Alpha testing our new game-based e-learning platform at Woodlands Meed special education needs (SEN) college

Over the last six months we've been building a new e-learning platform with a specific focus on teaching vocation skills to people who are soon to be or already have become alumni of special educational needs colleges (SEN) and schools.

The platform's game content is surfaced using various media types, including AI-presented animations, videos, images, office 365 documents and more.

We have also built a system for the rapid creation of simulators; for example, let's say we wanted to teach someone how to use a specific type of industrial oven; in the Xtrable platform, we quickly create a simulation that looks and reacts like the oven's controls.

Being an e-learning platform, we can gather results and analytics over everything that happens within the system; learners can also earn badges and points for participation and completion of game courses.

Like all proof of concept software, ours has a good handful of bugs, incomplete areas and a general lack of elegance; however, it is still pretty awesome (I might be a little biased).

In the run-up to the go-live date of the test, we raced and managed to deploy some working code (just-in-time).

We also devised a survey for the students to complete to give feedback on any issues or views they might want to share.

I have been putting software live for many years; this was probably the most nerve-wracking for me; I know the audience well, and they know their games, and we're trying to get them to learn using games.

After the first fifteen users had spent some time playing with the Xtrable platform, feedback started coming through, and it was very high-quality feedback.

Rather than just saying it was great (as they got to play games at college), as I've come to expect from these students, they put much thought and effort into their feedback.

Over the first week of testing, we received a considerable amount of high-quality, helpful feedback that we will use to improve the system and understand the areas that matter to the learners.

We have five more weeks of alpha testing the Xtrable platform with Woodlands Meed SEN college in Burgess Hill, West Sussex; we could not have picked a more supportive and welcoming college.

A great start.