Title: Designing a narrative-based educational game to model learners’ motivational characteristics Authors: Jutima Methaneethorn Dr. Paul Brna Organisation: The SCRE Centre, University of Glasgow Glasgow, UK.

Why motivation? Motivation of learners is a key feature to the success of teaching and learning process. Attempts in designing instructions and building learning environments that take motivation into account –Keller’s ARCS model (1987) –The creation of agent-based educational software –The creation of virtual reality (VR) learning environments –The creation of edutainment software Research in the area of Intelligent Learning Environments (ILEs) that dealt explicitly with motivation –del Soldato & du Boulay’s work (1995) –de Vicente & Pain’s work (2002)

Why modelling motivation? No explicit models of how learners are motivated while using an ILE No full consideration of the relationships between features of ILEs and components of learners’ motivational structure The importance of context when modelling motivation

The association between motivation, educational game and narrative Educational games provide a framework for learning that focuses on stimulating the motivation to learn. (Lepper & Malone, 1987; Malone, 1980; Malone & Lepper, 1987) –Stimulate curiosity through the presence of challenges and elements of fantasy –Give players a powerful sense of control A well-crafted narrative can impact on human cognition and motivation (Laurillard, 1996; Luckin et al., 2001; Waraich, 2002) –Its aesthetic role and its systematically structure –Its clear goal

Research framework Research aim: To create a predictive model of learners’ motivation while interacting with an ILE Research questions: –Given a specific context, can we determine a motivational structure for learners during their interaction? –Can we make progress in determining the way this might change during the interaction?

Chosen approach: Qualitative modelling –Used for predicting and explaining the behaviour of mechanisms in qualitative terms –Suitable for dealing with dynamic and complex systems like motivation –The major characteristic: A causal model showing the cause-effect relationship

Causal model showing the relationship between a learner’s motivation and ILE features

Empathy & Motivation Definitions of empathy –An observer reacting emotionally because he/she perceives that another is experiencing or about to experience an emotion (Paiva, et al., 2004). –A subject’s state results from the attended perception of the object’s state (Preston & de Waal, 2001).

Constructs of empathy (Paiva, et al., 2004) –The mediation of empathy Via the situation (the observer/the perceiving person infers the emotional state of the target/the perceived person from the situation the target is dealing with.) Via emotional expressions (the observer interprets the target’s behavior.) –The outcome of the empathic process Cognitive outcome (concerns cognitive activity of the observer e.g. obtaining more information about the target) Affective outcome (concerns emotion of the observer resulted from his/her perception of the target)

Causal model showing the relationship between a learner’s motivation, empathy and ILE features TraitsILE features States

A framework for story creation Define type of game in which the model will be applied –Role-playing games (RPGs): Computer games in which human players assume the characteristics of some person or creature type Define domain knowledge for the instruction –Entity Relationship Modelling (ERM) concept

Story design process Requirements –A story must be consistent throughout the game and must embed teaching points –A story must consist of the ILE features appeared in the model and these features should be designed to offer the relevant motivational variables. –The behaviours of each character (both the player character (PC) and the non-player (NPC) character) should take into account the trait characteristics of each player.

The mapping between the story and the model ILE featuresRepresented elements in the storyline Instruction’s goalAlex (PC) completes all tasks ContentTasks given by Dr. Brian (NPC) Cognitive toolA talking book ImageryGraphical elements & sound effects FeedbackResponses from Alan (NPC) Table 1: The ILE features and their represented elements in the story

Table 2: The represented elements of the ILE features and the relevant motivational characteristics Relevant Traits Represented elements Relevant States State IState IIState IIIState IV -Alex completes tasks RelevanceCognitive curiosity EffortConfidence ControlTasks from Dr. Brian RelevanceCognitive curiosity EffortConfidence A talking bookAttention ChallengeResponses from Alan AttentionCognitive curiosity EffortConfidence IndependenceResponses from Alan AttentionCognitive curiosity EffortConfidence FantasyTasks from Dr. Brian RelevanceCognitive curiosity EffortConfidence Graphical elements & sound effects Attention

The next steps The development of prototype – the simulation of the model The validation for the plausibility of the model –Deploy the system with a group of students –The methodology used for capturing the desire variables (questionnaire, self-report, think-aloud) –Specify easily interrupting point –Comparing the data from the experiment with the model’s behaviour

“A lack of empathy in teachers may cause an unbalanced focus on management and curricular issues which can have a harmful effect on the learner’s motivation” (Cooper, 2003)

The value of our research Help improve the quality of narrative learning environments that truly care about learners Knowing the process of how empathy and motivation are connected within the narrative context will help instructional designers & developers in having a better insight in the relationship between these two components, so that they can seek to manipulate them in a sound ethical & pedagogical manner

-The End – Thank you very much!!