Elsevier

Computers in Human Behavior

Volume 31, February 2014, Pages 602-611
Computers in Human Behavior

Design and analysis of collaborative interactions in social educational videogames

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.06.039Get rights and content

Highlights

  • We design videogames to connect hospitalised children with their classmates.

  • We present a set of videogame patterns’ design to support collaborative learning.

  • We present an experience using a collaborative videogame in primary education.

  • We analyse social interactions and emotions of children using the videogame.

Abstract

Children with serious illness face enormous challenges in their daily life. These individuals must not only deal with the direct consequences of their disease, but they must often cope with being in a hospital or at home, being unable in many cases go to school. Frequently, connections with classmates, neighbours, and sometimes even some with relatives are lost. Therefore, entertainment and enjoyment should be provided in order to avoid boredom and to improve their affective state. Currently, children in the HUC (University Hospital of the Canary Islands) have a classroom with computers, books and toys supervised by a teacher. Children in their individual rooms are isolated. Social videogames can be a solution by allowing students to enhance their communication, education and entertainment possibilities. In this paper, we present the design, development and evaluation of a collaborative educational videogame prototype for hospitalised children based on a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) engine. Moreover, we present a case study of students’ social and affective interactions using said videogame. This work was developed as part of the Hospital Virtual Educative Service (SAVEH) project funded by the European program MAC 2007–2013.

Introduction

During long periods of hospitalisation, children are liable to develop stress and anxiety caused by physical discomfort due to their illnesses and treatments, by fear of medical procedures, separation, change of environment, and by being confined with restricted movements. Lack of face to face interaction and little communication with the family can contribute to the low morale that could obstruct the efficiency of the medical treatment or cause psychological trauma. One recommended solution is to counteract this situation with toys and promote gaming activities with a proven therapeutic value that involve love and fun, raise their morale, augment tolerance to pain, and improve the effectiveness of the treatments. In this sense, the use of new technologies, and in particular videogames, can become an element of compensation, because games are a vital part in the process of healing for a child and may work as a ‘social companion’ for the minor in a moment of necessity, particularly when there is no one else around.

The lack of motivation for conducting studies on hospitalised minors can be addressed through the use of adequate tools and methodologies which take isolation into consideration. One way to mitigate isolation wold be to use methodologies and techniques originated in collaborative learning systems that make possible and necessary the interaction with other students (Soller & Lesgold, 2000). Since children in hospitals have widely differing personalities, it is difficult for teachers to provide them with individual attention. Also, the circumstances that surround the hospitalised student can change quickly in short periods of time. Their emotional state, necessities and skills can be seriously affected. In order to contribute to the normalisation of children who cannot attend school normally, we have developed educational virtual worlds in which the students have the opportunity to play and go on quests while engaging in activities specially designed so they can learn, play, enjoy and interact.

The type of gaming activity that we propose in this paper not only offers a way to amuse the children in their everyday lives, but also a way of being in touch with others while giving them goals to achieve as a group, thus maintaining their social relationships. Moreover, through the collaborative learning videogame, significant skills like communication, collaboration and team work are improved.

In this paper we aim to design and develop multi-player (collaborative) game-based learning, combining theories based on Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL) with Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). Our main hypothesis states that tools based on DGBL + CSCL can better support not only the learning of hospitalised children but the development of significant skills like communication, collaboration and team work. We have studied and analysed the human factors (Norman, 2004) associated with the videogame, such as the playability and its attributes (González Sánchez, Gil Iranzo, & Gutiérrez Vela, 2011), paying special attention to the emotional and social aspects resulting from the teamwork (Gunes and Pantic, 2010, Russell, 1980).

The main research questions discussed in this paper are the following:

  • (a)

    What requisites define the design and development of social educational videogames to connect hospitalised children with their classmates?

  • (b)

    What types of interactions occur in a multiplayer educational videogame and what emotions does it cause?

The paper is organised as follows: first, we consider the unique problem posed by hospitalised children; second, we offer a theoretical background on digital game based learning and discuss prototypes; third, we present the objectives and methodology; finally, we describe the case study and offer our results and conclusions.

Section snippets

SAVEH context

Integration and inclusion have different connotations in the school organisation of children with special educational needs. School integration means incorporating a philosophy of normalisation against segregational practices and focusing on strategies and methods for adapting disabled children to traditional schooling. Moreover, the inclusive school philosophy is based on a school for all, where every student, regardless of his or her characteristics (disease, disability, etc.), has the

Theoretical background

Although designed for recreational, and not educational, purposes, current commercial games like World of Warcraft provide access to a world of educational possibilities (Chang, 2008, Corneliussen and Walker, 2008, Bainbridge, 2010, Ducheneau, N, 2010, Golub A, 2010, Hui-Yin and Shiang-Kwei, 2010, Pirius and Creel, 2010), such as: students collaborating on and discussing ideas and possible solutions, connecting with other students around the world, immersing students in a learning experience

Prototyping: requisites, design and development

Prototypes are a great communication tool for fleshing out design ideas, testing assumptions, and gathering real-time feedback from users (Dow et al., 2011). For this reason, during the initial phase we developed two prototypes and performed two kinds of tests with members of the research team: (a) prototype testing and iterative redesign and (b) playability evaluation. These two tests complement each another. Three evaluation sessions were held with the experts of the interdisciplinary team to

Method

In an effort to provide an effective approach for supporting the education of hospitalised children that uses the huge potential of technology to connect children with their schools, we have, within the framework of the SAVEH project, designed and evaluated educational videogames with experts and children that take into account the following objectives:

  • 1.

    Analyse the requisites of the videogame design, in particular those involving collaboration and playability.

  • 2.

    Evaluate the interactions among

Conclusions

In this paper, we have presented the SAVEH context and the main variables that affect the situation of hospitalised children. Educational videogames, in the context of SAVEH, contribute to developing the social and affective aspects of children who are in hospital. Consequently, we presented a set of requisites that define the design and development of social educational videogames to connect hospitalised children with their classmates. These prototypes included collaborative learning patterns

Acknowledgements

This work has been developed in the context of the European research Project SAVEH MAC/1/100, funded by the INTERREG program PCT-MAC 2007–2013, “Developing healthy habits and physical education through Educational Games for Hospitalized Children and Adolescents, Reference EDU2010-20010 of Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain and CYTED Project 513RT0481 – “Iberoamerican Network for the support of processes of teaching and learning of skills through collaborative and ubiquitous

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