Accessible Games for Health and K-12 Education: Lessons from the Classroom

ACCESSIBLE GAMES FOR HEALTH AND K-12 EDUCATION Lynn Marentette, Sp.A. NCSP School Psychologist Union County Public Schools May 7, 2008 http://techpsych.blogspot.com http://interactivemultimediatechnology.blogspot.com

Background
School psychologist in Union County Public Schools, North Carolina
Certified in school psychology and guidance counseling
Discovered Universal Design for Learning in 2002when researching multimedia applications and educational games for secondary students with mild disabilities who were struggling in school and becoming disengaged.
Students were strong visual learners; most were avid gamers
Some students had more complex disabilities
Returned to school in 2003 initially to learn how to make multimedia games for hand held devices and interactive whiteboards, took first game class at Central Piedmont Community College, later studied VR for education and training.
Graduate Student, UNC-Charlotte
HCI, Games, ubiquitous computing, etc
Universal Usability and Pervasive Computing

My Interests

Accessible Games for Health and K-12 Education
“ Technology can positively influence the method in which healthful living courses are taught in the public schools today”
-N.C. Healthful Living Curriculum
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/healthfulliving/

Child and Youth Health Risks
Number of obese children age 6-17 has more than doubled over the past 30 years or so.
Risk carry over to adult hood and can increase with age.
Related physical inactivity and low fruit and vegetable consumption
Result is an increase in health care costs.
Other risks: suicide, water safety, riding a bike without a helmet, aggression/violence
-NC Healthful Living

Health Education Skills
Comprehend concepts related to health promotion and disease
Access health information and promotion products and services
Self-management of behaviors related to reducing health problems and promoting positive health
Analyze external and internal influences on health and behaviors
Interpersonal communication to enhance health
Decision-making to enhance health
Goal setting to enhance health
-NC Healthful Living

Existing Games
Not immersive; ok for casual mini-games
Food Fury: Grades 3-5
http://www.playnormous.com/FoodFury/FoodFury.html
Student can choose level of difficulty
University of Texas School of Public Health, School of Health Information Science, and Archimage, Inc.
Amazing Food Detective
Kaiser Permanente
http://www.kp.org/amazingfooddetective
English and Spanish, includes a guide for teachers and health tips for families Kaiser Permanente

Examples of Content

Problem: How do we provide access?
Input devices, communication devices
Accessible, adaptable content that supports a wide range of learning strengths and needs
Adapted activities designed to promote engagement, cooperation, and transfer of learning of skills and behaviors to daily life.
Move from providing access to implementing universal design

Implementation In the Schools
Interactive Whiteboards and Displays
PC’s, laptops
Handheld devices
Cell phones?
Stand-alone, network, or internet:
Many schools block access to any website that relates to games, including sites about federally-funded simulation or game projects, BBC’s CBeebies switch-enabled game site, etc.
http://techpsych.blogspot.com/2007/08/on-line-switch-accessible-games-for.html

WOLFE SCHOOL ACCESSIBLE PLAYGROUND

DEVICES AND INPUTS

Barriers
Some education administrators frown on the term “games”.
Traditional instructional technology has not been adopted well in many classrooms
Content of applications marketed to the schools has been at the level of the “electronic workbook”.
Many on-line educational applications lack quality, depth.
Research: Transfer of learning, generalization of behaviors is important, but doesn’t always happen
Accessibility continues to be a problem within the physical world.

Universal Design for Learning Center for Applied Special Technology CAST http://www.cast.org Center for Implementing Technology in Education CITEd http://www.cited.org/ Universal Design for Gaming?

Why Universal Design for Learning?
http://www.cast.org/publications/UDLguidelines/version1.html
Rationale:
13.8% of students ages 3-21 receive special education services for various disabilities:
Specific Learning Disabilities 5.6%
Speech or language impairments 3.0%
Mental retardation 1.1%
Emotional disturbance 1.0%
Hearing impairments 0.2%
Orthopedic impairments 0.2%
Other health impairments 1.2%
Visual impairments 0.1%
Multiple disabilities 0.3%
Deaf-blindness --
Autism 0.5 Now 1 in 150 students!
Traumatic brain injury 0.1
National Center on Education Statistics (2006)

Universal Design for Learning
Universal Design for Learning calls for ...
Multiple means of representation , to give learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge,
Multiple means of action and expression, to provide learners alternatives for demonstrating what they know,
Multiple means of engagement , to tap into learners' interests, offer appropriate challenges, and increase motivation.
http://www.cast.org/research/udl/index.html

- -CAST

Why? Games and Virtual Worlds, Therapeutic Games, MMO’s

EASE GAMES EASe Games were developed from a listening therapy program for use with children who have autism spectrum disorders or those who have sensory or auditory processing problems. http://www.vision-audio.com /

EduSim
Based on Croquet
http://www.opencroquet.org/index.php/Main_Page
Greenbush EduSim
http://roots.greenbush.us/?cat=2
http://www.youtube.com/user/GreenbushTV

Suggestions
Provide feedback: immediate and ongoing
Provide multiple methods of input and output
Make it intuitive- easy to understand and play with minimal assistance, or with assistance from a peer
Guide the guider approach- documentation materials and directions should be understood by everyone who spends time with the student, including teachers, siblings, and grandparents

Suggestions for Applications
Provide multiple examples
Highlight critical features
Use digital tour guides to provide support
Provide multiple media and formats
Provide background information
Support strategic learning, use UDL principles, multiple means of expression

What Next?

http://interactivemultimediatechnology.blogspot.com	635
http://www.slideshare.net	19
http://interactivemultimediatechnology.blogspot.com.au	8
http://interactivemultimediatechnology.blogspot.in	6
http://interactivemultimediatechnology.blogspot.co.uk	4
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http://interactivemultimediatechnology.blogspot.ca	3
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	3
http://interactivemultimediatechnology.blogspot.jp	2
http://interactivemultimediatechnology.blogspot.pt	2
http://edu290group9.wikispaces.com	1
http://interactivemultimediatechnology.blogspot.it	1
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Accessible Games for Health and K-12 Education: Lessons from the Classroom

by Lynn Marentette on May 09, 2008

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Accessible Games for Health and K-12 Education: Lessons from the Classroom — Presentation Transcript