Comparison between Approaches Used in Two WalkAbout Projects

Authors: Derek O Reilly, Piotr Milczarski, Shane Dowdall, Artur Hłobaż, Krzysztof Podlaski, Hiram Bollaert

Abstract:

Learning through creation of contextual games is a very promising approach when undertaking interdisciplinary and international group projects. During 2013 and 2014 the authors organized two intensive student projects. The two projects were in different countries and different conditions. Between them, the two projects involved 68 students and 12 mentors from five EU countries and from various academic disciplines. In this paper we share our experience of these two projects and we suggest approaches that can be utilized to strengthen the chances of succeeding in short (12-15 days long) intensive student projects.

Keywords: Contextual games, mobile games, GGULIVRR, WalkAbout, Erasmus Intensive Programme.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1337953

References:

[1] F. Almeida, H. Bollaert, S. Dowdall, J. Lourenço, P. Milczarski, “The WalkAbout framework for contextual learning through mobile serious games,” Education and Information Technologies, Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013, DOI 10.1007/s10639-013- 9292-6
[2] F. De Grove, J. Bourgonjon, J. Van Looy, “Digital games in the classroom? A contextual approach to teachers’ adoption intention of digital games in formal education,” Computers in Human Behavior, vol 28, Issue 6, pp 2023-2033, November 2012.
[3] H. Bollaert, J. Lourenço, P. Possemiers, F. Almeida, D. O’Reilly, A. Hlobaz, G. Szewczyk, “WalkAbout IP – an approach for learning through contextual mobile games, “ in Conf. 2013 EDULEARN13 Proceedings; pp. 2969-2977.
[4] J. J. Lee, J. Hammer, "Gamification in education: What, how, why bother?," Academic Exchange Quarterly, vol. 15, no 2, 2011
[5] Y. K. Wang, “Context awareness and adaptation in mobile learning,” In Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education, in 2004. Proc. The 2nd IEEE International Workshop pp. 154-158.
[6] H. Bollaert, P. Possemiers, "Exploring Mobile and Contextual Learning with GGULIVRR," in 2012 Proc. IADIS International Conference Mobile Learning, 978-972-8939-66-3, pp. 335-339
[7] GGULIVRR GitHub available at: https:// github.com/ppossemiers/ GGULIVRR
[8] PhoneGap homepage available at: http://phonegap.com
[9] K. Beck, M. Beedle, A. Van Bennekum, A. Cockburn, W. Cunningham, M. Fowler and D., Thomas, “Manifesto for agile software development,” 2001.