A Nested Design Approach for Mobile Learning Games

Abstract

Mobile Learning Games (MLGs) show great potential for increasing engagement, creativity and authentic learning. Yet, despite their great potential for education, the use of MLGs by teachers, remains limited. This is partly due to the fact that MLGs are often designed to match a specific learning context, and thus cannot be directly reusable for other contexts. Researchers have therefore designed various types of MLG authoring tools. However, a recent study we led shows that these authoring tools are ill-adapted to the teacher's needs and competencies. The teachers find them either too poor to create MLGs that fit their teaching requirements, or too complex and overwhelming to use. In this paper, we introduce JEM iNVENTOR, an authoring tool based on a nested design approach. It offers three conceptual levels adapted to the teacher's competencies, and allows them to progress in time.

JEM Inventor: a mobile learning game authoring tool based on a nested design approach

“…As mentioned in our previous work (Karoui et al, 2017), we believe that providing a basic MLG structure will be helpful, especially to novice designers, who do not yet have experience in game-design. We decided to start by providing a basic template for one of the most common types of MLG: the educational Treasure Hunt.…”

Dispositivos móviles en la educación: tendencias e impacto para la innovación

“…Diversas experiencias del M-Learning se basan en la incorporación de aplicaciones disponibles en las tiendas; no obstante, estas son limitadas al momento de adaptarse a las necesidades de cada ecosistema. Ante ello se han diseñado la plataforma JEM iNVENTOR [44] que permite al docente crear aplicaciones de acuerdo con los requerimientos específicos del curso, para ello cuenta con tres niveles de apropiación, pues no todos tienen los conocimientos técnicos en informática. En este sentido, se enfatizan sobre la importancia de la adaptación de los recursos como fundamental a la hora de implementar el M-Learning [45], pues de ello depende el éxito del proceso, el cual requiere de tiempo para realizar ajustes y ver la evolución de los estudiantes.…”

Games, Simulations, Immersive Environments, and Emerging Technologies

“…In the latter case, authoring tools mainly focus on specific situations, such as e-Adventure (Torrente et al, 2010) to design point and click adventure games (Fig. 5), JEM iNVENTOR (Karoui et al, 2017) to create mobile learning games, or SimQuest (www.simquest.nl) to configure physics simulations. The difficulty of these research works is not only technical, but also concerns the support of pedagogical design.…”