4. What are the design requirements and
evaluation strategies for a mobile educational
game for preschoolers - with application on
teaching them the Arabic Alphabet - for it to fit
the needs and abilities of, be usable by and of
benefit to Arab (Egyptian) preschoolers?
Primary Research Question
5. Developing Our
Project
Thesis Overview
Interviews
Survey
Evaluation
Study
Evaluating Our Project
Pre-MEGa
Framework
Interaction Design 4
Preschoolers
Design Requirements &
Evaluation Strategies 4 Arabic
Mobile Educational Game 4
Egyptian Preschoolers
IMM Project Steps &
Challenges 4 Presch.
Preschoolers IMM
Use: Here vs. Abroad
Arabic vs. English Early
Literacy Software
Arabic Alphabet
Learning
Evaluation
Strategies
Preschoolers’
IMM Use Abroad
8. Some Results: Preschoolers (age 3-5):
prefer IM to traditional toys
68% use IM >1 h a day
35% own their own device
Most used : websites & mobile apps
Favorite device: tablet devices
Favorite activity: games
Easiest use: touch screens
Survey: Arab Preschoolers & Interactive Media
SurveyInterviews
9. Some Results: Preschoolers (age 3-5):
Order of features which attracts them:
Cartoon characters
Audio and Songs
Colors and Design
Containing more activities
Simplicity and Ease of Use
Survey: Arab Preschoolers & Interactive Media
SurveyInterviews
10. Some Results: Parents:
87% let their preschoolers use their devices
64% prefer content in English over Arabic
78% download pirated software
Survey: Arab Preschoolers & Interactive Media
SurveyInterviews
11. How Egyptian Parents rate English Software teaching Alphabet
How they rate Arabic Software teaching Alphabet
SurveyInterviews
Survey: Arab Preschoolers & Interactive Media
12. Some Results: Early Literacy:
64% prefer content in English over Arabic
50% don’t learn Arabic Alphabet at nursery
65% can’t sing the whole Arabic Alphabet song
25% can’t associate any Arabic letter with its sound
Survey: Arab Preschoolers & Interactive Media
SurveyInterviews
13. Limitation: Represents only a certain social class
Survey: Arab Preschoolers & Interactive Media
SurveyInterviews
14. Study: Qulity of Available Early Literacy Software
SurveyInterviews Evaluation Study
15. Study: Qulity of Available Early Literacy Software
SurveyInterviews Evaluation Study
16. Study: Quality of Available Early Literacy Software
SurveyInterviews Evaluation Study
17. Status of most Arabic software even worse than that of their English
counterparts back in 1993
Study: Quality of Available Early Literacy Software
SurveyInterviews Evaluation Study
18. Solutions:
Creation of Higher Quality Authentic Content
More research
Fund
Public-private partnerships
Addressing piracy
Localization of Foreign Content
Involving local educators and experts
Narrations by native speakers
Adapting multimedia elements
Testing in local context
Problem: Threat to Cultural Identity
19. Designing Mobile Educational Games for
Preschoolers
Fun
Usability
Learning
Mobility
Preschooler
s’ age
Design
Requirements/
Heuristics
Premega
21. The HECE Framework of Usability Heuristics for Child E-Learning Applications
The Enali Framework for Pedagogical Agents
J.P.Hourcade’s chapter on Interaction design and children
“Playability Heuristics for Mobile Games “
“Heuristic evaluation for games: usability principles for video game design. “
“Designing and testing mobile interfaces for children. “
“Design Principles of Educational Virtual Worlds for Preschool Children”
“A comparison of the mouse and touch screen for children's use of computers. “
“The role of usability research in designing children's computer products”
“Conducting game user experience research with preschoolers.”
“Games, motivation, and learning: A research and practice model.”
“Gender differences in children's creative game play.”
childrennow.org: The effects of interactive media on preschoolers' learning.
Smashingmagazine.com: A Dad’s Plea To Developers Of iPad Apps For Children
Premega
22. Screen Design
Navigation & Control
Ease of Use
Responsiveness
Game Design
Learning Potential
Instructions
Feedback
Difficulty Level
Content Delivery &
Presentation
Pedagogical Agent
Customization
Security
Accessibility
Value
Proposed Framework: Pre-MEGa
• Guidelines/Heuristics for design and evaluation
of Preschoolers’ Mobile Educational Games
•15 categories with sub-categories:
Premega
24. Hamza Arabic Alphabet Game
Main objectives:
•Preschoolers will actually play with it!
•Preschoolers will prefer it over available English games.
•Preschoolers will love the Arabic Alphabet.
•Not complete, but a minimal working example.
Main constraints:
Time and cost.
Story of the game:
•Hamza has lost his beloved letters and wants to collect them.
•The player should help Hamza pick all his letters again.
•This is done using several games and then they play together with the letters.
•All this repetition is meant to teach them the Alphabet in an indirect way.
Developing Our
Project
27. Game Design
Combine simple exploratory non-goal-oriented
games with more sophisticated goal-oriented games
Support different playing styles
Include collaboration options
Game Type and Scope
Supports game play and is encouraging.
