The ALPACA Project

ALPACA is a gamified, highly-visual tool to detect reading difficulties in young children.

The ALPACA tool will quickly and accurately assess early literacy skills in all pupils in infant classes.

many aspects of a child’s progress through school."

as delayed intervention negatively affects

as early as possible in their reading journey

“ALPACA aims to provide support to children

Dr Jennifer O'Sullivan

PROJECT LEAD

Lecturer, Marino Institute of Education

New digital tool for early literacy screening

Funded by Enterprise Ireland

Archie, aged 5, at the launch of ALPACA

ALPACA is a gamified, highly-visual tool to engage all children. Aimed at those beginning reading, the ALPACA digital tool is designed to identify any potential issues with reading at a very young age. It will also increase assessment accuracy and reduce time being spent by teachers on current paper-based assessments.

The 18-month project is a collaboration between The Learnovate Centre, which is a global research and innovation centre in learning technologies, Marino Institute of Education and the School of Education at Trinity College Dublin. €300,000 funding was granted under Enterprise Ireland’s Commercialisation Fund.

Sign Up For Updates

It is hoped that ALPACA will be ready to test in schools at the start of the next school year, in September 2022. Sign up now to receive updates on the project including the pilot project details.

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