Puzzle-based Games as a Metaphor for Designing In Situ Learning Activities
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Researchers explored using puzzle-based games as a metaphor for teachers to design mobile learning activities for students. They tested paper templates to guide teachers in designing activities with different levels, questions, answers, and feedback. Evaluations in four contexts found teachers and students responded positively overall. Teachers were able to design activities for different educational purposes but struggled with the "level" concept. Researchers will create an authoring tool and study how rule information affects students.
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Puzzle-based Games as a Metaphor for Designing In Situ Learning Activities
- 1. PUZZLE-BASED GAMES AS A METAPHOR FOR DESIGNING IN SITU LEARNING ACTIVITIES Javier Melero, Davinia Hernández-Leo, Josep Blat Interactive Technologies Group Universitat Pompeu Fabra ECGBL 2013, Porto, Portugal, 3 October 2013 Supporting teachers as designers of their own gamified situated m-learning activities
- 2. CONTEXT 2/6 How can we support teachers as designers of their own situated m-learning activities? Research Question ECGBL 2013, Porto, Portugal, 3 October 2013 M-learning: learning anytime / anywhere (Rogers, 2008) Situated learning activities: • Educational benefits: motivation, stimulation, entertainment, exploration skills and self- assessment (Davis, 2002; Santos et al., 2011) • Looking for promoting students’ reflection, and avoiding being focused just on achieving higher scores • Must be aligned with the requirements of the specific educational settings: It becomes crucial to involve teachers in the design of these types of learning activities (Tornero et al., 2010) To what extent teachers are able to design this kind of situated m-learning activities
- 3. RESEARCH PLAN 3/6 Adopted approach: A Metaphor considering puzzle and game factors Proposed Solution ECGBL 2013, Porto, Portugal, 3 October 2013 Educational Games: Strengthen and support school achievement, motivation, encourage active learning, attention and concentration (Ke, 2008; Oblinger, 2004; Sedig, 2008) Puzzles: Potential educational strategy to feasibly involve participants as game designers (Crawford, 1982). Engage students in the subject topics, foster students’ problem solving, analytical and memory skills (Huang et al., 2007; Bottino et al., 2008) Board Physical space where the activity is performed Slots Questions designed for the gamified learning activity Pieces Options associated to each question Puzzle Group of slots Level Levels as geographical zone Points Correct/Incorrect answers, consulting hints Bonus Extra points when all questions from a level have been correctly answered Feedback Textual information associated to ranges of points Hints Textual information of help to guide students to find the correct answer
- 4. 4/6 RESEARCH PLAN Design-based Research Methodology Methodology involving continuous cycles of: ECGBL 2013, Porto, Portugal, 3 October 2013 Design Enactment Analysis Re-design Paper-based Templates http://youtu.be/BTSsXa_e-6M Questionnaires Observations Log files Several data gathering techniques teachers students Discussion Groups
- 5. 5/6 RESEARCH PLAN ECGBL 2013, Porto, Portugal, 3 October 2013 Evaluations of the Proposed Approach Evaluations in 4 Real Learning Contexts RESULTS: • The approach enables the creation of gamified in situ learning activities depending on the teachers’ needs • Different design strategies: number of levels, punctuation mechanisms, hints, etc. • Problems understanding the “level” element Discovering L’H Discovering Vic Discovering Sant Sadurní Discovering the MNAC Learning about the heritage of the city of l’Hospitalet Learning about the city of Vic and its art history Learning about the heritage of Sant Sadurní Learning about different pictures of the museum 7 teachers , using the paper-based templates 1 teacher , using the paper-based templates 7 teachers , using the paper-based templates 1 teacher, using the paper-based templates 74 students , using “QuesTInSitu: The Game” 64 students , using “QuesTInSitu: The Game” 43 students , using “QuesTInSitu: The Game” 36 students, using “QuesTInSitu: The Game” RESULTS: • Students enjoy the proposed approach • To offer the students the possibility of moving to next levels without completing correctly all the questions • Discrepancies when subtracting points • Students avoid to access to the hints
- 6. 6/6 Conclusions • A puzzle-based metaphor to facilitate teachers the design their own gamified situated m- learning activities • The metaphor has been positively valued by teachers and students • The metaphor has been proved a feasible approach to define gamified situated learning activities to different contexts and educational purposes • The use of paper-based templates have been positively valued for structuring the content of the activities Next steps • Creation of an authoring tool compliant with the proposed approach • Understanding the effect of the rules information presented to the students (details regarding the adaptive functioning of the points or accessing to the hints) CONCLUSIONS ECGBL 2013, Porto, Portugal, 3 October 2013 MORE INFO. Javier Melero | Universitat Pompeu Fabra | javier.melero@upf.edu | http://www.javiermelero.es
- 7. 6/6 Conclusions • A puzzle-based metaphor to facilitate teachers the design their own gamified situated m- learning activities • The metaphor has been positively valued by teachers and students • The metaphor has been proved a feasible approach to define gamified situated learning activities to different contexts and educational purposes • The use of paper-based templates have been positively valued for structuring the content of the activities Next steps • Creation of an authoring tool compliant with the proposed approach • Understanding the effect of the rules information presented to the students (details regarding the adaptive functioning of the points or accessing to the hints) CONCLUSIONS ECGBL 2013, Porto, Portugal, 3 October 2013 MORE INFO. Javier Melero | Universitat Pompeu Fabra | javier.melero@upf.edu | http://www.javiermelero.es
Editor's Notes
- GUIDELINES Title slide – Name, Title and what the paper is about One slide with the research question and any hypothesis you are investigating 2 or 3 slides covering your research plan A concluding slide – a summary of what you have said and your next steps.
