Web application is preparing 9.728 children for their exams.
TopiaTrainer
The final years of primary school are important school years for children and their parents. The choice for further education will be made and the students will undergo a great amount of exams. Pretty exciting for the children! That’s why TopiaTeam developed, together with Webmine, the web application TopiaTrainer.
TopiaTeam develops online trainings that make use of gaming techniques. Back in 2007 the company launched the immensely successful TypeTopia, a typing course in which children play the main character in an exciting adventure. “Our products motivate children to learn in a fun way”, says founder Romer van Bavel. “With our challenging and educational games that incite children to keep performing even better.
Exam questions
Romer already had the idea to develop a product for children in the last years of primary school. “We sought a way to help children with their Maths and Dutch skills in preparation of the exams that are to come”, he explains. “The questions in those exams deviate strongly from the curriculum that the children get at school. We wanted to introduce that way of asking questions to them in a fun way.”
The question
Can we develop an application that lets children playfully prepare for exams?
Learning while gaming
Webmine developed the web application TopiaTrainer for TopiaTeam. Initially to practice with Maths and Dutch, but eventually also with different subjects. By completing exercises children earn points which they can then trade in for fun games. That way the boring curriculum gets a lot more fun and accessible!
Practicing at your own level
TopiaTrainer contains exercises, tasks and exams for Maths and Dutch that all have their own difficulty level. By using smart algorithms the software can select the questions that challenge the child on their own level. The more a child practices, the better TopiaTrainer is able to adjust to their level. When wrong answers are given the software will repeat questions of the same level and occasionally put in a higher level question. Using this method of “adaptive learning” children will stay motivated to keep improving.
Super fun games
The score and progress of the children gets saved, that way they get encouraged and incited to try to improve their high score. Besides that they also get rewarded with super fun games if they try their best. Learning was never this fun before! All puzzle, reaction and skill games are developed by TopiaTeam themselves and are of high quality.
TopiaTrainer is technically already prepared to have other subjects added to it. “We want children to have the chance to practice with English or Nature & Science”, says Romer. “Our greatest challenge with that is developing good content. We already develop the educational materials, including the games, ourself. Because we are going for the highest quality possible. And that takes time.”
Focused help
With TopiaTrainer parents can follow the performances and progress of their child, for each subject and for every teaching module. In the web application or on the mobile app TopiaTeam for Parents. That gives them the possibility to help their children with modules they are struggling with.
Ready for the future
TopiaTrainer was launched at the end of 2016. The product was being worked on until the very last second, Our ambition is making the best educational products, we won’t settle for less”, Romer explains. “We want children to stay motivated to use the software and also for them to get others motivated.”
Constant adjustment
TopiaTeam and Webmine worked together very intensively during the realisation of the innovative web application. Romer: “With Webmine we have a partner that’s very good at being able to formulate the customers wish. Because they utilise scrum we can also constantly adjust on what the result should be, that works really well. And we share their interest in new technology that makes learning better and more fun.”
The technology
TopiaTrainer is an advanced e-learning application, developed in Ruby on Rails and fully integrated with the other applications from TopiaTeam.
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