Abstract:

Bullying and cyberbullying are very serious social problems with incidence in all countries regardless of their language or culture. (Cyber)bullying victims experience anxiety, fear, low self-esteem and can suffer serious psychological disorders, including suicidal ideation and suicides. On the other hand, serious games (SG) have demonstrated advantages in numerous studies and domains. SG are adequate for learning (e.g. mathematics, physics) or to increase awareness about societal aspects, such as drug addiction. We consider that videogames can also be effective bullying prevention tools for teachers to use in their classrooms.

Conectado is a video game developed to raise awareness among 12 to 17 year olds about (cyber)bullying by placing the player in the role of a victim, thus creating empathy towards the victims of real cases. Conectado has been tested with more than 1000 high school students, demonstrating its effectiveness. It has also been evaluated with teachers and education students to test its acceptance among educators. In this paper we present the didactic guide that developed for Conectado, intended to simplify its application in schools by teachers. Using the guide, a teacher can effectively use the game in their classroom without any external help, and without requiring extensive knowledge about games.

While video games have proven to be useful as educational tools, not all teachers feel comfortable using them; this may be due to different reasons, including low technological knowledge, lack of time to apply video games, not knowing how to use the game to further class goals, and/or lack of resources (e.g. computers, money) to use video games. In order to avoid some of these problems, and to increase the confidence of teachers when using the game, the didactic guide is intended to help teachers to apply Conectado effectively. For instance, it clearly explains the objectives of the game and how it can be used to promote a fruitful discussion that will help students to reflect on bullying and cyberbullying from the events that they experience while playing it.

To validate the didactic guide, we carried out a survey on its clarity, usefulness and content. Twenty teachers from different schools took part in the survey. Additionally, to contrast its application in real scenarios, we carried out an observational experiment in a school in Madrid (Spain). In this experiment, the video game Conectado was applied in four different classes, two in their first year of secondary (~12yo), and two in their 2nd year of secondary (~13yo), with a follow-up session for discussion and reflection. During the experiment, a researcher observed how teachers applied the game, identifying possible problems and checking the extent to which teachers followed the guidelines in the subsequent discussion and reflection sessions with their students.

The results of both the surveys and the experiments have been positive. On the one hand, we have been able to verify that teachers consider that the content of the guide is useful in helping them to apply the video game, although they think it is a little too long. On the other hand, we have confirmed that teachers have been able to apply the video game by themselves, and that they have adapted the guide to make their own personalized reflection sessions with the students, while using the main ideas of the guide as a base.

Keywords:

Serious Games, Secondary Education, Bullying, Cyberbullying.