AmbiLearn: Enhancing the Learning Environment

for Primary School Education

Jennifer Hyndman1, Tom Lunney1 & Paul Mc Kevitt2

1School of Computing & Intelligent Systems2School of Creative Arts & Technologies

University of Ulster, Magee, Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland

Outline

• Aims & Objectives• Background• Related work• AmbiLearn & TreasureLearn• Evaluation of AmbiLearn• Relation to other work• Conclusion & future work

• Aim: Enhance Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) for Primary Schools

• Objectives: Use serious games Design & Implement AmbiLearn – enhanced VLE Content neutral game-based approach Initial evaluation of AmbiLearn

Aims & Objectives

Background

• Northern Ireland Primary & Secondary schools have C2K network & LearningNI VLE infrastructure Much of pupil content is static downloadable documents

• Children’s primary experience of home computing is playing games (Buckingham & Scanlon, 2003) Children aged 2-17 enjoy playing games (Downin, 2011)

Related work• Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) facilitate

catching up on missed lectures/classes, submitting assignments & receiving feedback at any time (Hyndman et al. 2011) Tools for both formative & summative assessments can

lead to improved student learning (Peat & Franklin, 2002, 2011)

• Use of video games in the classroom engages & motivates students (Pastore et al. 2010; Rizko et al. 2006) Three key attributes of games as novelty, competition &

dynamic interaction (Dennis et al. 2012)

Related work• Games reinforce core subjects

appropriate for standardised test such as InCAS & PIPS

• Tool are available for educators to create their own content for activities e.g. Black Cat Activity Builder range (Science & English

worksheets, word search & games)

• Feedback to the teacher is provided within activities in the VLE where Quiz information is logged, e.g. the quiz blocks

AmbiLearn

• Follows principles from both constructivism (Piaget, 1927; Vgotsky, 1962) & behaviourism (Skinner, 1938, Bruner, 2006)

• Enhanced VLE with (1) content neutral game, (2) content creation & (3) reporting modules

• Game module is generic• Reporting module provides a graphical

representation of game data

AmbiLearn Architecture

AmbiLearn Component user roles

Game Module• Generic activities

independent of content until a pedagogical model is ‘plugged-in’

• Game plot & goal ‘Ambi’, a character stranded on ‘TreasureLearn Island’ Users collect a total of 6 pieces of their boats to be

rescued from TreasureLearn Island

• Activities: AmbiGuess, WordSearch, FactMatch, AmbiJig, AmbiQuiz

TreasureLearn Island

Content Creation Module

• Defines the content for each game-based application

• Accepts data entry from an educator & builds the content into an XML file structure assessed by the game module

• User friendly interface forms for input of application data pedagogical model as output

Reporting Module

• Displays game data in a graphical format

• Implemented with a series of SQL statements that select the appropriate data to display

• A Fusion Charts PHP class & compiled SWF charts are implemented to display data as bar charts

AmbiLearn ReportsReport Data Reporting

Report Format

Stacked chart

Bar chart

Average Line

Table

Overall game Full score for each user broken down by activity

AmbiGuess

Individual activity score as a % for each user Number of incorrect guessed objects for each user who scored

<100%

Incorrect objects guessed by user WordSearch Individual activity game time for each user

FactMatch

Individual activity score as a % for each user Number of incorrect facts matched for each user who scored <100%

Incorrect matches guessed by user AmbiJig Individual activity game time for each user

AmbiQuiz

Individual activity score as a % for each user Number of incorrect answers for each user who scored <100%

Incorrect answers given by user

AmbiLearn Communication

Evaluation of AmbiLearn• Evaluation conducted for 3 Primary School classes

(Teachers = 3, Children = 61)

• Teachers – created pedagogical model with their own themes (The Water Cycle, Vikings & Rainforests)

• Children – played AmbiLearn game & completed an evaluation booklet 98.36% responded ‘yes’ when asked:

‘Did you enjoy playing AmbiLearn?’

• Currently investigating correlations between participants perceptions of activities with their teachers perceptions (Fun, Enjoyment, Ability, Difficulty)

• Teachers reviewing AmbiLearn Reporting Module bar charts for their class reported them as an accurate reflection of class capabilities

Evaluation of AmbiLearn

Relation to other work• Focus is on game-based assessment

• Game module is designed as a reusable game with plug-in pedagogical model Many games developed in educational settings employ

static content, e.g. commercial Off-the-shelf (COTS) games

• Extends reporting to full class data Content neutral games are commercially available(e.g.

Black Cat Activity Builder ), but do not provide opportunities for user logging

• Game module exists as a single application & content is linked as an instance of the application – enables theme instances to be compared with each other Offers 5 different activities within one game, including

multiple presentation of educational content

Relation to other work

Conclusion & future work

• AmbiLearn: enhanced VLE with content neutral game, content creation & reporting modules

• Content neutral game-based approach provides a generic game independent of educational content

• Initial evaluation results show that perceptions of AmbiLearn from both children & teachers give promising results

Conclusion & future work

• Data given in the reporting module shows an accurate reflection of class capabilities

• Effective Virtual Learning Environment for Primary school Assessment for Learning activities

• Future work on full evaluation & data analysis

Thank You