The final image would look similar to the above image. My team mates and I sat together today after a tutorial with our tutor Jo to add more colour and fun to the avatar page.

Also, I am simultaneously working on the class room page which is one of the most important pages of the website. The classroom links all the different platforms together. Also, while making the classroom it was specifically kept in mind the usage of the website by disabled children including the deaf, blind (or partially blind) and mute children.

Graeme (Writer) prepared an amazing artwork of the playground.

Also, Graeme, Gareth (Editor), Abdul (Director) and I (producer) sat together and finalised the logo and other important buttons on the website like back, save help etc.

Avatar still in the making

With some guidance on the website from our tutor Matt and lots of in-depth support and assistance from our course leader and tutor Jo we got an understanding about how the website sholud look exactly.

Avatar in the making

I took up the job to make the web pages. I have never worked on an age group of 4-7 before so working on the color scheme and avatar shapes was difficult. With research on similar websites and speaking and visiting primary school teachers I realised that children in the key stage one age group prefer simple shapes but very attractive colours.

Meeting #6

3rd March 2010
Since we are to shoot tomorrow, today all the discussion was related to the shoot. The writers met after our meeting to finalise the script. We had our equipments and green screen studios booked.
We finalised the two game subjects as ‘phonic’ and ‘math’. We now need to decide the exact games.

Meeting #5

2nd March 2010
We were unable to get AUCB students provide us puppets and so we decided to make them ourselves. Abdul found a video on www.youtube.com (embed video) explaining how to make sock puppets.
Since time was running out we finalised 4th of March for the puppet’s shoot. Dermot and Gareth volunteered to make the puppets while the writers wrote down the scripts, the director prepared a storyboard and the producers booked the equipments, green screen (VFX) studio and prepare the negotiated learning agreement. It was commendable that all these tasks were not only completed but also very well done when we arrived at the VFX studio on the 4th March at 8pm.
We also added many more elements in the website. We finalised to have a classroom page as it would be best to link with all the other sections like games, blogs written by 6-7 years old for the 4-5 years old children, preparing greeting cards for occasions like mother’s day/ Easter etc.
We had to meet Matt, our interactive tutor again to know the format of the files he would prefer.

Meeting #4

1st March 2010
Abdul had a brilliant idea of using puppets on the show since they would be attention grabbing. We decided to speak to students from the Arts University College of Bournemouth (AUCB) if they could provide us with puppets; unfortunately they couldn’t prepare anything for us as they were busy with their assignments. Also, we couldn’t use their previous assignments since the models were gory and scary.
Abdul would speak to a few of his contacts for the puppets while we research at a local nursery.

Meeting #3

19th February 2010
Meeting in room W327 with Jo.
We discussed our idea with Jo and she approved our concept. We were made to understand that the format of our website is similar to that of www.radiowaves.co.uk
She gave us a lot of guidance concerning the closed group websites.
One very important thing she mentioned today was that we were being too ambitious. I had been thinking about the same because we had too many things on the playground and it would be impossible to make the artwork in the given period of time. I would really like to thank her for her help. Our ideas are getting progressively clearing.
I even went in to meet the interactive tutor Matt Northam and he told us that we would need to provide him with the complete artwork or tell him in advance if we would like him to make a basic artwork. He also specified that he was not good at drawing and preferably he would work better with all the artwork provided to him.
I am a bit concerned as I am the only member of the group having experience with photoshop. Abdul refer to his brother who was a graphic designer but was too busy. Also, Gareth was more than willing to learn the software and give it a shot. I am sure we can work this out since Gareth is a brilliant editor he has a knack of learning softwares and we can put together a decent art piece.

Meeting #2

18th February 2010
I have done homework on the subject phonics. I spoke to Mrs Dave; children’s books and CDROM seller. She gave me a clear view of the types of games and activities in the subject of phonics available currently in the market. She gave me a few sample games which included aliens steeling words, dragons finding eggs etc. The games were extremely colourful and enjoyable; but I noticed that many phonics games did not actually teach the children the sounds, it was assumed that they would know the sounds.
Also, I researched about the type of avatars children like. Roubina’s 3 year old cousin played on a website (www.simply-land.com) regularly that had avatars and hence it was the perfect reference.
In today’s meeting we polished our idea and specified our target group as key stage 1 as we feel the concept is apt for this age group. Hence we defined our concept as an interactive educational platform to aid children in 3 key areas – visual, kinaesthetic and auditory. We also laid out a map of the website – welcome page -> Avatar page (personalisation) -> creating a profile -> Playground!
Our concept differed from other game websites as we also focused the website towards children with special needs like hearing impairment, visual disabilities etc. Hence, we decided to have all audio, visual and text on the site.
Our next step was to discuss the plan and concept with our tutor Jo on Friday and get guidance towards our ideas. We also need to continue research on different subjects like music, art, hygiene etc.
Following are the minutes of the meeting:
Meeting Report
@Library , Bournemouth university
18/2/10
2.00 pm
-Final Concept: An interactive educational platform to aid children in the 3 key areas ; visual , audio ,
Practical
-Focus on 3 learning areas, learning difficulties, customization, building towards a goal
-The website starts from
Welcome –> Character page –> Create the profile –> Playground
-Subject : Music , Art , Science , Math , Biology
-Kids can click on things and collect then finally get the prize to enter cooking room linked with video clip (Kids get the ingredient to cook)
-Team will discuss with Jo to sort out idea and deadline on Friday at 10 Room W 327
-Proposed title: My playground?
Things to do
-Set schedule
-Discuss with Jo about idea
- Contact web designer
-Find reference of interactive / animation stuff / website or anything similar to what we talk to show your idea.

Meeting #1

17th February 2010
Today we met in the library for our first meeting and everybody came in with some wonderful ideas from a reality TV show to a mobile children’s event. Josh, one of the writers laid out a brilliant idea of having a website that would be in the form of a playground and children could play fun and learning games. The entire group including me was impressed with this concept and approved this idea in the first meeting itself. Hence, we selected the education and entertainment combined i.e. edutainment; as our answer to the brief.
Our next step was to do a lot of research on the current educational system of the primary schools and their curriculum. We also decided that it was important to meet the web designer who was assigned to our group to prepare the interactive media. I decided to go to meet the interactive tutor, carry out research on the subject phonics. Our next meeting is scheduled for tomorrow – 2pm in the library.
Following are the minutes of the meeting:
Playground Project
1st Meeting : 17 Feb 2010
Room :DL 202

-Web : Website
-Playground chat, different subjects to click on, characters
-Teacher and kids can interact together
-TV : Video linked with a subject or special occasion e.g cook the ‘apple pie’ in the studio
-Radio : Narrative , sound effect , music
Things to do
1. Discuss with web designer
2. Playground design based on real one-click a playground’s picture
3. Research on subjects - math , music , sport , geography
4. Research on kids and teacher
5. Next meeting 18 Feb 2010 , 2 pm