Playful Words

While there are a number of literacy technology solutions developed for individuals, the role of social--or networked--literacy learning is less explored. We believe that literacy is inherently a social activity that is best learned within a supportive community network, including peers, teachers, and parents. By designing an approach that is child-driven and machine-guided, we hope to empower human learning networks in order to establish an engaging and effective medium for literacy development while enhancing personal, creative, and expressive interactions within communities. We are planning to pilot and deploy our system initially in the Boston area, with eventual focus on low-income families where the need for literacy support is particularly acute. We aim to create a cross-age peer-tutoring program to engage students from different communities in socially collaborative, self-expressive, and playful literacy learning opportunities via mobile devices.