The WalkAbout framework for contextual learning through mobile serious games

Learning through games is increasingly gaining acceptance as a valuable training tool within the education and training community due to its simplicity, cost-effectiveness and essentially because most people prefer playing over learning. However, the use of games by students brings additional challenges regarding the design of games and their adoption in different learning, academic and interdisciplinary contexts, where issues such as planning, teachers and students participation have an important role in the success of contextual learning initiatives. This paper introduces a novel development framework and a learning process called WalkAbout for contextual learning mobile game systems that enables learners to practice and enhance 21st century skills, while generating and playing mobile contextual games. In our research, we investigate the main issues regarding the process of creating contextual mobile games and we detail the adopted methodology used in the design and implementation process of the WalkAbout framework. Finally, in order to preliminarily validate the platform and adopted methodology, we present and discuss the main results obtained after the games development, by looking at the potential of our design approach, the software framework and the learning experience that was offered to the students.