Summer is the time for interesting exhibitions and forums. SUSU students don't only actively participate in them, but also receive serious grants for their developments. Olga Shvedina, bachelors' student at South Ural State University, participant of the Tarvida, Utro, Territoriya Smyslov forums and multiple-time winner of the game creation competition Global Game Jam, told us about her project for children with intellectual disabilities and shared her emotions from the Innoprom exhibition.
– Tell us, what pushed you to creating such a project? How were you able to receive a grant?
– Everything began with the fact that my groupmate Yekaterina Snegireva and a decided to create a computer game for our final project. Our scientific adviser, Dmitriy Chernyx, was presented a few topics for this project. After discussion we chose the topic “Educational, interactive application for children with intellectual disabilities.” We worked on the application throughout our whole academic program and defended it with top marks. I thought that this was a good topic and it shouldn't be tossed aside, but further developed. I decided to take part in a grant competition, went to the forum Territoriya Smyslov, defended my project, and got a grant for 100 thousand rubles for the realization of the project. I submitted my application for the grant with the topic “Surrounding World – interactive teaching site for children with HIA (moderate intellectual disabilities)”. With the help of this project we want to increase the level of academic efficacy. Education will occur through the game and, as a result, children's interest will be piqued as a result of the fact that assignments from textbooks will be transferred to the computer, the characters in the textbooks will come to live, and the assignments will have sound.
– What emotions did you have when you found out that you received a grant?
– This summer I participated in two grant contests and I wasn't able to win from the first attempt. So I was very happy when they said my name. I ran on to the stage, they awarded me a plate with the sum of the grant on it, and we took a picture. I stood there with the plate and couldn't believe that it had happened.
– You also visited the recent Innoprom exhibition, what did you like most?
– The Innoprom exhibition is huge and very interesting, everyone who is interested in design should go to events like this, because they give you positive emotions and inspire you. There were many unique stands at the exhibition: there were robots, various interactive stands where you could try out VR glasses, Sberbank had their own quest that you received prize coins for. The most interesting stand was ChTRF, which was marked apart by color. Among many stands with a bunch of words and slogans, it was clean, without any extra details, white and red, and attracted attention. Above the visitors' heads they hung giant birdhouses, at the entrance white trees were standing, and inside the stand there was a big, strange mechanism, able to make music from the swinging of a pendulum and different ways, and you could touch it and change the speed of playback of a particular sound.
– What are your plans for the future?
– My future plans of course include completing my project. I plan on disbursing the grant according to the prescribed estimates. Now, our team consists of designers and pedagogues from correctional schools, but in the near future we will search for a responsible programmer.