Offers a social experience
Fosters imagination
Provides positive role models and
messages
Game Story
Developing Our
Project
28. Game Design
Clear, fun goal which quick sub-goals
Clear, fun and physically age-appropriate actions to
reach the goals
Balancing challenge, strategy and pace
No repetitive or boring tasks
Reminder of progress
Convenient, flexible, game controls
No loss of any hard-owned possessions
Challenge Elements
Developing Our
Project
Activities resembling adults' which look "difficult“
Include suspense and "danger" without leading to fear or frustration
Difficulty Level
29. Pedagogical Agent
Context-appropriate visual representation
Attractive
Free of gender or ethnic bias
Establishes credibility and trustworthiness
Establishes a role and relationship to child
and the game
Polite and positive
Characteristics
Using a song with simple Egyptian Arabic
Language
Clearly owned by agent
Complete and specific
Describes feelings by figure of speech
Message
Developing Our
Project
30. Screen Design
Clear picture menus without text
Consistent design
Layout efficient and visually
pleasing
Similar learning objects are
organized in a similar style
Developing Our
Project
Visually meaningful
Large, easy to select
No phantom icons
Icons
Menus
31. Mobile & Touch Screen Specifics
Cautious Response with tilt
functionality
No buttons near screen edges
Simplified screens, adaptable to
different sizes
Using device interface and game
interface for their own purposes
Consistent control keys following
standard conventions
Interruptions are handled reasonably
Developing Our
Project
32. Learning
Dividing letters into ranges
Using verbal rehearsal to foster memorization
Varying activities during learning sessions to avoid boredom
Introducing concepts through many entry points
Including Self-Assessments
Developing Our
Project
33. Content Delivery & Presentation
Theme meaningful to children, Egyptian scenery
Embedded in fantasy contexts
Based on real-life experience
Personifying the letters
High quality graphics, audio and visual effects
Using music and songs
Multimedia elements assist and are consistent with the learning process
No graphics detracting from educational intention
Using "Surprises" and employing random generation techniques
Giving kids unusual powers
Developing Our
Project
34. Navigation & Control
Simple one layer menus with direct access
Consistent, logical and minimalist controls
Help Kids know where they are
Remember things already discussed
Choices to select strategies (even if instructionally
irrelevant)
Control over rate and order of display
Clear exits from all sub-games
Main menu accessible everywhere
No irreversible errors
Developing Our
Project
Short, interruptible routines and
animations
Let kids accidentally•succeed in
the first 30 seconds
Quick, clear response to touch
and no stagnation
Responsiveness
35. Instructions & Feedback
Age-appropriate, easy to understand and remember
Supportive rather than distracting
Using clear-speech
Integrated in the context of the problem
Instructions
Feedback
Frequent, variable, age-appropriate,
context-related
Employs meaningful graphics and/or sound
Descriptive, non-evaluative
Positive:
Motivational
Attractive, fun, humorful
Negative:
Let children know if they made a mistake
Offer helpful hints to correct actions
Developing Our
Project
36. Customization
Experience adaptable to gender
Customized, individualized
instructions and feedback (Arabic
language addressing different
genders)
Offers choice of scope, themes and
playing styles.
Ease of Use
Require age-appropriate skills only
Bigger areas for selecting, dragging
and tracing
Enable independent use after first use
Consistent responses to user actions
Developing Our
Project
37. Ensures privacy of personal information
Free from ethnic bias, violence, scariness, inappropriate language or behavior
Free from inappropriate ads, ads which detract from content, or that lead to
accidental purchases
Accessibility
Security
Can be used on a variety of devices, also a windows version is available
Working on versions with different languages
Value
It’s FREE!
Developing Our
Project
38. Creating a 3D effect in the racing game using 2D
Making the car game more efficient in terms of memory
consumption
Keeping choices of gender and alphabet range throughout
transitions
Enhancing navigation experience
Graphics Scalability
Handling interruptions of mobile devices like calls and defining
actions for control buttons
Adjusting volume ratios so that music and sound effects don't
interfere with the learning experience or distract from the learning
content.
Design Challenges
Developing Our
Project
46. Other Game Updates
Adding a letters test game
More repetition of the letters sounds in racing
Enlarging buttons which were difficult to hit
Increasing the area for dragging and for dropping the alphabets
into the bag
Reducing the speed of the racing game and the tilt reaction.
Enhancing audio quality
Adding more instruction for bag game and animating the bag
saying the instructions
Making the letter names be pronounced in formal Arabic instead
of Egyptian Arabic
48. Validating, extending, using Pre-MEGa framework
More research on Egyptian children’s interaction with new technologies
More research on game preferences of Egyptian children and how to design
and test applications for and with them.
Using more smart technologies in mobile literacy applications.
Enhancing our application
Applying similar research on school children and integrating technology to
accompany the Egyptian curriculum.
Encouraging companies and individuals to invest in quality research-based
interactive products for young children
Establishing a research community for Digital Games-Based Learning, with a
focus group targeting young children.
Use of new technologies in eradicating illiteracy among Egyptian children
Recommendations
49. For more information, read our papers:
Shoukry, L.H., Sturm, Ch., Galal-Edeen, G.H., " Arab Preschoolers,
Interactive Media and Early Literacy Development", The proceedings of
The International Conference on E-Learning and E-Technologies in
Education (ICEEE), Technical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland Sept. 24-
26, 2012, http://www.sdiwc.net/iccaee2012, Pages: 43-48.
Shoukry, L.H., Sturm, Ch., Galal-Edeen, G.H., “Pre-MEGa: A Proposed
Framework for the Design and Evaluation of Preschoolers' Mobile
Educational Games”, The proceedings of the CISSE virtual conference,
Dec. 2012, http://conference.cisseconference.org/2012
Publications
50. About Me:
Laila Hussein Shoukry
Master's Student
Digital Media Engineering & Technology
German University in Cairo
Egypt
lailame@gmail.com
http://guc.academia.edu/LailaHussein
Thank you