Basheer is a smartphone game designed to teach computational thinking to novice technology users. I designed and developed it as part of my master's project at Stanford.
This project won Best in category for Empowering and was a Finalist for the Expressing category at the Interaction Awards (IXDA) 2021. It was selected from over 351 submissions from 39 different countries.
I conducted design research, designed the user experience and interface, conducted usability tests and programmed the HTML + Javascript game (with 2 other developers).
Basheer is a pretty common name in Pakistan but in the context of this project it is the name of the Rickshaw that the users will be programming, through the rickshaw driver: Bushra.
Novice-technology users have difficulty in using existing digital tools to learn programming because of language and cultural barriers, unfamiliar interfaces and accessibility.
Basheer is a smartphone experience that teaches computational thinking to novice-technology users from low income households in Pakistan.
It gives an accessible and culturally relevant experience in which the learner solves various puzzles in a programming language in the user’s native language: Urdu
In this level, the user is navigating the rickshaw around the grid to pick up the passenger
In this level, the user is navigating the rickshaw around the grid to pick up the passenger