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Designing for Interaction 193ment before participating regularly in the ongoing prototyping and evaluationprocedures. Design and evaluation was a continuous process, the one naturallyleading into the other with the expectancy and the result that the classroomwould meet the needs of the teachers and children very successfully. TheNIMIS classroom eventually included a small network of computers, invisiblebut for the small touch sensitive screens (WACOM tablets) and pens whichcan lie flat on the desk and are thoughtfully laid out to encourage collaborationand group work around a small table. There is also a large touch sensitivescreen especially modified for use by small children, which they can operatewith their fingers. The software, designed to encourage collaboration, literacyFigure 23.1.The classroom nearing the end of its developmentdevelopment and story writing is distributed allowing pupils to create storiestogether and exchange ideas and reflections across the network, whilst at thesame time communicating by natural means. The software was designed tomeet a range of attainment levels in order to empower learners and supportdiversity and development. Creating shared stories or reflecting on them andsupporting each other in the writing allows children to understand differentperspectives which also helps to develop empathy. Features to encourage thecreation of stories with different perspectives is also embedded in the softwarestructure. This takes the form of thought and speech bubbles, real and fantasticsituations and characters and word banks with speech synthesis, which linkthe known to the unknown in both sound, picture and text. An empathic agentmodelled on the helpful support of teachers in one to one situations from thestudy on empathy is embedded in the software and can also add to the positiveambience of the classroom. The agent can offer affirmation followed by supportbased on knowledge of the child, the creation of stories and the features,which the child has chosen. To get a holistic view of the classroom and toevaluate the human and technological aspects of the classroom in combinationwe used a variety of data collection methods. These included video recordingsof lessons, teacher diaries and interviews, children’s interviews, researchers