Allo Alphabet

Where: Carnegie Mellon University, Human-Computer Interaction Institute
With: Amy Ogan, Michael Madaio

Allo Alphabet is an IVR and SMS-based literacy system deployed in rural Côte d'Ivoire. Low literacy has been linked to pervasive poverty, unemployment and illness. Educational technologies can help mitigate low childhood literacy, but some children experience developmental delays in pre-literacy skills due to factors such as family literacy level or a bilingual environment. Because computer-mediated literacy systems often have a fixed progression through the curriculum, they may not effectively support different learners.

This research involved modelling students' phonological awareness skills using Bayesian Knowledge Tracing, and investigating factors associated with differences in learnability among children's pre-literacy skills, so that literacy systems can provide more adaptive support.