Creating meaning and

authenticity with

mobile serious learning games

Dr. Marco Kalz

Associate Professor

5 March 2015marco.kalz@ou.nl

http://www.linkedin.com/in/mkalz

http://twitter.com/mkalz

Challenges for

educationThe most significant problem with education

today is the problem of significance itself.

Students – our most important critics – are

struggling to find meaning and significance in

their education.M. Wesch

Challenges for

education

some rights reserved by

Alexander Baxevanis@Flick

artificial learning contexts

meaningless tasks

no cultural and social context

theory-practice gap

Inert knowledgeAlfred North Whitehead (1929)

Knowledge that can be

recalled when asked for,

but not when needed

for problem solving.

Game patternsSimulation

Location-based

learning

MSLG: A new

education format?

Case study 1: UNHCR• Context: Kidnapping of UNHCR staff

increased

• Goal: Decreasing costs while

maintaining real-life training scenarios

• Development of flexible and portable

training scenario

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• Decision-making

game

• Events (media)

trigger actions

Case study 1: Results• Iterative development to make the game fit to

the future application context

• Besides lower costs, other advantages

(flexibility and portability) have lead to an

extension of training portfolio of UNHCR

Case study II:

HeartRun• Context: Cardiac arrest as serious problem for

society (approx. 350 000 deaths per year in

Europe)

• A lot of training, but very little help in case of

incidents

• Huge gap between training and real-life situation

• Target group: School children in secondary

schools

Case study II:

HeartRun

Case study II:

HeartRun• Player take in different roles

in the game

• Application of knowledge not

acquisition of knowledge

• Transfer in a “realistic”

scenario

• Effects on attitude

Case study III:

Mindergie• Context: Gamification at the workplace

• Serious learning game to decrease energy

consumption at the workplace

• Use of technologies of learners

• Implementation in the working contexts

ARLearn

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Usage statistics

idea collection

reflection about ecological footprint

prizes

badges

Case study III: Results

Kalz, M., Börner, D., Ternier, S., & Specht, M. (2014)

“The ability to extend what

has been learned in one

context to new contexts”

Design for transfer

(Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999, p. 39)

Research challenges

(Barnett & Ceci, 2002)

Research challenges

Thanks!

marco.kalz@ou.nl

http://www.linkedin.com/in/mkalz

http://www.twitter.com/mkalz