This is a report on a Digital Literacy game that was created in Kitely. It was created to address the literacy needs of pre-tertiary Maori students. The game was designed using Keller's ARC Model of Motivational Design:
Herns (2014, p. 16).
Aims
Filling identified gaps in student literacy profiles; improving literacy rates of students with deficiencies, particularly those at risk; providing a learning environment that is flexible and useful to educators and students; providing a uniquely NZ environment with which students can identify.
Other aims:
To encourage educators to incorporate virtual worlds into their teaching.
To encourage adult learners, whom may have had prior negative experiences in traditional classrooms, to use virtual worlds.
Method
The game was created by MIT researchers with joint funding from MIT and the Northern hub of Ako Aotearoa. A NZ author was consulted to assist in using Maori legends as the game narrative. The game resembles NZ before colonization, but care was taken to ensure the comfort of tangata whenua and pasifica students.
The goals of the game are:
- to help students recognise a well formed sentence
- to help them identify a complete sentence
- to help them identify solutions to common grammatical problems
Players complete tasks independently of each other and are only allowed to make progress once they've achieved their current objective. There are six levels in total. Each level is based on a different myth, and has a number of tasks and rewards.
Participants
The participants were MIT (South Auckland campus) students enrolled in Foundation Level 3.
Two classes of 40 students in total trialed the game twice a week.
Data was collected from diagnostic literacy assessments; writing samples of students playing the game and students in the control group were compared, both before and after the study; The Adult Literacy and Numeracy Tool; students' reflective journals and surveys; lecturers' feedback.
Results
After playing the game, students were asked to fill in a survey. The results are shown in the table below (Hearns, 2014, p. 23). Overall students found that getting used to the mechanics of the game was not difficult, and they found the game enjoyable and helpful. They indicated interest in using other virtual worlds (although a small proportion said they wouldn't).
The reflective journals of the students had some common themes:
- progressive challenges were one of the best features of the game
- the Maori legends was also a favourite aspect of the game
- there was some frustration when students were unable to make progress because they would get stuck on a challenge even though they thought they knew the right answer
- there was also some disorientation among some players who initially didn't know how to play the game
Utilizing an iterative design approach, the researchers then created a video giving hints for certain areas.
Some students expressed a desire to customize their avatar. Others wanted more variety in the nature of the tasks.
The Adult and Numeracy tests didn't reveal much difference between the two groups. The researchers said that this was due to the fact that the TEC tests Reading skills, whereas The Mythical world of Hinatore was designed to improve writing skills.
An analysis of the writing samples (100 words) showed a significant decrease in errors (200 fewer errors for students in the game group, 120 fewer errors for students in the control group). The samples were examined for punctuation, spelling, grammar, word choice, etc. The biggest difference in errors between the two groups was in grammar - i.e. game players had 39 fewer grammatical errors, while the control had 19.
Lecturer feedback was generally positive. Suggested improvements included the use of Maui and Hine-nui-te-po, streamlining the pathway between tasks, more challenging problems, more assistance at the start, and a faster presentation of tasks.
Discussion
The improvement in writing literacy supports previous findings that a virtual world would fill in literacy gaps.
There are some limitations in the data to be mindful of. Although literacy rates seemed to improve, this is not to say that the game by itself was the cause of that. Other factors may have come into effect.
Hearns, M. (2014). Literacy Game in a virtual world. Manukau, New Zealand: Ako Aotearoa.
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