ItI Conference Session Run, Double Jump Smart Village, Cairo, Egypt 2017

1. Laila Shoukry, M.Sc.
14.09.2017

2. Echo Newspaper in Darmstadt 2015
Currently PhD student at TU Darmstadt
 topic: Mobile Multimodal Serious Games
Analytics
Worked in the Serious Games research
group there for about 2 years
M.Sc. In Digital Media Engineering and
Technology from GUC in 2013
 topic: Child-Centered Design of Mobile
Educational Games for Arab Preschoolers
 Successful Mobile Game Hamza emerged
from this research
Starting to teach at AAST, Alexandria,
Multimedia Systems Dep.

3. Stefan Göbel 2014
Serious Games Research Group
At KOM, TU Darmstadt
Group Retreat 2014

5. A serious game is a digital game
designed for a purpose other than
pure entertainment. (wiki)
Differences to Some Other Terms:
• (Digital) Game Based Learning,
Edutainment, Edugames, ..
• Gamification
• Simulations

12. Knowledge-based games
Skills-based games
Language learning games
Location-based learning games
metaari.com

13. Multimedia vs. books & flashcards
Interactive vs. non-interactive
Random access & parallel processing
Immediate Reward vs. long-term rewards
Low level of threat with failure
Challenge & competition  excitement
Fantasy and stories  emotional experience

14. Math edugame more popular than angry
birds in Norway

15. metaari.com

18. metaari.com

19. Angel lists 892 startups up from 560 in 2015
Some Startups in the Arab World

20. Device Capabilities on the rise
Accessibility
Personalization
Parents’ demand for edugames
Distribution, Prices
Faster Startups
Live updating
Usage Statistics
Social Network and Market
Partnering with Education Institutes

21. Free, but with in-app advertising (Eg: Facebook,
Youtube)
Freemium – e.g: Spotify, LinkedIn, Evernote
In-app purchases – e.g: Candy Crush, Tinder, Snapchat
Subscriptions – e.g: Apple Music, Netflix
insight-mea.co

23. Competing with “real” games
Enough Flash Cards & Quiz Games! (like
broccoli topped with chocolate)
Less Drill-and-Practice, More Experiential
Learning: Trial & Error, More Degrees of
Freedom, Complex Forms of Engagement
Seemless Learning: Content fully dissolved into
context
Players demonstrate knowledge to proceed in
the game
Learning is part of the game not disrupting it
Feedback embodied in direct results of actions

24.  Status of most Arabic software even worse than that of their English
counterparts back in 1993  Threat to Cultural Identity!

25. Creation of Higher Quality Authentic Content
More research
Fund
Public-private partnerships
Addressing piracy
Localization of Foreign Content
Involving local educators and experts
Narrations by native speakers
Adapting multimedia elements
Testing in local context

27. Fun
Usability
Learning
Mobility
User Group
Design
Requirements

28. Pre-MEGa
Screen Design
Navigation
& Control
Ease of Use
Responsiveness
Game Design
Learning
Potential
Instructions
Feedback
Difficulty
Level
Pedagogical
Agent
Content
Delivery
Customization
Safety
& Security
Accessility
Value
Usability Playability Learning Mobile
Adapted for Age Group
Smartphone
Specifics

29. Designing for Mobile Devices
 New usability issues
 Different Screen Sizes
 Handling Phone Interruptions
 Control Key Conventions
 Memory
 Designing for Children
Designing for Children
 Competing with non-ed. games
 Keeping their interest to repeat playing
 Intuitive & Smooth Navigation
 Huge Audio & Picture library : Children can’t read
and love cartoons and songs
 Selecting & Dragging Areas
 Short Attention Span
 Enabling Independent Use
 Security, Responsibility
 Testing with children
Designing Serious Games
 Usually Smaller scope
 Small teams
 Small budget
 Even more interdisciplinary
 Educators, subject matter
experts
 “Serious” content
 Fixed in advance
 Has to be worked into the game
 Must not clash with “fun”
 Should have noticeable effects

31.  Shoukry, Laila, Christian Sturm, and Galal H. Galal-Edeen. "Arab
preschoolers, interactive media and early literacy development." e-Learning
and e-Technologies in Education (ICEEE), 2012 International Conference
on. IEEE, 2012.
 Shoukry, Laila, Christian Sturm, and Galal H. Galal-Edeen. "Pre-MEGa: a
proposed framework for the design and evaluation of preschoolers’ mobile
educational games." Innovations and Advances in Computing, Informatics,
Systems Sciences, Networking and Engineering. Springer, Cham, 2015.
385-390.
 AlecsoApps.com
 Ambient Insight (new Metaari)