Games in India - ESL

W505 Mobile Learning
Stage 2 – 4: Mobile Technology Applied to Educational Games
 
 
Title:
Mobile Gaming with Children in Rural India:
Contextual Factors in the Use of Game Design Patterns
Matthew Kam*, Vijay Rudraraju*, Anuj Tewari† and John Canny*
 
General information

Main issues -
The main issue was how can design of mobile games engage rural children in India to play for fun.
The researchers believed that games that are consciously designed
using game design patterns as design tools are more fun and
engaging to play, in comparison with games whose design
process did not involve the patterns. Game play on cell phones is a fast growing technology platform in the developingworld. 
 
Analysis
 
 
1. Learners
Who were the learners?

ESL leasners in the poorest state of India

What characteristics did they have?
· Learning English in the poorest state of India is problematic for several reasons.
1. non-regular attendance in schools because of the need for
students to work for the family in the agricultural fields or
Homes

2. disinterest in schoolwork.
3. Learning English is important to power constructs within the economic social structure.

 
2. Technology
Explain technologies used in the mobile game.

ESL learning games were made available for the students to use on cell phones. Eight mobile games were used in this study. Three were created by the researchers with the aid of patterns, while the other five games were off-the-shelf and did not have
patterns as a conscious element in their designs.

The games included: (A) Toy Factory, (B) Crocodile Rescue, (C) Floored, (D) Beginner Land, (E) Jump Bot, (F) Dancer, (G) Train Tracks and (H) Critter Crossing.

Games were chosen on play complexity, age appropriateness, cognitive demand and the rural children’s ability to relate to the games culturally. Animation effects such that
participants were also important in what games were selected. Games which were "serious" games such as those with ESL learning content were not chosen so as not to dilute the study. 

The games piloted fell into the following three categories:
• consciously designed using the game design patterns
• obtained off-the-shelf that were designed by amateur
game developers
• obtained off-the-shelf that were designed by professional
game developers

 
3. Objectives
What were the objectives of the mobile learning?

1. Learners can improve their ESL skills by using mobile devices in out-of-school
Settings.

2. Games can improve enjoyment of the learning experience by children and foster spontaneous adoption of “serious games” for education

 
4. Games as Mobile Learning Components
How did the game play?

The top three games were: Floored, Critter Crossing and Jump Bot.

Floored. The goal is to flip the colors of each tile
until all the tiles share the same color. Rules become more
difficult as the player progresses through the game. The learners found the game to be easy and colorful.

Critter Crossing. The goal is to help the creatures at the bottom of the screen cross the road or river without getting hit by a vehicle. This game with a time limit was easy for the learners and many learners liked the appearance of the creatures.

Jump Bot. The goal is to go as high as possible by jumping from platform to platform. Learners liked the jump action but some also found it too difficult.



How did the mobile games work for achieving learning objectives?

While casual games are appropriate learning interaction methods and a good fit with children’s work commitment, the link from casual games to serious gaming, to me, is still only indirectly supported.

Of the two objectives I identified above, learners can improve their ESL skills by using mobile devices in out-of-school settings and games can improve enjoyment of the learning experience by children and foster spontaneous adoption of “serious games” for education, only the second objective was adequately covered. I did not see the learners improve their ESL skills by use of the device, except to increase target language exposure, but not use.

 
5. Pedagogical underpinnings

What pedagogical underpinnings can you find from the case?

The researchers identified 30 patterns of game design and classified them into 4
categories: core mechanics, story elements, goal states and reward mechanisms.

While findings showed that patterns were not as important as contextual and cultural elements, their approach has showed some insight in the success of games for learning in developing parts of India. Game design patterns, that are usually found in successful games, can act as basic building blocks for informing new game designs. What I found especially useful is the founding outline. "A design pattern, or template, is a description of a solution to a recurring problem that has been solved. A pattern also captures contextual information such as domain applicability and its rationale. A pattern may also capture tacit knowledge on the domain after having evolved through iterative design cycles."

I also appreciated their incorporation of references to Lazzaro and Gee to structure their pedagogic overview. Lazzaro's four “keys,” of Hard Fun,
Easy Fun, Altered States and The People Factor, and Gee's explanation that games are fun because of the connection between learning, growing and problem solving are important elements to understand the researcher's approach.

The two critical finds from this article are the cognitive and cultural elements of game selection. For example, cognitive connections in Floored such as " it was possible to work on different parts of the board as independent regions without incurring significant cognitive overhead for strategic reasoning or thinking ahead" are helpful to me to understand how the learner balances the cognitive load.

Additionally, cultural behaviors were also an important element in how game choice played out. In Floored the use of color connects to the its role in Indian festivals and the repugnance for the crocodiles in Crocodile Rescue because of the mythological status of the crocodiles, I found to be especially helpful to my context here in Korea.

The findings about motivation and reward and showing or asking adults for confirmation , assistance and encouragement were also an important result of this study. Gaming features can be used to re-enforce social relationships of the cultural as well.