As a follow up to this earlier post about some of what we're doing with the next version of MathPractice SkillPak, I thought I'd give you a sneak peek at the new Activitybook Reader (shown at left) which we'll be releasing at about the same time.
(By means of some background, MathPractice SkillPak is a series of Tablet PC/UMPC applications that allow users to handwrite the solutions to a variety of problems, much as they would on paper. In addition, as the user solves each problem they are given feedback as to whether their solution is correct or not.)
What's the ActivityBook Reader? It's a workbook-styled application that enables users to display and work through various problems, more like they would in a bound activity book than let's say a game-styled application. You'll be able to download a variety of content, including math problems, time problems, coin counting problems, word search problems, and more. As the reader works through the problems all their work is saved so that they can either go back to it later or save it to later see how much they've progressed--just like they can with a paper book.
I've talked about launching workbook metaphor awhile back, but now with the release of Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), the time is right. The technologies it provides are a great match for what we're trying to accomplish and they provide a wonderful experience for the user/reader. As I've blogged in the past, the page layout model available in WPF simplifies page-oriented applications. In our case, it enables us to focus even more time on the page "gadgets" themselves rather than other lower-level issues.
In case you're wondering, we're not at a beta stage yet, but since we're having so much fun with this I just couldn't help but share some of what we're up to. I'll try my best to keep you up to date as we progress.


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