2015 03 19 (EDUCON2015) eMadrid UCM Educational Games in MOOCs

1. Educational Games in MOOCs
Manuel Freire-Morán,
Iván Martínez-Ortiz,
Pablo Moreno-Ger,
Baltasar Fernández-Manjón(e-ucm.es)

2. • 12 researchers
eLearning
Serious Games
Learning and Game Analytics
• Committed to collaboration
e-UCM
2
Realising an Applied Gaming Eco-System
partners
projects

3. eAdventure game platform
Open source authoring environment for point&click
adventure games and immersive learning simulations
Easy to include
Learning Analytics in
eAdventure games
http://sourceforge.net/projects/e-adventure/

4. http://www.chermug.eu
With MGH-Harvard Universityhttp://first-aid-game.e-ucm.es
With ONT, educ@ONT

5. GLEANER
• GLEANER: Game Learning Analytics for Education Research
Open code framework to capture & analyze game traces
5
Reference model in the EU NoE GALA, http://e-ucm.github.io/gleaner/
ÁngelSerrano-Laguna, Javier Torrente, Pablo Moreno-Ger, Baltasar Fernández-
Manjón (2014): Application of Learning Analytics in Educational Videogames.
EntertainmentComputing 5(4), pp. 313–322 (2014)

6. GLEANER Architecture
what how
(highlyscalable)

7. MOOCs
• Huge scales
• Large dropout rates
• Generate user data
MOOCs & Serious Games
7
Serious Games
• Expensive to develop
• Highly engaging
• Generate & can use
more user data

8. Game Integration in MOOCs
8

9. Game Clients & Servers
9

10. Client: internal vs external
10
A changing landscape
• HTML5, WebGL support in major browsers, Unity web plugin
• Flash, Java Applet adoption down
• Increased platform diversity
• Clients independent of MOOC servers:
server APIs are client-platform neutral (eg.: JSON over HTTP)

11. • To integrate the game into the MOOC
without administrative platform access
• To gather & access (or let others access)
game interaction data: Learning Analytics
• To gamify the game!
Leaderboards,competitions,...
• Evolve the game without touching courses
– Add levels, even user-submitted
– Fix bugs, respond to educator & student feedback
Game server: why do you want it?
11

12. Use your interaction data!
12
actual screenshot from GLEANER analyzingeAdventuregame traces

13. Server: internal vs external
13
Complexity vs. lack of isolation
• Same-server sacrifices isolation
– requires administrative access
– security concerns
• Separate-server
– no admin access required; allows "SGaaS"
– still needs to collaborate with MOOC server-side shim
– may present a scalability bottleneck

14. • LON-CAPA
– surprisingly rich types; ~200k problems online
– very simple analytics (answer + right/wrong)
– JSInput: course author's JS as problem UI
• LTI (v1.2)
– supported in Moodle, Sakai, other LMSs
– specifies packaging, answer types
– poor analytics support
• XBlocks
– LON-CAPA & LTI are actually XBlocks
– XBlock SDK to build and test your own
– Custom XBlock installation requires admin access
– XBlock has full access
Integration options for EdX
14

15. XBlocks!
15
https://github.com/edx/edx-platform/wiki/List-of-XBlocks
https://github.com/OfficeDev/xblock-officemix

16. Adding a very simple SG to EdX
16
LON-CAPA+JSInput
But:
• Client is limited to JS
• Limited server-side grading
• Basic analytics only

17. The case of EyeWire
17
In-browser WebGL client,
EyeWire servers with API
that is queried from EdX

18. • Stand-aloneclients,
Stand-aloneservers
• Client is computationally
intensive
• Built-in EdX support, uses
custom Fold.IT API to
query student scores
The case of fold.it
18

19. • Supportstandardized packaging formats,
providing search-friendly metadata
• Use student profiles (when available)
to customize learning experience
• Provide informationon student actions and
progress to the MOOC platform
• Allow authoring access to the educational
content,in the spirit of OER
Better Games
19
Technical
Educational

20. • Integrate guest SG activity into general course
progression:
– provide activity with student profile
– reflect in-game decisions in updated profile
• Provide educational context for the hosted
SG, both before and after
• Select the SG activities that best advance the
educationalgoals of the course
Better MOOC Courses
20
Technical
Educational

21. • Clear APIs for guest activities.
• Supportseveral integration levels
• Collectand facilitate analysis of data from
guests, allowing, for example, student
leaderboards to be generated
• SupportA/B testing of game variants
Better MOOC Platforms
21
Technical
Educational

22. Thanks!
Questions? Comments?
22

23. www.mokap.es
– prototype and develop self-contained games
on a tablet in minutes
– fully open-source, online
asset libraries too!
Before the next speaker sets up...
23
Google Play & github.com/e-ucm/ead

24. eAdventure + Learning Analytics
Game
Engine
Communication
API
{
type: 'input',
timeStamp: some_timestamp,
device: 'some_device',
action: 'some_action',
target: 'target_id',
data: { key1: value, ...}
}
{
type: 'logic',
timeStamp: some_timestamp,
event: 'some_event',
target: 'some_id',
data: { key1: value, ...}
}
Learning
Analytics
Database
...