Wow, this idea brings me back to one of the moments that first inspired me to start down the path of web development. In 2007 I took a semester off and got a job as a teaching assistant for a special education classroom and was 1:1 with a child that LOVED computers but would get overwhelmed by the information density of your typical website - too many decisions would frustrate him.
One week, we were learning about farms which I was really excited for because his love for the computer was matched only by his obsession with animals. Sadly, his outbursts would require me to separate him from the group time where we would show them pictures of animals and learn about their sounds, functions, etc. This made me think of creating and interactive PowerPoint where I made a slide with options for “petting zoo”, “animals with jobs”, “wild cats”, etc. each choice would lead to a new slide with a set of photos, icons that played their sounds, and even tried creating a set of quizzes where I recorded an animal sound and he had to select a photo that matched.
I worked until 3 AM making this PowerPoint and was deliriously tired the next day, but man the joy this kid experienced while he got to play on the computer AND learn about animals without getting worked up over a multitude of decisions sparked something in me that made me decide I wanted to do something with IT.
Your idea really hit home for me and helped me remember one of the reasons I do what I do today - frontend and app development. Lowering boundaries and making technological concepts more accessible can inspire unexpected interest and adoption.
One week, we were learning about farms which I was really excited for because his love for the computer was matched only by his obsession with animals. Sadly, his outbursts would require me to separate him from the group time where we would show them pictures of animals and learn about their sounds, functions, etc. This made me think of creating and interactive PowerPoint where I made a slide with options for “petting zoo”, “animals with jobs”, “wild cats”, etc. each choice would lead to a new slide with a set of photos, icons that played their sounds, and even tried creating a set of quizzes where I recorded an animal sound and he had to select a photo that matched.
I worked until 3 AM making this PowerPoint and was deliriously tired the next day, but man the joy this kid experienced while he got to play on the computer AND learn about animals without getting worked up over a multitude of decisions sparked something in me that made me decide I wanted to do something with IT.
Your idea really hit home for me and helped me remember one of the reasons I do what I do today - frontend and app development. Lowering boundaries and making technological concepts more accessible can inspire unexpected interest and adoption.