On 5 February 2024, 13 of us, mostly teachers, gathered at the Den Top School Sint Pieters Leeuw in Flanders/Belgium. Happs, the makers of Karaton and the KU Leuven sent delegations too. All were excited to learn about the new -bug free- version of Karaton presented by Happs. Master-students revealed the first results of reading tests taken involving 37 pupils. A next meeting was planned at the Leidstarschool in Mai.

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The new version of Karaton promises to be a hit with both teachers and children. The layout is attractive and the content fun.

The story behind the game app is to defeat monsters to gain more knowledge. It is a Game that repeats itself (to promote automation), the games are short. Based on previous COPs feedback and pilot testing, the following changes have come into place:

• The app is easier to use

• There are more words to practice with

• Signups are easier – a link

• Teachers can choose to set up the word groups and word structures per individual child and change the flash speed – this will eventually become: AI

• A bug programme is being worked on.

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Discussing the progress children make as a result of Karaton and COP dynamics

Pre- and post-tests are run. KU Leuven investigates how the reading attitude, reading motivation, executive functions, technical reading, etc. of 37 students with poor reading skills may or may not evolve.”

Master students and teachers exchanged on the tests and target groups. Some initial results were presented. The collaboration went smoothly. Some improvements for post-tests were discussed, such as working through play-times to save time and having typed names rather than written to avoid mistakes. Schools volunteered info on social economic status of their students, which will be useful information for data processing.
COP teachers were very interested in the test results.

All participants went away feeling enriched by the COP exchanges.

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