Tablet-based handwriting orthography training minimizes misspellings
The Booost App is brand new and was developed by scientists of the Leibniz University of Hannover and the University of Lübeck according to current findings of learning research on spelling for children. The Booost App prevents misspellings to the maximum (“Errorless-Learning”-method) and works extremely simply. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has supported the development of the method for seven years (BMBF projects FELICS & HOT-T).
Practicing with Booost is a lot of fun – and highly effective, as a recent scientific study could show (Mühlpforte, Hwang, Heldmann, Münte, Schmitz, & Effenberg (2023). Acceptability and effectiveness of tablet-based orthography training with elementary school children. Learning and Learning Disorders, Hogrefe).
For Apple iOS devices, you can download and install the Booost App from the link on Apple App Store (111.8 Mb) at:
You can download and install the Booost App from the link on your Android device (124 Mb) at:
Also, consider if you know any children, who struggle with spelling – feel free to point them to the Booost App!
The Booost App is self-explanatory and requires a Wi-Fi / cellular network connection the first time you launch it. With “Try it out!” you can simply get started with 6 words without a user account. Short YouTube intro:
Under the forms-link you can give us – voluntarily – a short feedback to the Booost App about your user experience – voluntary, but, we are happy to improve the Booost App!
Your Feedback Link:
When you close the Booost App after your workout, your exercise data will be anonymously sent to us so we can make the Booost App even better. Note: Just enter an imaginary name as your user name.
Training: You create a “New Account” with a fantasy name. When you want to continue practicing, just log in again – several people can practice on one device!
Press the “Start” button and write the word in the writing field – with your finger or a stylus-pen. On the right you can see which letter was recognized. If correct, press the green wide button. If something is wrong, erase the current letter and write again. Each letter must be confirmed with the green botton.
If the Booost App doesn’t recognize your letter at all, press on the recognized letter in the display field and enter the desired letter using the keyboard.
A practice session lasts 10 minutes – you can stop any time, close Booost App, and continue later. Just try everything once. If you get stuck, send us an e-mail and we’ll help you:
Alfred.Effenberg@Sportwiss.Uni-Hannover.de
Tonghun.Hwang@Sportwiss.Uni-Hannover.de
Scientific publications of your working group on the development of orthography and the Booost App:
Heldmann, M., Wagner-Altendorf, T., Baumung, L., Effenberg, A. O., & Münte, T. F. (2024). Event-related brain potentials to typing errors in transparent and intransparent German words. Neuroscience Research, 1-9. In press.
Mühlpforte, N., Hwang, T. H., Heldmann, M., Münte, T. F., Schmitz, G., & Effenberg, A. O. (2023). Akzeptanz und Wirksamkeit eines Tablet-basierten Orthografietrainings mit Grundschulkindern. Lernen und Lernstörungen, 1-14.
Lueckehe, D., Muehlpforte, N., Effenberg, A. O., & von Voigt, G. (2018). Multi-Stage Deep Learning for Context-Free Handwriting Recognition. Proceedings of the Conference „Lernen, Wissen, Daten, Analysen“, LWDA, Mannheim, Germany, 239 – 250.
Heldmann, M., Puppe, S., Effenberg, A. O., & Münte, T. F. (2017). Development of sensitivity to orthographic errors in children: An event-related potential study. Neuroscience, 358, 349-360.
Effenberg, A. O., Schmitz, G., Baumann, F., Rosenhahn, B., & Kroeger, D. (2015). SoundScript-Supporting the acquisition of character writing by multisensory integration. Open Psychology Journal 8 (2015), Nr. 1, 8(1), 230-237.
Reinders, C., Baumann, F., Scheuermann, B., Ehlers, A., Mühlpforte, N., Effenberg, A. O., & Rosenhahn, B. (2015). On-the-fly handwriting recognition using a high-level representation. In Computer Analysis of Images and Patterns: 16th International Conference, CAIP 2015, Valletta, Malta, September 2-4, 2015 Proceedings, Part I 16 (pp. 1-13). Springer International Publishing.