THE CUSTOMER
As one of the world's leading English Language Teaching publishers, Cambridge University Press offers market-leading courses and supplementary materials for learners of English in all age groups. They continuously develop new materials across a range of platforms, including online, interactive whiteboard and mobile apps, in order to deliver the best learning solutions. These are shared across the world from over 50 global offices.
THE BRIEF
The Press wanted to investigate whether speech recognition technology could boost speaking confidence for students learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL), with a view to developing an innovative learning solution for their customers. In the first step on this journey, they partnered with us to develop a Proof of Concept (PoC).
THE REQUIREMENTS
This project required both imagination and technical expertise, involving:
- Creative development of new concepts
- A breadth of skills across web development
- Knowledge of natural language processing within APIs, and how this could be used to support language learners
"Working with Green Custard has given CUP the opportunity to experiment and iterate quickly and with a customer focus. They have been an intrinsic part of the team working collaboratively and bringing their significant technical skills into this important proof of concept project. We continue to work with this innovative and highly skilled team."
Darren Smith,
Technology Director at Cambridge University Press
THE SOLUTION
Our work has provided the Press with a strong understanding of the capabilities of various commercial speech-recognition options and enabled them to explore how this functionality could benefit real customers.
In successfully proving this concept, our team confidently tackled challenges including interpreting and combining speech-recognition tools from multiple vendors and ensuring a positive user experience for a broad range of users.
We are proud to have pioneered a technology which could transform the experience of learning English as a Foreign Language and look forward to developing this further with the Press.
"The best part about working on this project is that it will be used to help people learn. Hearing the positive reports from those testing and using the software provided a great sense of achievement." - Jonathan Custance, Director at Green Custard
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