Observation as a Requisite for Game-Based Learning Environments

Abstract

In this chapter, the authors propose a Game-Based LMS called the pedagogical dungeon equipped with cooperation abilities for particular activities. The main purpose of this chapter is to explain how to keep awareness of the on-going activities while remaining involved in the game itself. The difficulty is to provide the teacher with this awareness in an immersive way, making the teacher more involved in the game when s/he obtains feedback on the activity. The chapter is split into three sections. The authors propose a first section that deals with the description of our view of learning games illustrated through the pedagogical dungeon. They briefly describe the generation of a dungeon from activity preparation and the links between pedagogical concepts and their representation in the dungeon. The second section concentrates on the observation features needed in these environments in order to obtain interesting facts on what is going on. The authors need to collect traces of the collaborative activity during the enactment phase. They describe the trace life cycle and explain how facts constituting awareness can be calculated from the traces. The third part deals with the restitution of this awareness to the teacher. The problem here is to find an appropriate way to represent awareness both of students’ knowledge and behavior. This awareness must be perceived through appropriate graphical representations to preserve the “immersion” property, implying that these representations must be directly present in the game. The pedagogical dungeon has been experimented during several practical works with real classrooms at the University of Savoie and the Graduate Business School of Chambery, France. This experimental approach illustrates the different aspects of the work, concerning the learning game itself, the observation features, and the restitution of the awareness to the teacher.