This is the second part of a two-part series by Bohdan Bilan on computer-based multimedia.
The central character of Learning Our Numbers is Ayikis or little toad. The toad serves as a bridge between the learner and the content. When the program starts, Ayikis asks the learners if they would like to learn how to count.
The target audience is preschool and Division I students, both Cree and English speaking. The program doesn't assume facility in either language. The opening screen provides the user with auditory cues in both languages and visual cues on how to begin. Since the intended users are still developing their hand-eye coordination, screen buttons are large.
By selecting a language on the opening screen, the learners are sent to a screen that lets them choose Show Me (I want to learn new numbers) or How Many (a self test.) Many cultures use hand gestures and body language to augment verbal communication. The second screen in the program shows four hand gestures that are commonly used among the Cree to augment verbal communication. These gestures were incorporated into the screen's navigational buttons to serve as visual cues; they visually describe the function of particular buttons.
From the second screen, the learner can select an animal from a pictorial screen palette of animals found in the northern bush (i.e., bee, whitefish, duck, and jackfish.) These are all animals that the Cree children know and that have cultural significance.
If Show Me is selected, the learners are shown a screen that allows them to select a number between one and ten. The program then reveals animals flying or swimming past the little toad. Each step or instruction is reinforced with audio and written cues. If How Many is chosen, the learners then select an animal, and the program randomly designates a number between one and ten. The program then displays the chosen animal for the designated number of times in animated sequences. The learners can then tell the program how many animals they saw by selecting one of the numbers from one through ten located on a palette at the bottom of the screen. The program is designed to keep track of the number of attempts correctly and incorrectly answered while offering no limit to the number of questions chosen.
In both instances, the animated sequences end with the total number of animals being displayed and the Cree or English word for the number. The animal appears as text and the text is read by the little toad.
In its original inception, the program had to fit onto one high-density floppy disk and had to include the program shell, animated animal sequences (created by Michele Jacobsen, a PhD student in the Faculty of Education), and both the English and Cree digitized audio. The audio quality had to be very good, because the Sagaw Cree have a rich oral history.
One of the most interesting aspects of this project was finding the correct phrasing and spelling for the 60 Cree words that Dale had decided to use. Since the language is oral, its written form is still under development. When prototypes were taken to northern Alberta, members from different communities had difficulty agreeing on which word or phrases were appropriate given the context. Additionally, they could not agree on how to spell the words. Arriving at a written language set that most people could agree to took more than one year.
The program has undergone many iterations. Initially, it used more animated sequences in order to make it feel more like a non-linear story. Native story telling doesn't necessarily subscribe to the beginning, middle, and end model. Since the most important component besides the visuals were the audio clips, we decided that we would use 16-bit sound. This necessitated three sessions in the recording studio. In its current form, the program is stored in a non-compressed format on four floppy disks. The shell sits on one disk, the animated sequences on a second, and the English and Cree audio clips on two separate disks.