An Evaluation of a Mobile Game Concept for Lectures

Abstract

This paper describes an evaluation of a new game concept, Lecture Quiz, which can be used in lectures in higher education to promote strong student participation and variation in how lectures are taught. The lecture game uses the equipment and infrastructure already available in lecture halls like the teacher’s portable PC, a large screen and a video projector, network connections, and the students’ mobile phones. The main game runs on the teacher’s portable PC projected on a large screen, whereas the students will interact with the game using their own mobile phones. Lecture Quiz is a multiplayer quiz game, which offers a variation in game modes where unlimited number of players can play simultaneously. Games like Lecture Quiz are most useful for testing and rehearsing theory. As a bonus, the teacher will get quantitative data on how much of the theory the students actually have learned. The evaluation of Lecture Quiz was performed in a software architecture lecture where twenty students first played the game and then were asked to fill in an evaluation form. The focus of the evaluation was on usability of the system and the perceived usefulness of using Lecture Quiz in lectures. The results of the evaluation show that Lecture Quiz was easy to use and that it contributed to increased learning. Further, Lecture Quiz was perceived as entertaining, and half of the students claimed they would attend more lectures if such systems were used regularly.