Amplify Reading
Amplify Reading is a suite of educational games that is used as supplementary curriculum for K-2 students that are learning to read. The project is a web application built using the React Native framework in order to achieve across-the-board accessibility for school districts with varying levels of available technology.
Because I joined Amplify as the K-2 reading project was nearing the last push before release, I had the opportunity to work in many different capacities on the project. After taking a week to familiarize myself with the project and the workflow of Agile software development, I did some bug fixing and quality assurance, which helped me get acquainted with front-end development using the React framework.
I was eventually tasked with helping to implement the integrated eReader feature (more information on the official site). Here, I focused mainly on asset implementation, which involved heavy interaction with back-end devops systems. One particular contribution I made in this arena was in helping to create a tool that would parse HTML and add certain tags that were needed to facilitate the read-aloud functionality of the eReader.
Towards the end of my time at Amplify, I also began doing research and design work for the project’s expansion into higher level curriculum. In particular, I had the pleasure of participating in several game jams, in which we split into small groups to develop paper prototypes that were then presented to the entire team. These prototypes were meant to target a particular learning goal, and selected prototypes from these game jams are further developed and playtested with students. In addition to this, I also did research on ways to integrate Amplify Reading with other Amplify products as it expanded to include higher-level curriculum.