Investigating the Added Value of Interactivity and Serious Gaming for Educational TV
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Abstract
TV is a medium with high penetration rates and has been suited to deliver informal
education in several aspects since years. Thus, interactive TV may play a significant role
in the current Life-Long Learning challenges, provided that meaningful applications are
implemented. In this research work, we have explored the added value of interactivity in
digital TV, with a particular focus on Serious Games (SGs), given their growing
relevance in technology-enhanced learning. We have followed an evolutionary rather
than revolutionary approach, in particular given the still traditional use of TV by a large
audience. The approach preserves a media-driven strategy and the role of the
author/director in proposing contents (storytelling), as in the TV tradition. We argue that
interactive SGs may help the viewer to better contextualize/understand the video stream
and go more in depth about the touched items at the end of the stream. This also enables
new iTV applications, in particular to support weaker users (i.e., users that could not view
the video without a help). This paper presents the results from user tests based on an
interactive enhancement of a clip from the Disney’s Snow White movie, that challenged
the authors in addressing a dynamic, high-value document. Qualitative and quantitative
results show the potential of the system for informal education. The tests also stress the
importance of good solutions (e.g., development languages, display modalities,
metaphors) for synchronizing video and overlaid interactive elements. To the best of our
knowledge, this research work is the first one discussing user test results about the
usefulness of a class of iTV SG applications that can be instantiated serially in several
different contexts.
Keywords: Interactive TV, Serious Games, TV-based learning, t-learning, user tests,
User Centered Design, television, digital TV