Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Richard Levy, PhD, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary,

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Richard Levy, PhD, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, Canada, rmlevy@ucalgary.ca Herbert Wideman, PhD, Institute for Research on Learning Technologies York University, Canada, herb@yorku.ca Ronald Owston, PhD, Professor of Education & Director of the Institute for Research on Learning Technologies York University, Canada, rowston@edu.yorku.ca Annika Orich, Germanic, Slavic & East Asian Studies University of Calgary, Canada, aorich@ucalgary.ca Richard Levy, PhD, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, Canada, rmlevy@ucalgary.ca Herbert Wideman, PhD, Institute for Research on Learning Technologies York University, Canada, herb@yorku.ca Ronald Owston, PhD, Professor of Education & Director of the Institute for Research on Learning Technologies York University, Canada, rowston@edu.yorku.ca Annika Orich, Germanic, Slavic & East Asian Studies University of Calgary, Canada, aorich@ucalgary.ca Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Game Development Principles –Virtual environments (VE’s) should be designed for collaborative learning (Johnson et al. 1999); –VE’s should support wandering or walking through the space (Johnson et al. 1999); –There should be a metaphorical reference to some aspect of the physical world to enable students to interact in a real-life setting (Li & Maher 2000); –Audio, text, video, object behavior, and navigation should support different learning styles (Li & Maher 2000); –The virtual experience should be critical to the problem-solving task Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Objective: to enhance student acquisition of English language and literacy skills –Curriculum: Medieval Ages is a unit of study in Ontario, Canada, for grades 4 & 5 –Game: Treasure Hunt Students assume a virtual character solve a mystery about a knight’s armor using a sequence of oral and written clues Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Scene: German Medieval City –Fantasy – Back to Middle Ages Storyline –Help Elimar find his missing pieces of armor by solving a series of word puzzels Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Workbook –Promotes interaction between students –Language skills –Math skills –Writing skills –Introduces European culture and literature –Provides teachers with an easily accessible work –Simplifies improvements to the game Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Subjects: Private School, Calgary, Alberta –4 th Graders: One class (20 students) –5 th Graders: Two classes (11 and 17 students) Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Testing –Day 1: Introduction Brief survey –Age, gender, video game play outside of class Objectives, story line, and biographies of the characters Students as a group played through a clue including solving a problem using a sample booklet Introductory reading selection as homework –Day 2: Game Play Practice test Students played through the actual game in pairs A pre- and post-test of terms was used to measure recall of terms used in the game Focus group session Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Findings from Testing Version 1 –Recall by Question Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Findings Version 1 –RQ 1: Learning Objectives Games can teach new words Games can reinforce recall Games can provide an opportunity to apply math and language skills acquired in class Games can be used to motivate students Games can be supportive in literacy skill acquisition –RQ 2: Games and Expectations Differences in attitudes and abilities can be seen in 4th vs. 5th grade students –5th graders are more experienced game players and expect a higher production values in any game they play –Boys were more likely to merely play the game without consulting the booklet –Girls took a more measured approach –All groups were engaged in the activity, interested, motivated Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Findings: Version 1 –Likes The activity of playing Aspects of the game –What did you learn Parts of the knight’s armor Medieval architecture “It wasn’t very educational because when you get to the age of 18, you won’t really going to care if you are a golden knight” Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Attitudes towards the game –Serious connoisseurs of games demand quality Graphics Animation Game Play –Dislikes Structure of booklet –turning pages, students only write down what they need to solve the clue Missing clues, getting clues by accident (random walk) Characters talk fast Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Game space vs. architectural space impact of game play –Random walk in game space –Getting lost is easy in a real city Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Improvements –Reducing complexity in the game play Limit wandering to one level at a time –Gates, Streets and squares No ordered sequence for clues on each level On each level objects are of a common class Task remains constant throughout the game –Crossword Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich World: Rotenburg ob der Tauber Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich World: Rotenburg ob der Tauber –Narrative Structure – Sequential –Interactions and clues Verbal clues Signs –Experience urban life Scale: experience of the pedestrian –Adataptable to future scenarios ESL German Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Refinements: –Abbreviated booklet –Second camera –Ability to hear a clue twice after an elapsed period of time –Provide a tangible benefit in playing the game by providing an opportunity to joust with your arch enemy at the end of the game after you have successfully found all of the armor Future Research –Differences among genders –Motivation for boys Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Hardware Considerations –PC: Wintel solution School Lab: Six year old PC –CPU - 1.8GHZ, 512 mb RAM –Graphics Cards - 64 and 128 mb Video Card –Display - 17 and 15 inch monitors Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Software –3DStudio MAX Architectural models Character animation Virtools translator –Virtools Supports: –Web –StandalonePC’s –CAVEs Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Refinements: Version 2 Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Refinements: Version 2 Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy DEMO

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Richard Levy, PhD, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, Canada, rmlevy@ucalgary.ca Herbert Wideman, PhD, Institute for Research on Learning Technologies York University, Canada, herb@yorku.ca Ronald Owston, PhD, Professor of Education & Director of the Institute for Research on Learning Technologies York University, Canada, rowston@edu.yorku.ca Annika Orich, Germanic, Slavic & East Asian Studies University of Calgary, Canada, aorich@ucalgary.ca Richard Levy, PhD, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, Canada, rmlevy@ucalgary.ca Herbert Wideman, PhD, Institute for Research on Learning Technologies York University, Canada, herb@yorku.ca Ronald Owston, PhD, Professor of Education & Director of the Institute for Research on Learning Technologies York University, Canada, rowston@edu.yorku.ca Annika Orich, Germanic, Slavic & East Asian Studies University of Calgary, Canada, aorich@ucalgary.ca Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Initial Findings Motivation

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Initial Findings Game Play MaleFemaleMaleFemale Grade 4 No Percent Once a day84100%73% Once a week 40% Once a month 30% Total811100%73% Grade 5 Once a day9456%29% Once a week7644%43% Once a month 20%14% Once in the last year 20%14% Total1614100%

Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Richard Levy, PhD, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary,

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Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Richard Levy, PhD, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary,

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Presentation on theme: "Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich Richard Levy, PhD, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary,"— Presentation transcript:

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