • Gamification of traditional education excercises, such as filling in the blanks in sentences with provided vocabulary words.
   • A reward system that allocates points so the user may buy clothing items to dress up their AI character to provide motivatation and positive reinforcemenrt.

Competitors

Duolingo

(https://en.duolingo.com/)

Learn a new language with the world’s most-downloaded education app! Duolingo is the fun, free app for learning 35+ languages through quick, bite-sized lessons.

Target Users: 4 - 15 ages

Positives

• Offers a wide range of languages and topics to learners
• Provides free high-quality language education
• Available anywhere without internet access
• The colours and illustrations are friendly and engaging

Negatives

• Duolingo's family sharing feature is difficult to set-up
• No filtering available for specific vocabulary lessons
• No social element
• No opportunities to self-correct
• A lack of writing practice

Design Approach

The Logo for Kitty-Cat Chat is a based on the template face of the in-game AI buddy. The speech bubble emphasis the exercise of repeating learned vocabulary words. The colours are bright and fun to attract the attention of children.

Interface Mock-Up

In this mock-up is an example of a question that the player will encounter. Chutian has chosen to practise the “Greetings” category and her buddy is asking her questions where she will have to choose the correct answer based on the lesson she learned previously.