Design and development of a soft skills acquisition application for young children in informal contexts

Abstract

There is an urgent need for young learners to acquire soft skills due to rapid technological advancements. Research shows that the earlier young children’s soft skills are developed, the better it prepares them for their academic and professional lives. Mobile technology is gaining momentum; people are referring to their mobile phones as an extension of themselves, by altering and simplifying their daily activities. Research has shown that people believe mobile phones have a positive impact on health, education, children and the economics of their country. South Africans believe mobile phones ‘free them’ and save time (Silver et al., 2019). There is an increased interest in using mobile phones as a learning device for younger children. This study addresses both the need for developing soft skills in young learners and the potential of mobile learning to do so, by exploring design principles for a mobile application (app) for developing the soft skills of young learners. The research was conducted framed by Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and using the methodology of Design-Based Research (DBR) in an attempt to acknowledge and describe the experience of co-designing a mobile blueprint with various stakeholders for young children to acquire soft skills informally. In this study, the community, consisting of designers, care professionals and caregivers, and young children, was interviewed, participated in design workshops and was surveyed to gain insight into how to create an effective mobile application blueprint for young children from ages four to five to gain soft skills. Initial results indicated that in Cape Town, there were various methods by which children were informally learning soft skills. The three soft skills focused on in this study, identified through the literature review, that is creative thinking, communication and ethics, were however not yet engaged by the participants of this study. Participants also had little previous knowledge of mobile applications for young children of this age teaching soft skills. From the literature the following design principles were uncovered; basic elements of design, the principle of active learning, engagement, co-design and context sensitivity. Engagement with young children revealed two additional design principles that were formulated during analysis of data collected: the principle of existent imitation documentation and non-designer constructive analysis. Existent imitation documentation describes the process of adding realistic elements and scenarios as children draw with their physical visuals and experiences as conducting research indicates, and non-designer constructive analysis which emphasises the importance of translating/interpreting and analysing non-designer feedback of source of design material by a designer. A finalised mobile application blueprint was created. The mobile application blueprint is called Key to allude to a way of opening doors to future possibilities. Key incorporated a bright and simplistically styled design with four soft skill play-through scenarios that has safety features and which would be easy to navigate for the caregivers and children engaging with the app. Results further revealed interesting contradictions between the caregivers and care professionals of the different sites, for example who was responsible for teaching soft skills to young learners or in relation to the potential of mobile learning for young children, which encouraged the designer of the study to engage the children themselves in the design process. The research gives recommendations on the local and global use of the findings for future graphic designers venturing into designing mobile applications for acquiring soft skills. This research informs the process of mobile application design by offering existing design theory elements and principles, a blueprint model of co-created mobile application design and aids research into relations between mobile devices and young children, caregivers and Montessori1 care professionals.