ABCya! is a learning platform programmed for young children to learn while they play! It intrigues kids with its graphics, colors, design, and all the fun, eye-catching visuals and sounds! But how does it work behind the scenes?
Learning as a Medium
According to McLuhan, the medium through which something is presented is more important than the content. This is true with the experience the platform creates for the user. In this scenario, the content is made for the audience of young children, picked out by their guardian.
The types of learning that ABCya! presents is that learning should be fun, creative, and reward-based, through achievements and levels passed. Kids receive the important key aspects and absorb knowledge through the website’s interactive elements, such as association methods and repetition of content. The information children learn becomes gamified, appealing to them in a more fun light, to have them enjoy the game without realizing they are actually also learning!
In this function, ABCya! fulfills its purpose as medium that promotes fun through interaction. Its design is colorful and animated, with knowledge-based concepts sprinkled into games and stories. The kids become students of the platform without realizing it, which parents value. By interacting and playing, young kids learn on this website.
ABCya! as a Platform
Through another perspective, Gillard sees that the platform logic of priorities hidden beneath the surface reshapes pedagogical and learning practices. There are rules to every game that must be followed. This may range from adding numbers to reach a checkpoint or to count blocks to place a mark on their bingo board. These rules must be understood and followed to see any progress. As well, engagement to keep trying despite being wrong counts as behavioral reinforcement, motivating the student to continue learning. This may look like a smile “Try again!”, “Not quite!” or “Almost there!” Some positive reinforcements look like “Keep it up rockstar!” and Wow! You got this!” With such messages, the platform sends the message that learning is fun and it is okay to make mistakes based on how they programmed the platform to run.
In Gillard’s term, ABCya! does not just support learning for young children, but it defines its function of learning through the way they set up the games and encouragement. Learning is not linear like in the classroom. It is instead gamified to make children think they are playing a game rather than absorbing knowledge.
Overall
ABCya! is a great platform for young kids in pre-k through elementary school to use due to its function as both a medium and a platform. These were one of the only games I was able to play as a kid in the early 2010s, and I’m glad to see that the function and message of the site has stayed consistent since I last visited it! It’s a great tool, especially for students to be encouraged to play and learn by both guardians and teachers!
Leave a Reply