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Learning-
Go-Round
Interactive
Education
Devices
By Sundi Clark
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sPELL CAT. C-A-T.
Very good! Do you remember the robotic voice of Speak and Spell? Although the voice
sounded awkward, it was music to many ears, especially the innovative minds at Texas
Instrument, they had just created the first interactive educational device.
Interactive educational programs and games have been around longer than the personal
computer. In 1978, Texas Instrument introduced its innovative, revolutionary learning
aids for children, Speak and Spell. It was the first synthetic speech toy that was
designed to help children aged seven and up learn how to spell and pronounce 200
commonly misspelled words (www.ti.com). Shortly after the success of Speak and Spell
the personal computer began to gain popularity and educational software programs
were begining to be developed.
Throughout the 1980s many software companies began to emerge. As software was being
produced, the world of multimedia was being born.
There weren't any companies specializing in the art of multimedia in the early 1980s,
however, the techniques were being used in many different applications. Broderbund
is a prime example of such a company using multimedia techniques in the early days
of personal computers.
In 1980, Dale and Gary Carlson founded Broderbund Software. Although the personal
computer industry was still in its infancy, the brothers produced and marketed two
games, Galactic Empire and Galactic Trader. That summer they joined alliance with
a Japanese software house called Starcraft. Within three years, the company had grown
to over 40 employees. Broderbund continued on their own until recently when they
joined The Learning Company (www.broderbund.com).
Even as a department of The Learning Company, Broderbund still develops, publishes,
and markets ground-breaking interactive software that is creative, innovative, and
easy-to-use. This attributes to the many awards they have won for their exceptional
products (www.learningco.com).
Broderbund has been recognized for a number of very popular interactive educational
software with famous characters such as Living Books, Arthur, Orly's Draw-a-Story,
Carmen Sandiego, Rug Rats, Kid Dix, and the ever famous well loved Dr. Seuss Characters.
In addition to these titles, The Learning Company also has interactive software featuring
the characters from Sesame Street and a line of Fisher Price Software. With names
such as these, its no wonder this company brought in over 190 million dollars in
1998. But it is more than the popular characters that makes these products so successful
(www.learningco.com).
With the use of multimedia technology and techniques, the producers of this software
are able to bring these well-loved characters to life. Children are encouraged to
"play" with the characters and learn while having fun. These concepts have
proved so successful with both parents and children that McDonalds has integrated
interactive play stations into a few of their restaurants and teachers are using
the software as teaching tools. What could be a better way for a child to learn other
than with their favourite characters teaching and encouraging them? As more and more
companies realize the potential in this market, more and more companies are jumping
on the interactive software bandwagon.
As each new advancement is made, new software emerges and new companies profit. This
is how the merry-go-round of technology seems to work. One company seems to be in
the lead, on the leading edge, but the other companies are close behind. If you look
from a different angle though, it seems a different company is in the lead. Texas
Instrument is one company who has come full circle.
Texas Instrument made a break though with educational interactive toys with Speak
and Spell twenty-one years ago. Now Texas Instrument is back with the TI Interactive!
Educational software products for mathematics and science (www.ti.com). And the circle
continues.
We are all experiencing the computer generation right now, people are specializing
in different areas, and multimedia is now a thriving industry. As technology advances
and successes are made, the quality, creativity, and experiences people will find
in interactive educational software will only be heightened. I am excited to be a
part of the outstanding multimedia industry.
Sundi Clark is a first year student at the Southern Alberta Institute
of Technology in the Multimedia program. She recently completed her Business Administration
Diploma in Marketing at SAIT.
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