Empowering the child is Edmark's mission.
Donna Stanger, Vice President of Development for the Redmond, Washington-based educational software company, says that her current winning software philosophy was actually borne of frustration. Kids, she discovered, were not in control.
"About 15 years ago, I started thinking about existing educational software, and realized there were very few titles that placed the locus of control with the child," she says. Stanger says she stayed up late one evening, rolling the idea around in her head, and typed up some frustrations. These notes became the basis for a federal grant to develop software which would enable children to think about and solve problems. "For educational software to be effective, I realized, the computer had to have the ability to interact with the child," she says.
Her frustrations have spawned a successful product line which includes 10 titles, many of which have won educational awards, and 22 separate products sold on the Macintosh and Windows platforms. Interaction has been Stanger's stock-in-trade since the '70s, when personal computing was in its infancy and computers were little more than teletype machines, she says.
Stanger earned her MA in Education from the University of Minnesota, and supplements her current work as Edmark's Vice President of Product Development with 20 years of teaching experience. Her formal career developing educational software began in 1978, and her products have been recognized with over 75 educational awards. In 1991, she met Sally Narodick, Edmark's CEO, at a technology conference, and says she quickly realized their parallel moves toward the consumer market would be more effective if they joined forces.
Joining
Forces
Edmark had been a leader in educational materials for schools
since 1970, and Narodick was eager to explore the potential of producing
educational software titles for the consumer market. "Sally and I hit it off,
and she convinced me to move from Minnesota to Seattle," Stanger remembers.
"My youngest child had just graduated from high school, so I was at a point
in my life where I could make a decision to make a big move, plus there's
Seattle, and everything I love: forests, trees, streams." Luckily for
Edmark, many members of Stanger's creative team also eagerly moved to
Seattle; she was able to bring six people with her, some of whom she had
worked with since their high school days.
Since venturing into the consumer market in 1992, Edmark has been honored with 54 educational software awards like the MacUser Magazine Editor's Choice for Best Children's Program the Software Publisher's Association's Codie Awards for Best Early Learning Program and Best Educational Tool. Titles like "Thinkin' Things" and "Millie's Math House" were designed to apply technology to accomplish educational goals, Stanger says. The development teams work closely with schools and follow curriculum standards issued by various national education committees. The product line is designed for children, ages two to 12.
Quality, with a capital cursive Q
"We're tremendously committed
to quality. Inspiration for our titles comes from children's needs, and
sometimes from parent's needs. Each project dictates its own requirements,"
she says. "We don't do huge field testing. We're very lucky in that our staff
has many kids in our target age group, so it's easy to recruit for product
testing."
Development efforts concentrate on fresh ideas that will make learning fun, Stanger says. "Basically we do not republish previously printed titles because we focus on the interaction, and how the child will relate to the work both cognitively and developmentally. We can begin with an idea and the scenario is developed separately."
Learning with a
chum
"We do a character sketch, and since this is both a visual and
auditory medium, we select vocal talent that matches the character. We want
our characters to be the children's friendly learning partners," Stanger
says. "You'll notice, as you navigate the titles, that the characters never
say 'you're wrong,' to a child who makes an incorrect choice. Instead, they
say, 'Try again,' enforcing the subliminal message that you can accomplish
your goal through repeated attempts. We have designed our titles to be
educationally persistent. Children learn by example."
Sorting it all
out
In the new title, "Sammy's Science House," Sammy, a striped
snake, guides children to a "Sorting Station" to distribute different objects
into a number of different, labeled bins. Children select the level of
difficulty (two, three or four bins), and a sound byte names the items
(Gorilla, Bat, Snail, Turtle, etc.) as the child selects them with the mouse
and drags each of them into a bin. For instance, a child might sort items
into separate bins for animals with shells and mammals. If the child doesn't
make a match, then the bin, an animated personality itself, will provide a
hint like: "That belongs someplace else." When the child puts the picture in
the proper bin, the bin smiles and says words of encouragement like,
"Excellent!" or "Thanks."
Minding Ps and Qs
Stanger says,
"I get cards of thanks from parents who are pleased that our software tiles
are modeling good manners. Our characters say, "please" and "thank you." And
this positive reinforcement encourages youngsters to explore and interact
with the programs, she says. Stanger says she personally reads every
registration card that crosses the Edmark transom, as well as letters of
suggestion mailed in by budding software designers.
Another Edmark software product, KidDesk, was inspired by a parent who had a curious child use his computer accounting program to generate a spurious check for an enormous amount of money. To prevent accidental total depletion of the parental bank account, and other similar data disasters, Edmark created KidDesk, a program that personalizes a space on the computer especially for the child and provides much-needed hard disk security for Mom and Dad, Stanger says. Children can use the computer independently, and run only the programs that parents select for their use.
Taking an active
role
"Our primary goal is to educate and empower the child, but our
secondary goal is to share what we learn with parents," Stanger says. "Our
product line is enriched by 20 years of listening to parents." Stanger says.
And, by using Edmark titles, parents can take an active role in their child's
education, she says. Documentation with "Sammy's Science House" details a
number of "Adult Options" that allow parents to customize the system by
activating exits, or turning off theme music and printing functions.
Documentation also features "Together Time" activity chapters that embellish
on themes in the software and suggest activities parents can do with children
when the PC is turned off.
For instance, Sammy's Weather Machine prompts a suggestion that the child and parent might take time out to make a simple wind direction indicator from a plastic bread wrapper and a tree branch. Similarly, the Acorn Pond section is followed by instructions for a "nature expedition" that includes creating a bird feeder from peanut butter, a pine cone and bird seed. These activities reinforce the idea that it's fun to learn about science, a consistent theme in Sammy's Science House.
The hardest part Technology has taken children a long way, Stanger says. Edmark's titles sell for about $40 each, and the market for children's educational software is thriving. Edmark promotes its products through catalogs, direct marketing, educational trade shows and an established network of dealers and distributors.
"Today there are a lot of fine educational software products available from a number of companies," Stanger says, "We hear from a number of parents with children who tell us they admire our work. We are really committed to making Edmark a consistent model of excellence."
The hardest part of developing a successful educational software title is getting the technology right, Stanger says, "It's complex, and moves all the time. It's like hitting a moving target."
Promoting creativity and inventiveness is easier, she suggests. "The combined experience of our eclectic set of teams tells us what's right for the child," she says.
Edmark Software
6727 185th Ave., N.E. ,
P.O. Box 3218
Redmond, WA 98073-3218
206-556-8400
Fax
206-556-8998
Ellen Adams is a freelance writer in Thornwood, New York. Her articles have appeared in Computer Gaming World, Emmy Magazine, Electronic Musician and others.
Copyright © 1995 Ellen Adams for InfoMedia. All rights reserved worldwide.
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