Improving learning computer architecture through an educational mobile game

Prensky (2005) claimed that the motivating factors used before are not effective with the present generation of learners. Beck and Wade (2004) talked about a new type of generation called gamer generation. Thus, it is claimed that this generation evolution has affected the learner’s skills (visual and spatial), preferences and the way they think (Oblinger et al. 2005). Digital games are considered as the fastest growing industry in America. Based on a new report made by the Entertainment Software Association (2014), video game industry’s revenue in the United States grew by 9 %. This has touched communities across the country, contributing $6.2 billion to the American economy in 2012. Prensky (2003) mentioned that the children’s attitudes towards their games are completely different from the ones towards school. Thus, it is not surprising that there is a large and growing interest in using games in education.

In educational games, learners are playing within a game scenario while trying to complete a series of learning tasks by themselves (single player games) or in groups (multiplayer games) (Nelson et al., 2011; Paraskeva et al., 2010). Prensky (2001) stated that these games made learning more fun and engaging. Carbonaro et al. (2006) found that educational games add the immersion criterion which does not exist in classrooms. Not only that, but these games support as well, providing an adaptive learning experience by modeling learners (Khenissi et al., 2015, Tlili et al., 2016).

A good and effective educational game should combine good learning content and game design (Oblinger, 2006; Amory and Seagram, 2003). Prensky (2001) recommended that a good educational game design should combine a balanced amount of both fun and educational value. Koster (2004) stated that game design is not an easy task since it is not a precise science. Also, not understanding the learning process within games can affect implementing a structured instructional game design (Egenfeldt-Nielsen, 2005). Furthermore, Plass et al. (2011) listed three elements that should be present while designing an educational game, namely game element which describes the game play activity, learning element which describes the activities that are known with their learning objective and assessment element which describes high level activities that aim to assess learners.

With the rapid growth of mobile technologies, different mobile devices (e.g. mobile phones, tablets) have appeared and have become indispensable in people’s life no matter where they are. In fact, 129.4 million people in the U.S. (almost half the U.S. population) own smartphones (comScore Reports January 2013 U.S. Smartphone Subscriber Market Share, 2013). These devices compared to computers are smaller, wireless, simple and cheaper (Fotouhi-Ghazvini et al., 2009). This helped them to be used in different domains, including education where the learning is mobile. In this type of learning, the learner is not limited to a predetermined place or location (O’Malley et al. 2005). Besides, According to Hashemi et al. (2011), mobile learning can be defined as the use of mobile devices and technologies to facilitate, support, enhance and extend the reach of teaching and learning. Mobile technologies and Internet made mobile learning gain more attention by researchers (Kinshuk et al., 2013).

As a result, new learning strategies are created such as “Just-In-Time” learning strategy where learners instantly access information and learn when it is needed without too much effort. For example, when they are waiting in a queue or for their public transportations, they can make use of that time and use their mobile devices to learn (Lavin-Mera et al., 2009). Also, mobile devices made “situated” learning strategy possible. In this strategy, learners can play and learn in an environment context similar to the subject content. For example, in (Chen et al., 2014), learners use their mobile devices to learn the culture of Taiwan (e.g. religion) by being in a temple and a church. Jacobs (2013) stated that “always on, always connected mobile devices in the hands of students can improve educational outcomes”.

Unsurprisingly, the mobile game industry has grown by 32 % annually, which led in 2012 to an increase of 16 % in its revenue generating over $9 billion in U.S. (Nouch 2013). In particular, various mobile games are used for educational purposes with different pedagogical objectives. For example, Hssina et al. (2014) presented a game which aims to teach kids about different learning activities such as letters, words and mathematical calculations. In this game, the learners read the story of the game, then, they move to answer correctly the questions presented by the game. After the playing process, the game results and high score is displayed. Ketamo (2002) developed an adaptive geometry game where learners use a stylus to mark the polygon from a list of given forms in order to win. Sandberg et al. (2011) developed a game which aims to teach English as a second language for primary school children. The English lesson is about zoo animals and their characteristics. This game is played in a zoo. Thus, children can see these animals in reality. Then, they can answer different quizzes about them presented by the game. Huizenga et al. (2007) developed a game which aims to teach learners about the history of Amsterdam. The learners are divided into two teams. Each team has a member equipped with GPS walking through the streets of Amsterdam. This allows both teams to track the position of their team member and guide him/her to finish different assignments. Furió et al. (2013) developed a game which aims to transmit the knowledge about multiculturalism, solidarity and tolerance to learners. This is done by teaching them about the poorest continents in the world (Africa, Asia and Central and South America). The learners will have to follow the guide character and collect objects from these continents such as food. Then, they have to distribute it among poor people. Aslan (2011) developed a mobile game to teach middle school learners fraction in mathematic. In this game, the learner uses the factory’s warehouse candy to fulfill the customer order by partitioning this candy and then iterating through appropriate number of times based on the given request. Table 1 summarizes the educational games presented above. In particular, the second column presents the pedagogical objectives of these games. Column three presents the operating system used for each game.