- Advances in mobile technologies release the learners from time and spatial limitations and bring new opportunities for supporting and enhancing learning (Rogers, 2008). In this line, mobile learning allows the creation of situated learning activities. Previous research studies show potential educational benefits in terms of students’ motivation, stimulation, entertainment, exploration skills and self-assessment (Davis, 2002; Santos et al., 2011). It is still needed to work more on promoting students’ reflection, and avoiding being focused just on achieving higher scores (Santos et al., 2011). In order to create meaningful gamified situated m-learning activities, it is important that they are aligned with the requirements of the specific educational settings. It becomes crucial to involve teachers in the design of these types of learning activities (Tornero et al., 2010). Despite of this, it is still not clear to what extent teachers are able to design this kind of situated m-learning activities
- With the aim of facilitating and engaging teachers in the design of gamified situated m-learning activities, a metaphor based on puzzles and games elements has been proposed (Melero et al., accepted). Several reasons are behind the use of adopting this approach as a game design strategy. Games can provide intrinsically motivating learning environments (Sedig, 2008), engage learners in meaningful and enjoyable learning, encourage active learning, be effective tools for enhancing learning and understanding of complex subject matter, promote collaboration among learners (Ke, 2008), activate prior learning to advance forward, promote exploration of information, and provide feedback and assessment to progress (Oblinger, 2004). Puzzles seem that are potential strategies to feasibly involve participants as game designers (Huang et al., 2007; Crawford, 1982). Also, puzzles can engage students in the subject topics, while fostering students’ problem solving, analytical and memory skills (Huang et al., 2007; Bottino et al., 2008). Aim: to engage students in reflecting on the correct solution. Similar to jigsaw puzzles, players could try to solve the different questions as many times as needed until reaching a correct solution Ways to find the correct solutions: reflecting on wrong past choices, consulting resources provided by the gamified application, discussing with other students, asking people, searching by the Internet, etc.
- Methodology (Barab et al., 2004; Collins et al. 1992; DBRC, 2003) The teachers became co-participants in the design and analysis Involves social interactions with the teachers: Sharing ideas , Looking at multiple aspects of the design and developing, Involves different participants in the design (researchers and teachers Context: The puzzle-based game metaphor as an approach to create gamified in situ learning activities Participants: Teachers (designers) and students (end users) of secondary education Design: filling paper-based templates containing the different key elements Enactment: QuesTInSitu: The Game Analysis: Mixed evaluation method considering: Observations, tests, questionnaires, and log files (with students); Interviews and questionnaires (with teachers)
- The approach successfully enables the creation of gamified in situ learning activities depending on the teachers’ needs. The proposed metaphor has been successfully applied as a design tool using paper-based templates to create four gamified in situ learning activities. Even though based on the same design model, the resulting games were different serving the diverse purposes depending on the educational situation and teachers’ creativity. They have different amounts of levels and questions, the feedback was designed in either informal or formal ways, different punctuations mechanisms were formulated (i.e. one following a more traditional test-based approach and the others following a more game-based approach), and different strategies were followed to design the hints (suggestions vs. clues). Regarding the students’ opinions while using QuesTInSitu: The Game, we can conclude that most of the students enjoyed the proposed approach. Students enjoyed the dynamics of the game and indicated that they reflect on the answers to the questions especially when they first try was wrong. However, from the obtained results it seems that it is important to offer students the possibility of moving to next levels without completing correctly all the questions. The different punctuation mechanisms designed in all the experiments were accepted by the students, having just some discrepancies when subtracting points in the cases of failing questions. Regarding the hints, students did not consult them, as it would be expected. Results show that students prefer to find by themselves the solutions using either the resources available in the real situ, asking people or searching the Internet, rather than losing points.
- This research work has presented a strategy based on a puzzle-based game metaphor to facilitate teachers the design their own gamified situated m-learning activities. The puzzle-based game metaphor has been proved also a feasible approach to define gamified situated learning activities to different contexts and educational purposes. Besides, the use of paper-based templates have been positively valued for structuring the content of the activities, as well as for freely designing the gamified situated m-learning activities. Creation of an authoring tool with teachers. Results suggest that further research is needed to understand the negative feeling of the students in this respect. Potential venues for future exploration include understanding the effect of the rules information presented to the students (details regarding the adaptive functioning of the points) or the adoption of more game-oriented punctuation mechanisms. This issue was tackled by indicating that the level element - when designing in situ learning activities - may refer typically to specific physical zones or geographical areas.