After working a short period of time within the preparatory mathematics realm and realizing the overwhelming number of students who fail these courses, several questions were prompted. What about the curriculum needs changing? Are students' needs being met? How can we motivate students to want to learn? What would stimulate the learning, cognition and retention of these basic math skills? After a brief, yet systematic reflection on the facts and several interviews with both students and instructors, a solution was generated. The targeted population would greatly benefit from a supplemental tool designed to emphasize the application of computational skills in students' everyday lives, while exploiting the opportunities of an online learning community. This summary [presentation] will discuss the premise for its design by characterizing the results of the literary review conducted, student surveys, and relevant gaming benchmarks based on 4 critical needs: 1. Understanding the environment; 2. Deviating from drill-based instruction and rote learning; 3. Establishing relevance between users, the simulation and its interface; and 4. Building a social community of learning.
(1)Understanding the Environment. Over the past few years, students have become increasingly diverse in not only cultural aspects but also in the way they learn. With the rise in digital mediums and increased social needs many researchers have already begun to explore ways to incorporate games, simulations and social media in academic settings. The range of learning preferences that span beyond traditional learning styles like millennial or neomillennial learning styles require institutions to investigate ways to adapt current curriculum and instruction to the morphing needs of today's students.
But gaming beyond entertainment is not new. Historically, games have been employed in many sectors including large and small businesses, military practices, healthcare, sports and education. Organizations use games and simulations to enhance the learning experience for users, while reducing risks and costs for major stakeholders. Much research has shown that games increase user motivation, offer significant benefits as a result of the receipt of immediate feedback, and emits a level of multi-sensory immersion that connects the user to the game, thereby enhancing memory and stimulating self-activated discovery, curiosity and experimentation.
In this study, many games were played and analyzed based on 6 criteria- a. gaming elements- story, play and game, b. level of feedback, c. social components, d. assessment, e. transfer potential, and f. motivation.
(2)Deviation from drill-based instruction and rote learning. Decades of research support the claim that information gained in drill-based learning is difficult to apply in alternative situations therefore, the importance of alleviating this flaw cannot be stressed enough. In a recent survey, preparatory math students revealed a common belief that the skills and topics introduced in their math courses is irrelevant. This assumption, often complimented by a need to memorize formulas for standardized assessments and the like, is not sufficient to assess whether learning has taken place, although many institutional practices may disagree.
Inherently, simulations provide a link between information and its application. This form of experiential learning supports the constructivist theory by promoting active learning and the development of knowledge via both experience and practice. Using the principles of Instructional Design (Addie and Dick & Carey's Models), Industrial Engineering (interactive simulation design, process and quality control, design of experiments, and project management) and Game Design, this tool's design will negate temptation of rote learning.
(3)Establish relevance between users, the simulation and its interface. This need may be the most important of all needs identified in this study because motivation is the key factor in the success of this tool. As previously identified, many students share negative perceptions of mathematics and its importance, and designing to this fact will be beneficial. Identifying user needs, interests and purpose provided the foundation necessary to align both gameplay and the communication interface's architecture to the needs and profile referenced. The survey queried generic group demographics, social and cultural backgrounds, preconceived perceptions of mathematics and its usefulness, impediments of traditional learning environments, as well as current gaming and social media practices.
(4)Building a social community of learning. Community-oriented students are becoming more prevalent and the need to build upon their familiarities is essential. In an age of text messaging, emails, multi-user online gaming, cyber chatting, online education, virtual meetings and more, it is becoming more difficult to accomplish the level of learning desired in a traditional classroom setting. Many theorists believe that communication and social interaction heightens the learning experience because it encourages collaboration, participation and memory. The success of sites like You Tube, MySpace and Facebook seem to emphasize this likelihood in that these "always on" students are continuously learning and doing new things, and constantly revealing new possibilities.
In short, although this project is in its infancy stage, existing research in this field has been explored; a survey of preparatory math students has been collected and analyzed to define the target learner population, their motivation and needs; relevant games and simulations were played, analyzed and benchmarked; and a high-level list of network capabilities was identified as those critical to the online interface's design and development. At last, due to the size and nature of this project, its scope will be limited to the Pre-Algebra Preparatory Math course only.