As shown in Table 1, various educational mobile games are found dedicated to different operating systems (Android, iOS) with different pedagogical objectives (English, math, history, etc.) and for different ages (primary or high school learners). However, among the reported games in the literature, none of them currently supports learning the computer architecture subject in a fun and motivating way. Therefore, to overcome this problem, a newly designed educational mobile game is presented.

Science Soldier is a platform game genre. This genre is based on the movement through a series of levels, by way of running, climbing, jumping, and other means of locomotion (Wolf, 2004). The reason of choosing this genre in particular is because it is very known by both male and female learners. This is seen since most of them played a platform game before (e.g. Super Mario game). Besides, this genre is characterized with its simple and easy game play. Thus, learners will play the game and learn without any additional efforts. This keeps them motivated during the learning process. In addition, platform games usually present their playable worlds in an incremental level of difficulty. This satisfies the important characteristic that should be defined within educational games, namely challenge (Malone and Lepper, 1987). In the game, the learners have to control their game character (move forward, backward and jump) and lead him to kill the devil man in order to save the city and win.

Mobile devices differ from computers in their size in general and their screen size in particular. Besides, these devices differ from computers in the way to control the game. Usually, computers use the keyboard and mouse as inputs while mobile devices use touch screen technology. Lavín-Mera et al. (2008) insisted that the design experience for mobile devices is not the same for computers. This is because the content displayed easily on computers may not fit mobile devices’ screen. Therefore, the following design strategies were taken into consideration while designing the game:

Different learning activities were implemented within the game to deliver the learning content. These activities are as follows:

Figure 1 presents a screenshot from one of the learning activities defined above (shooting answers). The learner has to control the game character in its zeppelin (using virtual buttons) and shoot the correct answer (displayed on the two missiles) of a given question (written in the box) by the monster. Every time an answer is shot (correct or wrong), a feedback regarding that question is displayed.

In addition to these learning activities, after finishing each level, the game presents an exercise which aims to refresh the mind of the learners about the learnt information. This exercise is a question with multiple choices. The learners can submit their answers by touching the correct one. An immediate feedback will be displayed based on the learner’s choice.

Furthermore, to support the delivered learning content and to make learners motivated while learning, the game uses the following supportive functionalities:

Learners find the traditional method of learning the computer architecture subject in classrooms hard and not motivating. Therefore, this study uses the features of educational games and mobile technology to promote a motivating, easy and fun learning experience of the computer architecture subject. Currently, there is no educational game is designed for this purpose. This is hypothesized as follows:

Educational mobile games can enhance the learners’ learning experience of the computer architecture subject.

Twenty seven undergraduate learners (9 females and 18 males) aged between 19 and 22 and all of them are with a fair amount of English skills, participated voluntarily in evaluating the designed game. These learners are all majoring in computer science, hence, they have good skills towards using computers and mobile devices. Besides, they have all reported that they frequently play games on their mobile phones. The learners were chosen with the same background and to fit well with the aim and context of this experiment, to avoid the implication of the learners’ background differences on the obtained results. The instructor starts by telling them the goal of the experiment. Then, he moves to present short instructions on how to play the game. After the learning-playing process, the learners’ satisfaction and likeability of the game were evaluated. Besides, their opinions regarding the game were collected. Figure 2 shows examples of the learners playing the game on their tablets. In particular, Fig. 2a shows a learner is playing the game while he is at home (informal learning), while Fig. 2b shows a learner is playing the game while she is at class (formal learning).

To evaluate Science Soldier, three instruments were used which are as follows:

This section lists and discusses the obtained experimental results of the three instruments (TAM questionnaire, 5 stars rating method and interviews) used to validate the game. These results are as follows: