1. Are the school teachers ready to start using smart Adaptive Video Games for Education?
Elena Paunova-Hubenova
Institute of Information and Communication Technologies
Bulgarian Academy of Science
BULGARIA

2. Challenges for creating relevant educational games:
Designing a suitable scenario: interesting for the learners and suitable for introducing the subject matter;
Involving teachers in game designing and development, even if teachers are not IT specialists.
1. Teachers are those who will use the created game.
2. They know what topics are interesting for students.
3. They can choose the learning matter and the best way of its presenting.
Giving teachers the options to change the game's parameters;
Personalization and dynamic adaptation according to the student's success, psycho-emotional state and style of playing.
Introduction 1 of 2

3. APOGEE project: smArt adaPtive videO GamEs for Education
Aim - to build up a platform for automatically generating 3D games with educational purpose
It can be used by teachers, even if they are not IT specialists.
It will be tested by.
The generated games are 3D labyrinths
Rooms’ number is assigned by the teacher, each containing mini-games representing a part of the learning material.
Game can be personalized and a dynamically adapted.
Topic of the demo version - Bulgarian medieval history
Introduction 2 of 2

4. existing platforms and tools for creating educational games
The platforms are compared by the following parameters:
Available distribution
Possibility for 3D graphics
Possible (appropriate) genres
Free edition available
Programming skills required
Other parameters that developers should take into account: learning resources that can be included, the possibility of personalization and open code.
existing platforms and tools for creating educational games

5. Platforms and tools for creating educational games
Platform/ Tool
Programming skills required
Free edition available
Genres
2D / 3D
Distribution
Unity 3D
Yes
All
2D&3D
Desktop, tablet, mobiles, VR&AR
APOGEE platform No
Labyrinth (maze) adventure 3D
Desktop
Unreal
Desktop, console, mobile, VR&AR
Gamemaker studio
Adventure, Arcade,
Defense, Puzzle 2D
Desktop, console, mobile
Construct 3
RPG, Platformer, Arcade, Puzzle
Desktop, tablet, mobiles
Scratch
Minecraft
RPG, Adventure
Puzzle maker
Word search, Criss- cross, Math puzzles, and more
Purposegames
Quiz, Matching
Gamestarmechanic
Quest
Gamesalad
Arcade, Maze, Puzzle, Platformer, Quiz
Desktop, mobile
Platforms and tools for creating educational games

6. METHODOLOGY: About the APOGEE project
The APOGEE project was started to answer the need for customizable educational e-resources that could be used, modified and created by the teachers.
The automatic generation of the game labyrinth with educational purpose will be made using a Unity3D-based maze builder.
The future platform will be easily used by educators who are not specialists in IT. They will have to fill in a text file the wanted parameters.
The platform will be provided to teachers to try to create games. The created games will be validated with the participation of students.
METHODOLOGY: About the APOGEE project

7. METHODOLOGY: The questionnaires
Two conducted surveys:
for teachers (21 questions) respondents’ number: 208;
for students (22 questions), respondents’ number: 665.
uploaded online by means of Google Forms.
Main ways of dissemination:
personal contacts with teachers and students
contacting the regional educational authorities.
The teachers’ questionnaire was presented in a demonstration seminar with educators. Structured interviews were conducted with 17 teachers.
METHODOLOGY: The questionnaires

8. METHODOLOGY: Respondents’ profile (teachers)
Total number of responded teachers: 208
63% do not use educational video games, but they want to do it in the future;
21% already use educational video games;
15% do not use and do not want to use games in their teaching practice and
1% did not answer the question.
Would you participate in creating electronic learning resources and/or educational video games?
METHODOLOGY: Respondents’ profile (teachers)

9. RESULTS: Facility of the future platform according to teachers
Question 15. “Teachers would not have technical problems themselves to describe educational video games-labyrinths by manually creating a text document template that is used for the automatically generation of the game.”
Question 16. “Instead of manually creating a text document template, teachers could more easily describe an educational video game maze in a graphical online editor and then generate the game automatically.”
Q15
Q16
Definitely yes
14,90%
22,12%
Rather yes
18,75%
25,96%
Cannot judge
37,50%
28,85%
Rather not
12,98%
8,17%
Definitely not
11,06%
No answer
2,88%
3,85%
RESULTS: Facility of the future platform according to teachers

10. Question 19. “As a teacher, I would try to create a simple online video game maze on the subject I teach by using the future free platform of the APOGEE project”
Question 20. “As a teacher, I would use online video game labyrinths on the subject I teach, created with the future free platform of the APOGEE project.”
Question 21. “As a teacher, I would recommend to other colleagues to try to create and use a simple online video game maze on the subject they teach using the future free platform of the APOGEE project.”
RESULTS: Teachers' willingness to create games, to use already created games and to recommend the platform

11. RESULTS: Presence of smart non-playing character
Question 17. “Do you consider that the generated educational video games are suitable to include virtual players to help the learner and answer his questions in the subject area?”
RESULTS: Presence of smart non-playing character

12. RESULTS: Appropriate parameters for dynamic adaptation
Question 18. “Do you consider that the educational video games generated should be dynamically adaptable in terms of the player’s success, psycho- emotional state, and learning style?”
RESULTS: Appropriate parameters for dynamic adaptation

13. Conclusion and future work
The APOGEE platform helps the achieving of several positive effects:
Teachers do not need to be IT specialists to create or modify a video game;
The created games respond to the teachers’ needs;
Teachers will be able to share already-created games with their colleagues;
Students can learn new facts while playing and having fun with their classmates.
A great part of Bulgarian teachers does not feel confident enough about their IT skills and therefore do not want to try to create e-resources or educational games themselves.
The platform attracts educators and they are keen to create their own game. Some of them prefer to use already created games, instead of creating them.
Teachers appreciate the future platform as a facilitation tool for creating educational video games. Their assessments for the presence of smart non-playing characters and dynamic adaptation of the game by different player’s parameters are positive.
Future work: Several versions of the game will be generated by means of the platform and validated with students from the target group.
Conclusion and future work

14. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research leading to these results has received funding from the APOGEE project, funded by the Bulgarian National Science Fund, Grant Agreement No. DN12/7/2017.
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