The Development of an Educational Outdoor Adventure Mobile App

Abstract

This article focuses on the development of an educational outdoor adventure mobile app while presenting findings that were derived from various case studies that we conducted using it. The mobile application, called RouteQuizer, is complemented by a web application and a database, forming a system that enables teachers to create educational treasure hunt activities for their students and monitor their performance. The aim of the research was to create a system that would exploit all possible Outdoor Adventure Education (OAE) and treasure hunt benefits while excluding possible smartphone use negative consequences. The development of the system took place in Greece and began in December 2017, by conducting a nation-wide research examining Greek secondary teachers’ Information and Communication Technology (ICT) literacy and perceptions on smartphone use and outdoor activities. By June 2018, 700 questionnaires were collected. In order to test the system, in March 2018, we conducted a pilot case study in Lesvos island Greece and between July 2018 and February 2020, we conducted four additional case studies and a teacher training program, all of which took place in Lesvos island Greece. During the development process of the mobile application, we focused on the participatory aspect of the process, paying special attention to the teacher and student evaluation during the design and prototyping phases. Considering that the system is educational we research whether the mobile application provided effective learning outcomes and whether it benefited students’ social and physical skills. The results that we collected suggest that the mobile application is an effective learning tool while mobile learning and treasure hunt benefits have been repeatedly confirmed during the case studies. Greek teachers and students also proved to be capable smartphone and computer users, and reported being willing to participate in similar activities in the future.

ICT – a surviving tool for economy in the phase of social distancing: a systematic literature review

“…The educational sector brought in many new tools including Padlet (Jong and Tan, 2021), Smart Boards (Abdullah et al. , 2021), RouteQuicker (Michalakis et al. , 2020), YouTube channel (Alobaid, 2020) (Ndihokubwayo et al.…”

“…The discussion shows that there had been an intervention of ICT tools majorly in the education and business sector, followed by the health sector. The educational sector brought in many new tools including Padlet (Jong and Tan, 2021), Smart Boards (Abdullah et al, 2021), RouteQuicker (Michalakis et al, 2020), YouTube channel (Alobaid, 2020) (Ndihokubwayo et al, 2020), gamification (Barahona Mora, 2020, Kahoot (Pertegal-Felices et al, 2020), etc. In the business sector, social media (Ninan et al, 2020), Mobile (Park, 2020), Data Networks, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (Oddershede et al, 2020) have been considered for the efficient management of businesses during the time of crisis.…”

“…Abdullah et al (2021) conducted a study to design and develop the learning system through Smart Boards in order to enhance Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) for the purpose of data handling among students. Michalakis et al (2020) created the system to exploit outdoor adventure education through the tool named RouteQuicker and analysed its benefits for student social and physical skills. Aktas ¸and € Ozmen (2020) talked about the success of ICT integration using a computer projector system with access to the Internet and computer.…”

Technology in Nature—mDGBL as a Successful Approach to Promote Complex Contents?

“…Mobile DGBL approaches are well suited to the context of geography and ESD in various settings, and the associated transfer of subject-specific knowledge (SSK) seems to be very successful [25,26,[29][30][31][32][33][34]. While many studies in this field focus on immediate knowledge gain, there are still no studies examining any long-term retention of what has been learned [32,33].…”

Preparing for the next pandemic: adopt, adapt or improve?

“…One recent example involves a simple smartphone app that allows teachers to conduct treasure hunts with comparative route selections, as based on geocaching: searching for hidden “treasures” with a GPS Receiver (Michalakis et al, 2020 ). The RouteQuizer enables teachers to create activities with routes, where students can select and follow routes on their own, while participating in the activities, and for teachers to receive feedback on their students’ performances on route.…”