OTTER in the pilot phase: thousands of primary school pupils practised their keyboard skills
The free offer to prepare for the computer-based VERA3 tests was available to schools in Bremen, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. Around two thirds of the participating classes from these federal states used OTTER to prepare for VERA3-CBT.
Feedback from the schools
Teachers gave the tool an average rating of 2. The feedback particularly emphasised the ease of use, the child-friendly design and the structured introduction to the keyboard functions. However, technical difficulties were also reported, such as longer loading times when there were large numbers of users. A big thank you to all teachers and schools who took part in the pilot phase and supported us with constructive feedback!
Planned enhancements
The OTTER tool will be further developed based on the feedback. Among other things, we are considering
- Repeated use of the tool
- A new module for numbers and arithmetic operators in order to train relevant keystrokes in maths as well
- A function for separately determining the typing speed
Expansion of the word lists used to include the basic vocabulary from several federal states
It will probably not be possible to realise some of these wishes in the next round:
- Integration of a read-aloud function
- A module for free writing
- Use of the OTTER outside of the VERA context
We are already looking forward to seeing teachers and students again next year!