ELEKTRA - Enhanced Learning Experience and Knowledge Transfer
ELEKTRA merged pedagogical and cognitive science expertise with the innovations of computer game technology and design in storytelling, visualisation and interactivity. The project team developed a methodology for this integrative and interdisciplinary approach to design and develop a learning game based on psycho-pedagogical research.
- Strategic objective: Technology-enhanced Learning
- Project type: Specific targeted research project (STREP)
- Start date: 1 February 2006
- Duration: 24 months
- EU funding: 2 420 000
- Number of partners: 9
- Project coordinator: Gesellschaft zur Förderung künsterlischer Informatik Laboratory for Mixed Realities, Cologne, Germany
- Contact: Mr. Daniel Schwarz
Point of departure for this project was the observation that digital learning games suffer from various deficits that severely impair their effectiveness as a learning tool. For example, they do not make use of the motivating power of elaborate story telling. ELEKTRA's vision was to make learning as exciting for learners as leading-edge computer games are exciting for gamers.
The project team's strategy to tackle this challenge was to link research in the field of pedagogy with neuroscience, cognitive science and computer science. This aimed at bridging the gap between cognitive theory and gaming practice and helped to assess the cognitive potential of learning games and to put their development on the grounds of a sound psycho-pedagogical theory.
The neuroscience part of ELEKTRA studied the effectiveness of different teaching/learning scenarios by event-related brain imaging in combination with psychological learning tests. Expertise in computer science and creativity facilitated the implementation of research and theory into the ELEKTRA learning game, an immersive 3D world for learning that uses state of the art game design techniques for visualisation, interaction and storytelling.
ELEKTRA's 3D world visualises learning topics as highly interactive virtual landscapes, conceived as a 'garden of knowledge' through which the learner can perambulate freely or by following the guidance of a storyline and/or a game character. This typical concept for game-play comprises a user-centric perspective, supported by multimodal concepts for learning paths and learner models. Narration ('the original form of teaching') is part of the didactic design. The game-play is enhanced with interactive dramaturgy and direction in order to drive the storytelling and deepen the immersion of the learner into the learning topic. Monitoring and assessment of the learner are integrated in a way that enables a situated and activity-driven learning experience. The virtual learning environment reacts in relation to the learner's behaviour and cognitive state and to the learning progress represented in the learner model.
Target groups for these next generation learning games are secondary school children and university students.