Role Playing and Immersive Environments in Teaching

1. Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum 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, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich

2. Role Playing and Immersive Environments in Teaching • Educational Value of Playing Games • Serious Games (Stone 2002; Becta 2001, ; Kirriemuir & McFarlane 2003; Shaffer, Squire, Halverson, & Gee 2004 • Develop new skills and knowledge • Motivate students • The value of immersions (Littlewood 2004) • The Role of active participation • Social interaction • Problem solving • Opportunities for exploration • Competition Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich

3. Learning Objectives and Immersive Environments • Learning Objectives • the learning goal must be important; • the learning goal must be difficult; • the learning goal must be plausible and enhanced by the use of VR ( Johnson, Hoher, Ohlosson & Gillingham 1999 ) • Role of the teachers • Active participation • Introduction of the problem • Leading discussion Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich

4. Learning Objectives and Immersive Environments • Game Development Principles • Virtual environments (VE’s) should be designed for collaborative learning (Johnson et. al. 1999); • VE 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 world experience should be critical to the problem-solving task Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich

5. Role Playing in Virtual Environments • Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy • Instruction must be guided by the principle that “learners use language as a means to an end” ” (Lee, 2000) • Task-based instruction is central to the game • The game needs to be learner-centeredness (Swan 2005; Willis 1996; Skehan 1998; Willis 2003) • In playing the game, the mastery of language is critical for successfully meeting the game’s challenges • learning language is not the explicit goal of the game from the player’s perspective—rather it is a means to a desired end Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich

6. Knight Elimar’s Last Joust:A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy • Context: • Curriculum: Medieval Studies is a unit of study in the Ontario, Canada • Game Objective: Treasure Hunt • Students assume a virtual character and are asked to solve a mystery about a knight’s armor that has gone missing using a sequence of oral and written clues. • Solving a riddle provides the clue to finding the next clue Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich

7. Knight Elimar’s Last Joust:A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy • Scene: The game begins inside a medieval chapel in the historic part of an Austrian City • Word and number problems • Architectural scenes set the stage for interaction • Clues: • Chest • Stain Glass • Monk Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich

8. Knight Elimar’s Last Joust:A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy • Scene: The game begins inside a medieval chapel in the historic part of an Austrian City • Word and number problems • Architectural scenes set the stage for interaction • Clues: • Statue • Keys • Golden Knight Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich

9. Knight Elimar’s Last Joust:A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy • Workbook • Promotes interaction between students – the workbook serves as the medium for documenting and solving problems, encouraging social interaction between the pairs of students playing the game • Language skills – in solving the game’s mystery students learn about synonyms, anagrams, crosswords, and simple number problems • Math skills – in solving some of the clues students will perform mathematical calculations, like that of the area of a square, and must consider the logic of a chessboard • Writing skills - recording clues and events • Introduce European culture and literature - during the course of the game students are introduced to medieval myths and stories, architecture, poetry, and medieval texts • Provides teachers with an easily accessible work – Workbook is a record of student performance during the course of this exercise • Simplifies improvements to the game - fewer resources were required to create the actual VE. Changes to the story line can be easily accommodated by merely changing audio tracks, characters and clues Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich

10. Knight Elimar’s Last Joust:A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy • Subjects: Private School, Calgary, AB • 5th Graders: Two classes (11 and 17 students) • 4th Graders: One class ( X students) • Testing • Day 1: Introduction • Objectives • Story line and biographies of the characters. • Students as a group were introduced to the game by playing through a clue including solving a problem using a sample booklet. • Reading selection was given to the students which would prepare them for the game • Day 2: Game Play • Before playing the game, students filled out a brief survey • Age, gender, • Video game play outside of class • Practice test - navigating and controlling game • Students played through the actual game in class in pairs • A pre and post-test of terms was used to measure recall of terms used in the game. Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich

11. Student Responses • Focus Group Session: • What do you remember of the virtual world? • Do you think you learned something by playing this game? What did you learn? • Was it difficult to play the game? If so, what was difficult about it? • Was it very hard to switch between the virtual game and the booklet? • Should be used in the classroom? Why or why not? • Did you like playing the game? What did you like best, what the least? • What would you add to the virtual environment? Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich

12. Research Questions • Instruction Issues: • Can games motivate interest in reading and math? • Can games improve recall? • Game in the classroom: • What is the expectation of the students in using a virtual world in the classroom • Are the expectations (production standards) lower for educational games than commercial games • Graphics • Audio • Game play • Do girls and boys have a different strategy when playing games? Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich

13. Initial Findings • Recall by Question Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich

14. Initial Findings • Game Play Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich

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

16. Initial Findings • Attitudes towards the game • Serious connoisseurs of games demand quality • Graphics • Animation • Game Play • What did you learn • Parts pf 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?  Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich

17. Initial Findings • Attitudes towards the game • 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 Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich

18. Conclusions • Learning Objectives • Games can be used to motivate students, • Games can reinforce recall • Games can provide an opportunity to apply math and language skills acquired in class • 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. • Future refinements • Abbreviated book • 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. Richard Levy, PhD, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich

19. Knight Elimar’s Last Joust: A Virtual Environment Game for Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum 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, EVDS, Herbert Wideman, PhD, Ronald Owston, PhD, Annika Orich