Codex App: A New SMU Gaming App for US Adults Who Can’t Read

Around 32 million US adults are not able to read, states U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy. While yet another study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, says, about 50 percent of U.S. adults can’t read an eighth-grade level book.

Reducing the U.S. illiteracy rate with an Indiana Jones-style gaming app, a team of experts from Southern Methodist University (SMU) and Literacy Instruction for Texas (LIFT) has come up with a new free learning app that aims to eradicate illiteracy.

Codex: Lost Words of Atlantis is a new learning app for Android devices to help the user read. The team behind Codex app comprises of SMU professors- Corey Clark, Tony Cuevas, and Diane Gifford, all of whom have partnered with one of the teams from the Barbara Bush Foundation Adult Literacy XPRIZE competition.

Much like other mystery game apps, the learning app from SMU and LIFT task the app user with finding hidden artifacts. Once found, they need to decrypt the letters and sounds contained within.

However, the low adoption rate is one obstacle that is hammering the use of technology to support literacy. The Codex is able to garner only 8,300 downloads, so far.

Corey Clark, a computer science and game development professor at SMU, and the lead of the Codex app said,

“How do you get people who don’t have the ability to read and most likely are not technology savvy to download something, read it, know what they’re trying to get and actually make progress? It’s a very difficult thing to do.”

The significance of the e-learning through the app is multiplied at a time when adult literacy education is at a new low.

Diane Gifford is a literacy education professor and developed the Codex’s curriculum said,

“We have this very large problem in this country that people don’t talk about.”

Many adults confine their deficiency to themselves because of social stigma, but with this literacy app, the US adults with a reading deficiency can keep up with their reading skills.

The most significant advantage of Codex app over a regular classroom is that the user can boost his reading skills from any part of the globe. Using technology to support literacy can be a challenge, but improving literacy through technology is the only way in this era. Hopefully, more such free learning apps could benefit both kids and adults in the future.

Written By

Manish Content Strategist

With a mixture of literature, cinema, and photography, Manish is mostly traveling. When he is not, he is probably writing another tech news for you!

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