Partners

As best practice awarded- EU funded project

AdAPPtive is the follow-up Erasmus+ Project after the EU awarded AisforAPP  project. (2018-2021)

Given that one in five 15-year old EU citizens is not functionally literate, new ways to tackle the acquisition of effective reading skills are imperative.This Erasmus + part-funded project (AdAPPtive) hopes to continue the work of a previous EU-funded project (A is for APP) to focus on the effective use of digital apps in the instruction of learners who find it difficult to acquire essential reading skills. It also hopes to assess the impact of this on the learners and teachers involved. DCU is the coordinating partner and will lead on organising Communities of Practice (CoPs) and investigating their impact on the use of reading apps. KU, Leuven and RID will lead on investigating the effects of reading app use on the reading skills and dispositions of learners. The Dys Centre, Prague will lead on investigating changes to teachers' skills and attitudes, as they go about incorporating reading apps into their literacy instruction. Happs Development will provide a state of the art game app, New Karaton and use CoP feedback to develop and refine its functions and features.

DCU - Dublin City UniversityDYS Centrum PrahaHappsKU LeuvenRID Taal Rekenen

Happs Development - BE

Happs Development is an SME focused on developing educational games. It was founded in 2015 and won several competitions as a start-up, such as Telenet Kickstart, KBC Start-it, Imec iStart.Happs was part of the Erasmus+ project A is for App and now its successor AdAPPtive.We envision that all children with or without ‘reading disabilities’ have the potential to achieve amazing feats.

Our mission is to build the best educational tools that remove as many barriers as possible to teach dyslectic children to read and write. This will result in the fact that dyslectic children regain confidence and have the opportunity to reach their full potential in life.

Focus within the project
We focus on how we can build the best possible educational adventure game based on academic research and user input, children, teachers, parents.

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Hannes Hauwaert

Hannes Hauwaert, the founder of Happs Development and the creator of Karaton, struggled with dyslexia himself throughout his childhood. He originally devised Karaton as a school project in college. He developed a tool/game to practice language in a fun and playful way. He knew from his own experience that this is not always obvious.By becoming a laureate of Telenet Kickstart, he was able to found his own startup and develop the Karaton game.Meanwhile, he has 7 years of experience as a project manager, UX/UI designer and game designer.

Mie Demol

Mie has been active at various levels of education for many years. As a support worker in primary education, as a teacher in secondary and adult education and as a supervisor in second-chance education. At each level, she experienced the importance of language and the motivation to learn a language, especially among children and people who are struggling. She is currently associated with Happs Development where she does customer support and administration.