1. Open 3D Environments for Competitive and
Collaborative Educational Games
Roland Klemke, Milos Kravcik
PDSG Workshop, Saarbrücken, 18.09.2012

2. Game-based Learning
Source: Nadolski 2010

3. Game-based Learning
Immersive learning, but
high modelling costs for
- 3d environments
- Game logic
- Learning content

4. Is it possible to create a 3D learning game
with freely available technologies /
contents at low modelling cost?

5. The Concept
Use Google Streetview and the real world
as a playground for interacting with
virtual items in location-based games

6. Benefits
• Low modelling costs due to
existing environment
• Open API for content and
application logic
• Integration with the real
environment
• Easy to handle for teachers
and students

7. The Problem
• What, if real 3D models
matter?
• What, if students have to
create rather than
consume?
• What, if results have to be
evaluated by humans?
• What about architecture?
Image: Evelyn Kamilaki, dffevelyn_kamilaki, flickr.com

8. Architecture is competition driven
Architectural teams cooperate to
Image: Charlie Vinz, vinzcha, flickr.com compete with other teams

9. Architecture is contextual: results of architectural
processes are embedded in the real world
Image: A-dit-ya, flickr.com

10. The Vision
• Goal: Support architecture education in cooperative
and competitive manner with a platform that provides
contextual settings
• Approach: Extend StreetView in a manner, that it
– Supports embedding 3D models on the StreetView
interface
– Support in-team collaboration on 3D models
– Supports cross-team rating

11. Extending StreetLearn’s object model
Service infrastructure for
Map creating, uploading,
Item publishing, and rating models
Construction
Service Player
Item
Building
Team
Item
Building
Model
Status

12. Extending StreetLearn’s user interface:
Construction Area

13. Extending StreetLearn’s user interface:
Embedded 3D Model

14. Extending StreetLearn’s user interface:
Collaboration & Versioning

15. Extending StreetLearn’s user interface:
Competition & Rating

16. Extending StreetLearn’s user interface:
Competition & Rating

17. Results
• 3D add-on for StreetLearn succesfully prototyped by
student team
• Collaboration and competition features realised
• Status: preliminary, but feedback from architectural
students promising

18. Next Steps
• User interface should be better integrated to provide
better contextualisation
– currently, 3D models appears in soft-popup but should
be really embedded
• Possible candidates for better integration might be
realised in Google Earth
– Support for 3D models natively included
– Different application architecture required

19. Mapping to workshop focus
Pedagogic StreetLearn Platform Game
principles development Mechanics
Pedagogic StreetLearn Game Storytelling
design authoring
AI Agents? Game-based
learning experience

20. Thank you!
Roland Klemke Milos Kravcik
Center of Learning Sciences and Advanced Community Information
Technology Systems (ACIS)
Open Universiteit Nederland RWTH Aachen University
Roland.Klemke@ou.nl kravcik@dbis.rwth-aachen.de