Fun – A Prerequisite
for Learning Games
Christoph Hannak, Michael Pilz, Martin Ebner

• Theory of games in education
• General concept
• Duell & GPS Mode
• Joker
• Teacher‘s opportunities
• Evaluation

• Theory of games in education
• General concept
• Duell & GPS Mode
• Joker
• Teacher‘s opportunities
• Evaluation

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fantasy
challenge
curiosity
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bods/6119906063

• Theory of games in education
• General concept
• Duell & GPS Mode
• Joker
• Teacher‘s opportunities
• Evaluation

General concept
• Part of students’ daily life
• Basic idea is that users play again each other
• Each player can choose his opponent
• 15 questions in asynchronous duel mode or GPS-based
mode
• Jokers, statistics, backend for teachers ...

• Theory of games in education
• General concept
• Duell & GPS Mode
• Joker
• Teacher‘s opportunities
• Evaluation

Duell & GPS Mode
• Duel operates asynchronously (offline mode)
• GPS Mode gives the opportunity to link a set of
statements to GPS coordinates and can only be played
in case the user is close to the given location
coordinates

Home Screen

Duell Menu

Game

Duel Result Screen

• Theory of games in education
• General concept
• Duell & GPS Mode
• Joker
• Teacher‘s opportunities
• Evaluation

Joker
• Use a joker against your opponents; can be bought
with credits earned through level-ups and
achievements
• Fun jokers were implemented purely for gamification
• Learning jokers complement the fun aspect of the
game using learning techniques

Ballon Joker

Splatter and Ballon Joker

Reverse Joker

• Theory of games in education
• General concept
• Duell & GPS Mode
• Joker
• Teacher‘s opportunities
• Evaluation

Teacher‘s opportunities
• opportunity to create a set of statements about
arbitrary topics
• share these set of statements with the students
• receive feedback about the knowledge of his students
• GPS sets can be a creative way to foster location
based knowledget

• Theory of games in education
• General concept
• Duell & GPS Mode
• Joker
• Teacher‘s opportunities
• Evaluation

Evaluation
• N=20 (age 18 – 26)
• 150 statements (geography, chemistry, mathematics)
• 15 rounds per user, 15 statements per round

Research Queston 1: Does playing the game result in a
better user performance in the long run?

Research Question 2: Do the implemented jokers make
the game more fun to play?

Research Question 3: Are statistics as well as score
essential for the game?

Research Question 4: Are location-based questions an
innovative and challenging part of the game?

Conclusion & Discussion
• Increasing results after a several games
• Jokers, location-based service and game goodies
enhance motivation
• Content of questions is manigfold
• Learning in a funny and innovative way

Graz University of Technology
http://www.smartass.at/
http://app.tugraz.at
SOCIAL LEARNING
Computer and Information Services
Graz University of Technology
Martin Ebner
mebner http://elearningblog.tugraz.at
http://elearning.tugraz.at