Beach Day Studios is thrilled to announce that the studio was awarded an IES/SBIR Phase I Grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.
The grant will be used for research and development of vCoder, including integrating new methods of machine learning. The goal of the AI is to assist students by improving learning outcomes, improving students’ interest in computer science, and fostering a growth mindset for learning computer science.
The IES states the directive of the program:
The Small Business Innovation Research program at the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences’ (ED/IES SBIR) provides funding to small business firms and partners for the research and development of commercially viable education technology products designed to support student learning, teacher practice, or school administration in education or special education.
Team Beach Day is honored to be one of only 16 teams selected for the national grant. Over the coming 8 months we’ll be busy developing, refining, and testing our prototype to ensure students have the best possible experience with the game and enjoy the process of learning computer science.
Our hope is that vCoder will also be used to support remote learning during these difficult times.