Our knowledge of our craft and Primary Connections’ business allowed us to deliver a product well beyond the scope of Primary Connections’ original brief.
Book learning for the digital age
The Australian Academy of Science’s Primary Connections (PC) came to us in search of an innovative, proven and reliable partner to work with to create digital resources that would enhance their printed science materials for primary school kids. Primary Connections’ ultimate aim is to improve the quality in primary science teaching resources across Australia.
Teachers report one of their biggest challenges is building their own resources, which takes up a lot of their own personal time, and means similar materials are being created many times across many teachers. PC asked us to build a series of stand-alone teaching resources for interactive whiteboards so curriculum materials can be taught collaboratively in the classroom. They wanted to make lesson planning and delivery easier.
So we did what not many other agencies would do: we talked ourselves out of a job.
You did what, now?
The short-sighted approach would have been to produce the digital materials our client wanted, and then to have them add us to their speed dial so they could call us whenever they had updates or new projects to publish. The Australian curriculum is ever-changing, so we could have booked that round the world cruise and bought ourselves a solid-gold Kanye statue.
But we’re just not that kind of agency.
What we did instead was design a user-friendly resource authoring framework that allowed PC to author their own content from start to finish. Not only that, but teachers across the country are able to customise resources, lessons and activities to suit their lesson plan. We handed control back to the people that actually know what they’re talking about. Crazy, right?
It was also important the content made sense specifically on an interactive whiteboard. We thoroughly tested in this environment, tweaking contrast to allow for brightness in classrooms, and offering pointers for smaller students who couldn’t reach the entire board.
We worked closely with the PC team to establish appropriate user licensing for the product, which was complex because PC wanted to make the product accessible without it being easy to steal. PC wanted to sell the product from their established website, so we created an API to allow the website to download the product. But first we created the bookshelf in test so PC could iron out problems and quality assure before publishing.
We’re stayers, not players
What we didn’t do was design a you-beaut system and then run away. We provided full training and support while our client got their heads around the technology, which was new for most of them. And then we stood by while they spread their wings and left the nest. Now that their confidence has built, they sometimes fly a little too close to the sun and try to force functionality that isn’t there, so we’re around to help clean that up, and tweak the framework so it can continue to evolve to deliver exactly what Primary Connections and the science teaching community need.
A suite of tools allow customisation of Interactive teaching resources
That’s what she said
“WE LOVE YOU, METTRO! You listened to what we needed, and came back with ideas that were so innovative and exciting, and went far beyond what we even realised was possible. And what you delivered went above and beyond yet again, with a beautiful interface that was user friendly and that made our teachers’ jobs so much easier.
We really have loved working with you, and looking forward to a long and happy working relationship as we take our next steps in the online environment, as well as developing ebooks down the track.”
Amy Stoneham, Editor and Resource Development Coordinator
Primary Connections, Australian Academy of Science
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