Presentation provided for the research and innovation week of the University of South Africa

1. Creating meaning and
authenticity with
mobile serious learning games
Dr. Marco Kalz
Associate Professor
5 March 2015
marco.kalz@ou.nl
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mkalz
http://twitter.com/mkalz

2. Challenges for
education
The 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

3. Challenges for
education
some rights reserved by
Alexander Baxevanis@Flick
artificial learning contexts
meaningless tasks
no cultural and social contex
theory-practice gap

4. Inert knowledge
Alfred North Whitehead (1929)
Knowledge that can be
recalled when asked for,
but not when needed
for problem solving.

5. Game patterns
Simulation
Location-based
learning
MSLG: A new
education format?

6. 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

7. 7
• Decision-making
game
• Events (media)
trigger actions

9. 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

10. 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

11. Case study II:
HeartRun

12. 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

13. 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

14. ARLearn

15. 15
Usage statistics

16. idea collection

17. reflection about ecological footprint

18. prizes
badges

19. Case study III: Results
Kalz, M., Börner, D., Ternier, S., & Specht, M. (2014)

20. “The ability to extend what
has been learned in one
context to new contexts”
Design for transfer
(Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999, p. 39)

21. Research challenges
(Barnett & Ceci, 2002)

22. Research challenges

23. Thanks!
marco.kalz@ou.nl
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mkalz
http://www.twitter.com/mkalz