Launched in 2021 by Writelike.org, Frankenstories is an online multiplayer game designed to build advanced writing and collaboration skills in middle school and high school students.

As students work together to construct a story, they form a creative hive mind and learn from each other.

Frankenstories is also a powerful educational tool that allows teachers to customise games to target specific writing skills and find innovative ways to engage with content in any subject.

A report released by the Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) in 2022 found that Australian students’ NAPLAN writing results declined in all areas except spelling from 2011 to 2018. Students in Year 9 were found to be constructing sentences at or below Year 7 level and using punctuation to a Year 3 standard.

“We do a good job of teaching students basic literacy skills up until about Year 4,” says Writelike and Frankenstories founder Andrew Duval.

“But after that, the demands become more advanced. Applying best practice takes time, student attention and teacher expertise, all of which can be in short supply.”

Andrew’s vision was to design a fast-paced and highly engaging game that would help students develop their advanced writing and collaboration skills as they worked together to create an original story or argument. 

“Advanced writing is a precursor for success in many other academic domains, so it’s a worthwhile problem to solve,” he explains.

Since the launch of Frankenstories in 2021, Andrew and his team have been working closely with teachers to continuously improve the platform.

“We have very strong relationships with teachers and we’re iterating the product based on their precise tactical advice,” Andrew says.

After developing a writing mentor-text modelling platform, Writelike.org, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Advance Queensland, Andrew harnessed the expert knowledge and tools he had acquired to design Frankenstories. 

As a result, Frankenstories is already reaching an average of 20,000 monthly users despite being a new entrant in the Australian EdTech landscape.

“We’re steadily growing and the users we have are highly engaged,” Andrew says.

“Frankenstories is a unique and powerful learning experience that’s both affordable and accessible, so our goal is to get it into classrooms around the world.”

Andrew stresses the importance of putting the smallest possible iteration of a product onto the market as soon as possible.

“Get it out in the field and get some feedback because it’s very easy to keep postponing” he says.

“There is real value in talking to teachers and understanding your audience.”

Joining the EduGrowth community has also been a game-changer for Frankenstories.

“I was kicking myself when I found out about EduGrowth because I wish we had been part of it ages ago,” Andrew says.

“The online course, events and shared knowledge we have access to are so valuable. There are also big strategic opportunities for the federal and state governments, but they need some prompting and provoking. Having an entity to do that and keep everyone informed is so important.”