Presentation at IDEE Workshop 2014 (June 9th, 2014 Albacete, Spain) about the pedagogical design, the technical development and initial findings of the educational program “From the Ancient to the Modern Tablets” involving digital storytelling, gamification, playful design and 3d virtual worlds to motivate K-12 students and promote literacy and extracurricular reading.

1. Playful Blended Digital Storytelling
in 3D Immersive eLearning Environ-
ments for Literacy Motivation
Stylianos Mystakidis &
Niki Lambropoulos
University of Patras
Habib M. Fardoun &
Daniyal M. Alghazzawi
King Abdulaziz University
3rd Workshop on Interaction Design in Educational Environments (Albacete, June 9th 2014)

2. Stylianos Mystakidis
MSc, PMP, Phd cand.
• Learning Innovator @ Library & Information
Services, University of Patras (Greece)
• Adjunct Faculty @ University of the West of
England – UWE (Bristol, UK)
• Adjunct Faculty @ Open University of Catalonia
– UOC (Barcelona, Spain)
• Teaching Mentor @ University of Washington –
UW (Seattle, USA)

4. Good Digital Teaching Practice
Seal
#mathisi20

5. Storytime!
• Scenery
• Theoretical Background
• Pedagogical Design
• Technical Development
• Preliminary Results
• Conclusion

6. Scenery

7. University of Patras (Upatras)
• World Ranking*: #327
• Greece Ranking*: #2
• 24,460 students | 754 Faculty members
• 24 Departments in 5 Schools
• Prominent Research Center on ICT & Engineering
• St Andrew (Patras’ patron Saint)
*Webometrics, 2012

8. Library & Information Services
• National & European Research Projects
• Institution-wide Services (e.g. Repository)
• ISO 9001:2000
• Openness- & Innovation-oriented

9. “Schools go to University”
• Open days
• 2 weeks each Spring
• Primary & Secondary
School class visits
• 2014: 14 Departments
offering 36 educational programs & activities

10. Challenge
Prepare a short,
engaging educational
program for K-12
classes visiting the
University of Patras’
Library

11. Theoretical
Background

12. Storytelling
• Stories are extremely powerful tools for
learning
• Better recall when in a narrative (Adval, 1998)
• “Stories allow us to learn from the experience
of others without having to face another
person’s personal consequences”

13. Gamification & The Power of Play

14. Flow Theory (Csikszentmihalyi)

15. Games vs Play vs Gamification vs Toys

16. 3D Virtual Immersive Learning
Environments Instructional Strategies
• Socio-constructivist instructional methods
• Situated and experiential learning (Dawley &
Dede, 2013; Falconer, 2013)
• Simulated learning (Falconer & Frutos-Perez,
2009)
• Game-based learning experiences (Hill &
Mystakidis, 2012)

17. Pedagogical Design
Technical Development

18. From the Ancient to the
Modern Tablets

19. Learning Objectives
• Motivate extracurricular reading and promote of
early literacy;
• Establish cognitive links between writing, books
and acquiring knowledge with technology;
• Possess introductory user skills with a tablet; and
• Practice team collaboration

20. Experience Design (Levels)
1. Playful Library Tour *30’+
2. Interactive Presentation & Game *45’+
3. Creative Group Reflection with Tablets *30’+

21. 1. Playful Library Tour

22. Engagement through Play
• Team play
• Competition
• Challenge
• Quests
• Choices
• Curiosity
• Expression

23. 2. Interactive Presentation & Game
• Classroom & video projector
• Instructor controls avatar in the 3d Virtual
Environment
• Avatar appearance & movement
• 2 Teams
• Scoring points by answering questions
• Mini-game: Phoenician Alphabet Challenge

24. Interactive Presentation & Game (II)

25. Immersion (Second Life)
3d Virtual Immersive Environments :
• UW Museum of Virtual Media
• Museum Island
• Ancient Alexandria
• Alice Academy
• International Spaceflight Museum

26. 3D Virtual Immersive Learning
Environments
• Cave Paintings, Lascaux Cave, France 32000 BC
• Ancient Tablets, Mesopotamia, 3500 BC
• Ancient Greece, Linear Α & Β’, 1450 BC
• Alphabet, Phoenicia, 1200 BC
• Great Library of Alexandria, Egypt, 200 BC
• Manuscript copying, Byzantine Empire, 600 AD
• Movable Type, China 1040 AD
• The Future of Books & Knowledge

27. Lascaux Cave,
UW Museum of Virtual Media

28. The Role of 3D Virtual Immersive
Learning Environments
• Depict civilization’s architecture, natural environment
and aesthetics,
• Show clothing and appearance of a representative of
each milestone (through the avatar’s clothing and skin)
• Visualize objects and notions not available in the
physical life, e.g. the arrangement of scrolls in the
Great Library of Alexandria
• Demonstrate through programming how inventions
worked (e.g. movable type)
• Include objects to be used as prompts during the game
(e.g. the Phaistos disk)

29. 3. Creative Group Reflection with Tablets

30. Results I

31. Results II

32. We love books!

33. Preliminary Results

34. Statistics
• “From the Ancient to the Modern Tablets”
• Program offered since 2012
• Participation: 1500 students from 20 schools
(ages: 7-15)

35. Evaluation Findings
• Online Questionnaire (Likert scale)
• 28 teachers
• 81% children acquired new skills
(agree & fully agree)
• 85% helped children assume a positive
attitude towards books & reading
• 98% 3D VIEs useful for facts recall & history
understanding

36. Teachers’ Quotes
“I have never seen my class so quiet and
concentrated as when they attended this
program” (oral statement)
“You exceeded teachers’ & students’
expectations; you have captivated childrens’
interest and they enjoyed the program greatly.
The whole visit to the Library was so alive.”
(email)

37. Conclusions
• Customization / adaptation for older classes
• Atmosphere creation
• Avatar appearance &
gestures count!
• Encourage participation
non-stop with
micro-interactions!
• Surprise!
• Learning as Show

38. Acknowledgements
• University of Washington
• Randy Hinrichs, CEO 2b3d
• Anna Gadler-Pratt,
SL Educator & Artist
• Tom Layton, Alice Academy
• Carlolello Zapatero, Museum Island

39. Contact us for more…
Stylianos Mystakidis
smyst@upatras.gr
@stylianosm2
Niki Lambropoulos
nikilambropoulos@
gmail.com