Abstract:

In the past few years, learning has evolved and grown, following the technological transformation that has rapidly disrupted all fields. In education, this metamorphosis has been manifested in many forms, including Learning Management Systems, Serious Games, and Massive Open Online Courses, and has accepted a general term appropriate to the times, e-learning. The increasingly wider audience has unlocked valuable perspectives on the procedures involved in e-learning, as opposed to traditional classroom learning. An important observation is that in most cases, regardless of the technology used, educators create or select the educational content that their pupils will work on. However, serious games are a peculiar case in this regard, as the complete game is seen as a single, immutable block of content since teachers cannot select parts of it, or modify it, and thus they include, or reject, a game depending on the entirety of the game. Yet, digital games carry interesting possibilities regarding personalization, from educational content to gameplay constituents that can affect the educational processes or goals, such as movement systems, puzzle complexity, available levels, etc. Unfortunately, this potential is not made available to teachers. Thus, we have designed a platform where game creators offer adaptable games, which educators can modify, changing content for their own or personalizing game constituents and settings. In our preliminary pilot, game creators get informed about the implementation guidelines for making their games customizable, and they can add their games to the platform library while specifying the technical details of customizable elements that will be available to educators to define. According to these technical details, submitted as a JSON file, a webpage is dynamically created within the platform, providing text fields, combo boxes and any other user interface elements necessary for the educators to add content and modify settings. This platform was created using the standard web architecture, with a non-relational database, a RESTful API, and a website where game creators and educators interact with the system. Additionally, several customizable games have been created and added to the library of customizable games, realizing the concept, and offering a selection of games for mathematical thinking, memory training, cognitive skills training, and more. Through this architecture, and with help from guidelines provided, game creators can design and implement a game where educational content and gameplay elements can be modified at run time. The result is a unique experience, tailored to the needs of the students and current educational goals. Essentially, with this workflow games can be used as LMSs are used right now, bringing the entertainment of games to students and the power of content creation to educators.

Keywords:

Adaptive games, Customizable games, Adaptable Educational Content, Serious Games, Game-Based Learning.