Development of a SoLoMo Game-Based Application for Supporting Local Cultural Learning in Taiwan

• Published in: Educational Technology ＆ Society 2018-10, Vol.21 (4), p.115-128
• Main Authors: Lin, Yen-Ting, Tseng, Yu-Ming, Lee, Yi-Sheng, Wang, Tz-Chi, Tsai, Shu-I, Yi, Yun-Jhih
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cultural Awareness; Cultural Education; Cultural Influences; digital game-based learning; Educational Games; Educational Resources; Educational Technology; Electronic Learning; Elementary Education; Elementary School Students; Elementary Schools; Foreign Countries; Handheld Devices; Learning; Learning Activities; Learning Motivation; Learning Processes; Learning Strategies; local cultural learning; mobile learning; Outdoor Education; Program Effectiveness; Retention (Psychology); social local mobile; Special Issue Articles; Student Attitudes; Student Motivation; Students; Teaching Methods; Technology Uses in Education; Telecommunications; Tourism
• ISSN: 1176-3647; 1436-4522; 1436-4522

Recently, the development of local cultural features and tourism has become important in Taiwan. To support local cultural education, relevant studies have developed outdoor learning approaches and integrated mobile technology to connect real-world and digital-world learning resources. Nevertheless, the above-mentioned developments are usually suitable for a specific learning process and activity. In other words, students may lack the motivation to engage in the same learning process repeatedly after participating in the learning activity. Therefore, to promote students' local cultural learning, this study developed a game-based local cultural learning application based on the social, local, and mobile (SoLoMo) principle. To investigate the effect of the proposed approach on students' learning performance with regard to local culture, a quasi-experiment was conducted on a society course at a Taiwanese elementary school. The experimental-group students learned with the proposed approach, while the control-group students learned with the conventional mobile learning approach. The experimental results showed that, compared with the conventional mobile learning approach, the proposed approach significantly improved the students' learning achievement, learning retention, and learning motivation. Moreover, it was also found that most students showed positive perceptions toward the usage of the proposed application.