IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2022 - 65

research into PGBL has often narrowed its focus on
the technology and the teacher. By widening the lens
of the empirical inquiry, we wish to show the range of
mundane factors that contribute to the role automation
plays in the primary school classroom. To substantiate
this, we draw examples from field research
documenting the use of a bespoke personalized literacy
game called Navigo.
Navigo-A field study
Designed within an EU-funded Innovation Project,
Navigo is an adaptive literacy game covering Key
Stage 1 and 2 reading curricula. The game contains
more than 900 mini literacy games whose selection
is driven by an adaptive mechanism personalizing
the game content based on the child's ongoing
performance [1]. Alongside the adaptive mechanism,
there is a teacher tool that enables the teacher
to override the game's automation. Although the
teacher tool was requested by teachers in an initial
codesign phase, we note that the feature was used
in only 20% of children's game sessions and thus the
majority of game play was directed by the adaptive
component.
To design Navigo, we drew upon theories of
learning and teaching to scaffold children's learning,
for example, through providing clear game objectives,
success criteria, and instructional feedback
[1], [3]. Nonetheless, across several empirical studies
on children's literacy game play (including with
Navigo), we showed that children across the primary
school age range could not use these instructional
features in their learning independently [2], [7],
[20]. In this respect, our research cast doubt on the
claim that PBGL improve learning outcomes without
the presence of an adult to scaffold game play from
the outside (also [10]).
Following Navigo's design, over a period of 2.5
years, we supported and observed teachers in 11
schools within the South of England who used Navigo
in their mainstream classes and in specialist sessions
with children struggling to read. Six hundred
children used Navigo. During our field visits to the
schools, we kept field notes to document observations/conversations
with the teaching staff and additionally,
we conducted two interviews with each
participating teacher early in the research and at
the end. This data was analyzed inductively, and the
socio-material relations emerged from the analysis.
June 2022
In this short article, we present three school vignettes
that communicate the key themes identified.
Vignettes
The Harwell School intends to use Navigo with
four classes. With a set of 30 tablets to be shared,
they choose a central location to store and charge
the tablets. However, this location is not accessible
to the class teachers as it is located far away from
the classrooms. Upon reflection, one of the teachers
proposes that each teacher takes 7-8 tablets to be
stored, charged, and accessed in class. This decision
impacts on how Navigo is used, that is, in rotating
small groups during daily carousel activities ensuring
each child can play once a week. Having come
to rely on the adaptive functionality of Navigo during
this intense set up period, the teachers appreciate
the time Navigo affords them to look after the rest of
the class. Thus, children playing Navigo continue to
do this independently without teacher support.
At the Eudora School, Marie notices that her year
2 children (aged 6-7) have persistent problems with
Navigo. Some cannot log into the game with their
credentials. Others spend too much time on their
avatar. Quite a few children repeatedly tap when
the game is in progress in the log in screen, and this
introduces crashes that Marie must mitigate. While
Marie initially intended to spend time planning to
align Navigo with her weekly teaching through the
teacher tool, she continues to rely on the adaptive
functionality of Navigo. This gives her the time to
develop strategies that address these other challenges,
for example, teaching her students digital
literacy skills on how to log in.
At the Manor School, Clare struggles to find a time
slot for Navigo in her packed timetable. While she
appreciates Navigo's fit with her curriculum and recognizes
her students' enthusiasm when playing the
game, the game competes with other " more legitimate "
and tested activities. This contributes to using
the game once a week with her class. Owing to the
little time available, and the wide breadth of games
in Navigo, children do not play enough games to
unlock more advanced areas of the game. Thus,
seeing that the content does not change, Clare talks
about Navigo as an intervention that consolidates
her students' past learning.
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IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2022

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