Michał Broda from Duckie Deck, a Krakow-based educational games company, took the time out to answer some of our probing questions about his company and edtech in Poland. Thanks Michał!
Hello! Please tell us about Duckie Deck. Who are you? Where are you based? How did you get into making educational games? Why ‘Duckie Deck’ as a name?
Hi, we are pleased to be a guest at the edugameshub. I am Michał and I’m going to tell you a little about Duckie Deck.
Duckie Deck was founded in Cracow at the beginning of 2012. However we weren’t the rookies then. Most of our team, since 2007, co-created Polish website called “Ciufcia” with educational games for children, which is still doing well on the Polish market.
Duckie Deck creates educational games for preschoolers from around the world. You can find us in the App Store, Google Play or just at duckiedeck.com
Why Duckie Deck? Yellow small duck is heavily associated with childhood and fun. Besides, do you know someone who doesn’t like small yellow ducks? [Editor: Good point. Who doesn't love little yellow ducks?]
You make games for the toddler/pre-schooler market. Why did you decide to focus on this market segment and what have been some of the challenges?
The age of children using tech is still decreasing. A few years ago it was unthinkable that a 2 year-old child would use a tablet and apps. Today, it’s a common view, however, some time ago we noticed the problem that the content is not suitable for their age and it’s often duplicated. So we decided to make a difference.
Our biggest challenge is to create games that are universal throughout the world, easy to navigate and for which you won’t need to have an instruction. We are trying to change the approach to the education of young children and not only focus on the classical model of ABC’s and 123′s. People often forget that for kids everything is educational. Learning to share each other’s toys or food, understanding emotions, getting used to darkness or animal care are equally important for the development of children.
Polish kids using Duckie Deck in the classroom
Your website contains over 125 educational games and “it aims to help children develop their creative, analytical, practical and social/emitional thinking skills”. Can you explain how you make sure the games have the best educational content? (e.g. do you work with educational experts?)
From the beginning of our work, we cooperated with educators and child psychologists. We establish many contacts and gather feedback – this is the only way we can verify our ideas. All the time we are looking for inspirations and we are following the development of ed tech to gain new knowledge. The concept of creating a website with educational games for toddlers is based on the theory of Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, who proved that children learn more efficiently and retain more knowledge through play-based activities. Games on our site and the distribution of skills in education was inspired by the book written by Chelsey Marie Fink “Teach Your Kids to Think: Simple Tools You Can Use Every Day”. We have a lot of messages from schools and kindergartens from nearly all over the world, from which we learn how our website is helpful in teaching children. Recently, our project has caused quite a buzz after publication on a blog free tech for teachers (http://www.freetech4teachers.com/). We are now discussing with the American foundation about cooperation on the educational project for children with special needs.
You’ve released one app ‘Sharing with Duckie Deck’ and are about to release another. What is your strategy for tablet and mobile and do you think there is a viable market for educational app developers?
We’re already after the launch of our second application Duckie Deck Collection, which is available on both iOS and for Android.
Children spend more time in front of screens at home, at school or travelling. For the older generation it is a bit scary but for the young it’s quite natural. The most important thing is how we use it and what we offer to kids. Therefore, parents begin to look for more and more high-valued applications that are both fun but also educational. The same thing happens in schools, where tablets are quickly gaining a major role as a learning tool. Educational market of mobile games and applications is really large, and for many years will continue to grow rapidly. However, competition is very tough and you have to put a lot of effort to be noticed.
The suite of Duckie Deck products
The number of owners of smartphones and tablets is regularly growing, but in many places they are still relatively rare and difficult to get that’s why we develop our website at the same time. Smartphones and tablets are developing really fast allowing developers to more and more innovative ideas and solutions. We are creating unique apps with important message. We want to teach kids important life values, social skills and support their creativity. As for the distribution, we use app stores as well as mobile carriers channels, which is perfect for reaching big audiences very fast. Mobile carriers are one of the best distribution channels for mobile apps. They sell millions of devices every year and are able to preinstall your app on their devices. It’s hard to do, but the return will most likely be worth the trouble. It’s pretty simple – we deliver the product, they deliver the customers.
You’re based in Poland. What is the Polish #Edtech and apps industry like? Are there any events/websites/companies we should know about (apart from Duckie Deck, of course)?
The Duckie Deck offices in Krakow
Poland is experiencing a start-up boom. Gaming industry is growing up really fast. I’m sure most of us have heard of the Witcher series? Our hometown Krakow, which is the second largest academic center in Poland just after Warsaw has become a very interesting place for innovative companies. There are a lot of IT companies based here – and we dream about being a new Silicon Valley. Actually, EdTech industry is just starting in Poland and there aren’t many projects that reached the mainstream. But we have a few start-ups that you need to pay attention to. Probably the most successful is brainly.com, the educational social network. Brainly now works already in the majority of European countries as well as in many countries of South America. It is available in seven languages. I think you’ll also like Vocabla.com and Edukoala, both sites are connected with learning of foreign languages but in a different way. Vocabla is a website tool and a mobile app, which help you build a vocabulary. EduKoala you can learn vocabulary through cool app on your smartphone based on gamification.
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