From birth, we learn by playing. As we get older, other forms of learning become more important than play, but that doesn’t mean that people lose their desire to play or that our minds are no longer built for playful learning. In fact, the opposite is true. Game-based learning triggers emotions in people of all ages. By doing so, it helps make them more receptive to new information and ideas.
One way to make learning more playful and also meaningful, is a good quality mobile application. One such tool is Actionbound. With this app for mobile devices and the online editor that goes with it, one can easily create and enjoy intuitive play environments. It works like a scavenger or treasure hunt that incorporates various kinds of tasks, such as quizzes, creative photo or video missions, QR-codes, GPS coordinates, and much more. You can use these tools to present any heritage interpretation content.
Smartphones are part of our daily lives, especially for the younger generations. You can use the familiar medium to open up a conversation about new places and ideas. Missions invite users to go adventuring, collecting experiences and adventures that they can interpret and discuss with one another. A mixture of analogue and digital tasks ensures that users won’t get bored. GPS coordinates as well as photo and video-based tasks help players discover locations. Quiz questions and info panels present facts that can become the basis for heritage interpretation.
Experiences can be created with an online editor, called the Bound-Creator, which is really intuitive and easy to use. There are free trials available online, where you can try out your creativity. Actionbound also offers workshops and sessions, in which an expert leads you through the experience and software features. Please let us know what you think about it, and let’s get into an exchange about the opportunities and limitations of using digital media in interpretation.
If you are an IE member, like us, and you want to get more familiar with the Actionbound system, we are offering a 10% discount on licenses and also special prizes for workshops or consulting. Just get in touch!
Lotta Krickel has a master’s degree in e-learning and media-literacy and works in the gamification field. She is passionate about developing concepts for playful learning experiences. As a part of the Actionbound team (www.actionbound.com) she is trying to make gamification accessible to everyone. She can be contacted at: lotta@actionbound.com or info@actionbound.com.
