Middle Rhine-Eduventure

Eduventure - combination of 'education' and the computer game genre 'adventure

The availability of mixed reality technologies on currently used mobile computers and the high motivation potential of computer games led to the development of Eduventure (as a combination of 'education' and the computer game genre 'adventure'). The approach combines the idea of Digital Game Based Learning with the use of novel Mixed Reality technologies in an educationally reflected way. For this purpose, the approach features a novel "dual mode" structure, which synergistically combines game sequences on the computer with those in real places as blended learning. Learning is understood as active knowledge acquisition of the person acting both in a virtual world and as a mobile learner on site, supported by mobile Augmented Reality (AR) technology. Thus it is possible to address the main problem of Digital Game Based Learning: the transfer of learning as an application of the learned knowledge to problems in the real world.

The foundation and evaluation of the Eduventure approach is the subject of the interdisciplinary pilot project "Middle Rhine Eduventure", which was concluded with a formative evaluation in August 2005. As an example, schoolchildren and young adults were to learn about the history and culture of the Middle Rhine Valley using the Marksburg Castle in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site "Upper Middle Rhine Valley". The Middle Rhine Eduventure was developed as a prototype and tested as a proof of concept.

The results of the user test on the Marksburg suggest a further development of the prototype as well as a larger empirical study of its effects on informal learning with pupils aged 12 to 18 years as a typical target group for computer games.

Please address your questions about the project to Mr. Ferdinand ferdinand@uni-koblenz.de

Handout on the Middle Rhine Eduventure Project: [pdf]

Follow-up project Eduventure 2

Publications:

Ferdinand, P. (2005). The Middle-Rhine Eduventure Project – on the way to a new technology enhanced learning approach. A mobile adventure learning game for pupils by the example of the UNESCO cultural heritage Middle-Rhine valley in Germany. In: Proceedings of TESI 2005 Conference (Training, Education & Simulation International), 22.-24. March 2005, Maastricht, The Netherlands

Ferdinand, P., Müller, S., Ritschel, T. & Wechselberger, U. (2005). The Eduventure – A New Approach of Digital Game Based Learning Combining Virtual and Mobile Augmented Reality Games Episodes. Pre-Conference Workshop “Game based Learning” of DeLFI 2005 and GMW 2005 Conference, Rostock, 13. September 2005.