Applying Research and Human Centered Design to Enhance Child-Parent Reading Engagement in the Home

• In Event: Empowering communities and future advocates to read using digital tools

Proposal

This presentation highlights the potential of digital reading programs implemented in Kenya and other countries as a means to foster caregiver-child reading habits within a household environment. The journey of leveraging research insights – from two studies exploring tools and modalities for encouraging family reading engagement – to a human centered design process resulting in a digital reading application emphasizing the child-caregiver experience of reading together will be explored. With an emphasis on access, user acquisition, and continuous reader engagement the challenges and opportunities of designing for and with low resourced communities will be outlined.
Over 50% of children in low- and middle-income countries (LICs and MICs) cannot read a simple text by the age of 10; in Kenya, this figure is closer to 70%. While parents and caregivers have long been shown to play a vital role in building children’s foundational literacy, many lack the educational resources and capacity to effectively support their children’s literacy development. Two research projects in Kenya sought to understand how an edtech solution could address this challenge. The first project integrated Bezos Family Foundaiton’s science-based Vroom Tips into a digital reading solution; reaching 1,320 Kenyan caregivers affiliated with 150 Early Childhood Development (ECD) centers in eight communities across Nairobi. The second study – across two phases of research – sought to better understand how to meaningfully engage parents in their children’s learning when using mobile technology and digital content and tested different modalities to identify the most effective approaches.
Leveraging insights from both of these studies and 10+ years of organizational learnings this presentation will highlight the importance of building home reading habits and how a digital reading solution evolved from a simple digital library – often used exclusively in schools – to an interactive solution to support child and caregiver reading engagement. The design of features to support an interactive reading experience for a parent and child including goal setting, progres tracking, and tips to support early childhood development and caregiver confidence and capacity will be shared. By incorporating such features, the application aims to foster deeper connection between parents/caregivers and children, while they experience the joy of reading and the impact reading can have on future outcomes. Throughout this presentation, the key elements of design thinking will be portrayed, showing the theoretical background, the research findings from the programs’ implementation, key findings from the users’ behavior research done in several regions, and the continuous field testing. All these systematic methods of data collection to ensure the App design is well informed, responsive to all stakeholders’ needs and strengthens child and parent engagement within the app, thus further amplifying the impact of digital reading programs and a child’s potential for building a strong reading foundation for future learning and action.

Author

• Shereen Aly Mohamed Sayed, Worldreader