2012 04-19 (educon2012) emadrid urjc hybrid educational worlds - merging virtual worlds and the real world to efficiently create serious games with smartphones

Hybrid educational worldsExamples of hybrid worlds

ExperimentConclusions

Hybrid Educational WorldsMerging virtual worlds and the real world to efficiently create

serious games with smartphones

G. Robles, J. Fernandez, J. M. Gonzalez-Barahona, J. Ramiro

[email protected]/LibreSoft, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos

Marrakech, Morocco, April 19th, 2012

G. Robles, J. Fernandez, J. M. Gonzalez-Barahona, J. Ramiro Hybrid Educational Worlds



c©2012 Gregorio Robles, Jorge Fernandez,Jesus M. Gonzalez-Barahona, Julio Ramiro

All figures are ours, except when the original source is specified.

Some rights reserved. This presentation is distributed under the“Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0” license, by Creative Commons, available at

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/



Outline

1 Hybrid educational worlds

2 Examples of hybrid worlds

3 Experiment

4 Conclusions




Introduction

Figure: Complete virtual worlds. Source: InsideGoogle




Introduction (II)

Figure: Parallel Worlds. Source: UC3M




Introduction (and III)

Figure: Hybrid worlds




In this presentation... our thesis is that

To achieve learning goals often the creation ofcomplete virtual worlds is not needed

In some cases, when students are given the necessary means andinformation to acquire the knowledge, skills and abilities, less rich

virtual worlds could be sufficient.




Outline



3 Experiment

4 Conclusions




Example #1: LibreSoft Gymkhana

Figure: LibreSoft Gymkhana.




Example #2: Los Conquistadores

Figure: Conquistadores. Risk-like game.




Creating a partial virtual world

A preliminary explanation about the game

A smartphone

A social network built by the smartphones

Geo-localization of the smartphones

Monitoring (by the game admin)

Other elements that enrich the experience: QR codes, AR...




Potential benefits

Lower development costs

Lower hardware requirements

Lower time investment by educators creating the activity

Students have to face a lower complexity

Same (or even major) learning outcomes?

Supports other capabilities? (team work, etc.)




Technicalities

Figure: General architecture of serious m-learning games developed bythe GSyC/LibreSoft research group that make use of the hybrid worldconcept.G. Robles, J. Fernandez, J. M. Gonzalez-Barahona, J. Ramiro Hybrid Educational Worlds



Outline



3 Experiment

4 Conclusions




Experiment: Learning objectives

Goal: To introduce freshmen into the Campus

1 To gain knowledge of the campus, studies and academia

2 To gain knowledge of the location, structure and services ofthe Campus

3 To improve teamwork and foster get to know other teammates




Three approaches

Approach #1Hybrid world: 30 students in 5 groups played a m-gymkhanawith mobile phones

Approach #2Virtual world: 30 students played an adventure game usingeAdventure

Approach #3Traditional: 15 students in 3 groups guided each by a teacher




Comparison of effort

Guided tour eAdventure m-gymkhana

Platform development No High Medium

Platform learning No 4h 4h

Creation activity No 40h 1h

Table: Comparison of effort invested in preparing a learning activity.




Comparison of learning outcomes

Learning outcome Guided tour eAdventure m-gymkhana

Campus knowledge Low High Medium

Location knowlegde Medium Medium High

Teamwork Low Low High

Best choice Guided tour Guided tour Guided tour

Table: Comparison of the outcomes of each learning activity. Best choiceis the answer students gave to the answer ”With which activity do youthink you would have learned more?”




Outline



3 Experiment

4 Conclusions




Conclusions

Hybrid worlds can some times meet ambitious learningobjectives, being more simple and faster to design and toimplement.

For certain aspects complete virtual worlds have shown betterresults.

Educational scientists should consider the time devoted byteachers in their virtual world activities.

Students often prefer the usual activity, even if the learningoutcomes are poorer.




Hybrid Educational WorldsMerging virtual worlds and the real world to efficiently create

serious games with smartphones

G. Robles, J. Fernandez, J. M. Gonzalez-Barahona, J. Ramiro

[email protected]/LibreSoft, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos

Marrakech, Morocco, April 19th, 2012


Technology

2012 04-19 (educon2012) emadrid urjc hybrid educational worlds - merging virtual worlds and the real world to efficiently create serious games with smartphones