ambilearn: enhancing the learning environment for primary school education
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AmbiLearn: Enhancing the Learning Environment for Primary School Education. Jennifer Hyndman 1 , Tom Lunney 1 & Paul Mc Kevitt 2 1 School of Computing & Intelligent Systems 2 School of Creative Arts & Technologies University of Ulster, Magee, Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Outline. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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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
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Outline
• Aims & Objectives• Background• Related work• AmbiLearn & TreasureLearn• Evaluation of AmbiLearn• Relation to other work• Conclusion & future work
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• 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
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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)
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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)
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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
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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
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AmbiLearn Architecture
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AmbiLearn Component user roles
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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
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TreasureLearn Island
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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
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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
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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
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AmbiLearn Communication
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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?’
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• 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
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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
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• 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
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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
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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
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Thank You