E-snakes and ladders: a hypermedia educational environment for portable devices

ABSTRACT

This article presents e-snakes and ladders (e-S&L), a game-based educational environment for portable devices. The e-S&L is based on the classic table game 'snakes and ladders' and enriches the table game with various types of activities, such as questions and answers and webquests. It provides a pleasant electronic-learning environment with an easy to use authoring tool for the instructor. The e-S&L is based on communication services and protocols (e.g. e-mail, short message service (SMS), MMS, HTTP and FTP) and on context-aware technologies. It supports learning standards, such as the IMS question and test interoperability (QTI) specification, the IMS Learner Information Package (IMS LIP) specification, e-portfolio, Dublin Core metadata creation and webquest. Furthermore, the article presents a learning scenario which is authored for demonstrating the e-S&L functionality. The findings from this study offer interesting insights into the extent to which computer gaming might be employed as a tool for supporting learning.

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INDEX TERMS

Keywords:
FTP, HTTP, MMS, SMS, authoring systems, computer gaming, context awareness, e-learning, electronic learning, email, game based education, handheld devices, learning standards, m-learning, mobile communications, mobile learning, short message service