The Our Story app takes advantage of the functionality available on the iPhone, iPad or iPod. It lets parents create their own personalised story books for their children, incorporating pictures, sound, text and speech.
The app incorporates research findings and theory to provide the experiences known to develop the abilities and motivation for reading.
“Research has indicated that building a story based on a child’s own life has been proven to increase their confidence and social skills," says Professor David Messer, head of the team which created the app. "What Our Story does is build on this to produce an app that provides an easy-to-use means for parents to take their own photos and ideas and create personalised story books and games for their children.
"This use of familiar pictures and scenarios helps children to relate to the content and thus become more engaged in learning. Not only does this provide a foundation in reading for children, but it means parents can really take part in creative storytelling activities.
"In fact, some of the most famous children’s books were initially written by authors for their own children.”
Click here to see a video of Our Story.
The app was developed by David Messer, Professor of Education in the Centre for Childhood, Development and Learning , Natalia Kucirkova, research student in CREET, (Centre for Research in Education and Technology) and Dr. Denise Whitelock, senior lecturer in IET (the Institute of Educational Technology), with KMi (Knowledge Media Institute).
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