“M” is for Mobile! Sesame Street Mobile Initiatives Anita Stewart, SVP Strategic Partnerships and Development Miles Ludwig, Managing Director Content Innovation Lab February 22, 2013 Education + Media + Muppets Everything we do shows our commitment to education, and uses mass media and Muppets to make the learning fun. Single largest informal educator of children in the world Denmark Netherlands Germany Northern Ireland Afghanistan China Palestine USA Spain Israel Japan Gulf Egypt Bangladesh Mexico Jordan India Ghana (teacher training) Colombia Indonesia Nigeria Brazil Tanzania Australia South Africa New Zealand Namibia Botswana Lesotho Swaziland 3 Achieving Maximum Reach and Impact Reach Radio TV Web PR & Advocacy On-Product Alternative Broadcast Messaging (EDUSAT) Technology Print Mobile Initiatives Alternative Community Viewing Visual Media Training & Child Care Center Initiatives 4 Sesame Educational Mobile Initiatives Mobile Research Educational Apps (U.S.) Radiophone (India) Let’s Get Ready! (China) 5 Joan Ganz Cooney Center Research 6 Joan Ganz Cooney Center Research Learning: Is there an app for that? (Oct. 2010) Implications for design and marketing of children’s mobile apps for learning: • Create apps that focus content narrowly within adevelopmentalagerange • Design content to be relevant to what children are already learning • Consider children’s evolving motor skills • Design for shorter playtimes • Provide goals and incentives: Keep kids coming back • Inform parents of the existence of quality educational apps and how to find them • Use familiar characters and brands to engage kids and gain the trust of their parents 7 Joan Ganz Cooney Center Research E-book QuickStudies (Sept. 2012) Implications for design and selection of children’s e-books: • Exercise caution when adding features to enhanced e- books, especially when they do not directly relate to story • Allow parents to access and control settings to customize the co-reading experience with their children • Parents and teachers should choose print or basic e- books to read with children if they want to prioritize literacy-building experiences over ones “just for fun” • Enhanced e-books may prompt less motivated young readers toward engagement when they might otherwise avoid text altogether 8 Sesame Digital Content & Research • Research informs development of all our digital content: • Reach 16.5 million kids and parents across digital platforms every quarter • Currently 60 live apps (iOS, Android, Chrome, Symbian, and Windows 7) • 5foreignlanguageapps(Dutch, German, Spanish, Hindi, and Mandarin) • Conducted over 70 studies on touch devices in various locations around the United States. • Formative research informs best practice guidelines: ever-adapting and evolving process 9 9 Research Best Practices: Do’s and Don’t’s • Text on Screen: • DO include accompanying visual clues • Text Highlighting: • DO it word-by-word • Interruptibility: • DO make unessential prompts interruptible, especially on replay • DO make introductions and instructions skippable after first use • DO make audio instructions short and precise • DON’T make it interruptible with storytelling—making text on a page uninterruptible increases a child's focus and story comprehension 10 Research Best Practices: Do’s and Don’t’s • Design of Experience: • DO consider limited dexterity of a child. Design in landscape view and utilize simple interaction gestures (swipe, tap, drag) • DON’T overcomplicate actions. Gestures like double tapping and pinching not intuitive for children • DON’T position hot spots along the bottom corners of the tablet because children rest their wrists • Time-Outs: • DO make them concise: 3–5 seconds (stories) 6–8 seconds (games) • Scaffold Wrong Answers: Menu Example: Monster At The • DO make wrong answers learning moments. We provide a 3-tiered End of This Book scaffolded support for children • Menu: • DO ensure a menu is accessible at all times. For a storybook, it is important to include a page-by-page index • DO ensure easy navigation forward and back with app or storybook Research Best Practices: Do’s and Don’t’s Tutorial Example: • Cross-Sell Pages: Monster At The • DON’T allow easy access—put this material in a "Parents" End of This Book section protected by a "baby gate" (i.e., an additional pop-up that asks for confirmation to leave page) • On-screen Tutorials: • DON’T hide these in a “Help” section—embed in an initial start-up screen • Easy Settings Controls: • DO allow user-friendly ways to control all settings (e.g., removing arrows for page turns or eliminating music, sound, and hot spots) Settings Example: Elmo’s Birthday Bash 12 Educational & Engaging: ABCs and 123s Elmo Loves ABCs Elmo Loves 123s Educational Goals Educational Goals • Letter identification (upper and lowercase) • Number identification • Letter sounds • Number tracing • Letter tracing • Counting groups of objects • Art and creativity • Addition and Subtraction • Music appreciation • Problem Solving • Art and creativity 13 More Than Letters and Numbers 1971 book 2010 app 1996 book 2011 app • Addressing social-emotional goals, facing fears, through digital (and print) experiences • Both have been number 1 in books in app store and winners of multiple awards (Parents’ 14 Choice Gold, Cynopsis Kids Imagination, Appy) Educational, Engaging, Innovative: Emerging Technologies Big Bird’s Words: Augmented Reality Text Recognition • Using tech to help kids search for and find words in their environment • Helps children develop deeper understanding of words around them • Assists with vocabulary acquisition 15 Radiophone Project (India) Phase I – Qualcomm Wireless Reach: Educational resources to children in migrant communities Technology: • Micromax A-70 loaded with GGSS app featuring songs, episodes, and storybooks • Also provides access to radio episodes on community radio station, via streaming Audience: • Phones provided to 10 families in Gurgaon (outside Delhi) - mothers share with children Working on Phase 2 • Literacy and math content for 40 families and 10 classrooms in Delhi on phones and tablets Training Mothers Children 4-9 16 Radiophone Project (India) Phase I – GGSS application Listen Read See Radiophone Project (India) Classroom Extension with The Restoring Force, via HSBC Technology: •MicromaxA-70providing access to radio episodes on community radio station, via streaming Audience: • Phones provided to 45 primary classroom teachers (grade one) in Gurgaon who share content with students Teachers Students 18 Radiophone Project Testimonials Shailendra, a listener from Chamba, Uttarakhand: “I charge my phone daily, to listen to the Galli Galli Sim Sim program at 3:30 PM. When my children don’t listen to me I talk to them about GGSS and try to set an example by doing the right things, myself.” Dipesh Kumar, Barua, a young listener at Bundelkhand:“Galli Galli Sim Sim program on radio is nice. I just called on the radio and told them that children should brush their teeth and go to school. They should have a bath in the morning before going to school and not get wet in this weather”. Educational Impact: Radiophone Project (India) • Positive impact on: • Understanding healthy routines • Hygiene behaviors • Pro-social behavior Purple Audacity, 2012. Qualitative Study on GGSS Radio Intervention, New Delhi. 20 Let’s Get Ready! Emergency Preparedness (China) What It Is: • Mobile extension of a community outreach program to help families and young children prepare for an emergency, with Qualcomm Wireless Reach • Launching later this year 21 Going Forward: Global Mobile Programs • Exploring new and innovative uses of mobile technology globally • Sesame Street: A World of Healthy Children- mobile key platform 22 THANK YOU!.