1. A Do-It-Yourself Approach to
Heritage Education :
Make Your Own Mobile Museum Game
Universiteit Hasselt - Expertise Centrum voorMedia (Hasselt University)
Jolien Schroyen - Expertise Centre for Digital Digitale Media
Provinciaal Gallo-Romeins Museum – Provincie Limburg

2. Games / Game Design to Engage
Students

3. Games / Game Design to Engage
Students
­ Target group: student groups (age 15+, focus on
technical and vocational education)
­ Three specialized city museums
­ DIY approach to motivate students to learn
about local cultural heritage:
­ Game design in pre-visit stage
­ Game play during actual visit

4. Project Context
­ Partnership between three specialized
museums, coördinated by the heritage
organization “TERF”:
­ National Museum of Cycling (Roeselare)
­ City Museums of Izegem (industrial history)
­ Expertise Centre for Digital Media (Hasselt
University) as R&D partner

5. Game Narrative
­ Odiel Defraeye as a key figure to explore local
history in the first half of the 20th century
­ Educational platform shaped as a fictional city,
created with photos of local iconic buildings
­ Profile pages of Odiel and his “social network”

6. Game Authoring Platform
­ Web-based authoring tool
­ Students create their own mobile game
­ Resulting games can be played by fellow
students on a smartphone in the museum

8. Do-It-Yourself approach
“In het wiel van Odiel”

9. Do-It-Yourself approach
“In het wiel van Odiel”

11. Museum experience

12. Evaluation and results
­ DIY approach to motivate students + to develop
gaming literacies/skills :
­ Collaboration and social skills
working in pairs, sharing and discussing results,…
­ Systems thinking
ensure games have a clear goal, logic, score system ,…
­ Storytelling
writing compelling game narrative,…
­ Digital literacies
usage authoring tool, create interactive mobile app ,…

13. Evaluation and results
­ Evaluation in different stages of the design
and development process
­ Mainly with two class groups, in close
collaboration with history teachers
­ Headdress education
­ Woodcraft education
­ Feedback on platform design, usability,
motivational aspect
­ Observation, evaluation of the created games
and student surveys

14. Evaluation and results
­ Students show commitment to create fun,
meaningful games
­ Students immersed in museum content,
storyline Odiel Defraeye

15. Evaluation and results
­ Students extremely motivated to play all the
games created in their class group
­ Unlocking content in museum by means of
searching and scanning QR-codes is fun
­ Difficulty in matching content to the physical
museum environment

16. Evaluation and results
­ Project launched
March 2012
(inhetwielvanodiel.be)
­ “Light” version for
regular museum
visitors: play mobile
game in the museum
(content made by
heritage organization
TERF)

17. iDiscover - project

18. iDiscover - background
­ EFRD projects:
­ ARCHIE: enhance vistor experience through
mobile ICT (2005 – 2008)
­ RITCHIE: expertise centre and demolab
iDiscover for (mobile) ICT in culture and
heritage (2008 – 2012)

19. iDiscover - framework
Conceptual framework to situate the desired
cultural heritage experience. Which technologies
are needed to suit a specific target audience,
(museum) environment, context of use,… ?

20. ARCHIE museum game
Target group: youngsters,
during school visits
­ Interested in multimedia,
games, hands-on activities,
experience and explore
­ Social interaction

21. ARCHIE museum « game »
­ Learn by playing
­ Training skills, built-in learning curve
­ Rich graphical design
­ Relive specific episodes from local history

22. Evaluation and results
­ Completely deployed and operational (Fall
2010) as part of the educational programme
of the Gallo-Roman Museum of Tongeren
­ One of the most advanced mobile guides that
is currently in use in a real life situation
­ Pre-deployment evaluations with ~1000 test
users

23. Park Explorer
Middelheimmuseum
Target group: youngsters (14-26)
­ Open air sculpture museum
for modern and contemporary
art
­ iPhone + GPS
­ Stimulate visitors to explore
the park + unlock “remixes”
made by youngsters
(as part of the Sculpturized!-project
< Piazza dell’ Arte)

24. Park Explorer
Middelheimmuseum
­ Lightweight
game: “art
radar”, hints
and wild cards
­ Extra reward:
hidden places
in the park

25. Evaluation and results
Feedback user testing
­ Previously hard-to-find
artworks: more accessible
­ Game element is fun
­ Extra content is
appreciated
­ Visitors love the incentive
to explore
­ Only iPhone ?
(available in App Store iTunes)

26. And many more…

27. contact
- EDM – Hasselt University : Jolien Schroyen
jolien.schroyen@uhasselt.be