The Technical Academy has students with an international background. For several students, German is not the native language hence classes have to be taught in English. All students had to learn and improve their English skills to follow the classes and to compete in the future employment market.
To improve the language skills the task to program a multilingual learning software was given. The software would help all the students, current and in the future, with learning and training another language.
This project combines several subjects like Software Engineering, programming, especially Object-Oriented-Programming with Java, Database structures, including SQL (Structured query language) and DML (Data manipulating Language).
The software has to contain connected sound files, pictures and descriptions for each vocabulary word.
An input mask has to be implemented, which makes it possible to update, upload and change the different content, such as i.e. the vocabulary, the sound files, etc.
Besides this, the database had to be created and filled with the data, used by the learning software. This data should be able to be exported and imported to other projects via interfaces.
A further requirement was implementation of user administration.
One important aspect of the program is that it has to be an edutainment software. Edutainment means the combination of education and entertainment. That would motivate and turn the user to work with it. The fun factor leads to efficient learning strategies.
Role players, board, strategy, etc. themes were allowed, but shoot’em’up and beat’em’up were forbidden.
The decision to build a single, multi or network multi user version was left to the group.
The concept
The second concept idea was driven by the idea of achieving a higher learning factor and to create a multi user game. We came up with a “Monopoly” derivative. The difference between a normal “Monopoly” and our derivative would be the method of payment and some additional rule changes.
In “Monopoly” as well as in our learn software, now with the working name “Siemopoly”, paying for various things is a crucial element for the game play. We decided to change the method of payment from money to answering questions. But answering questions has no real exchange value. In “Monopoly” money has to be paid to buy streets. This money goes to the bank, but money also travels between players. Someone has, for example, to pay rent to someone else. Answering questions will not give the one expecting the rent anything.
So we came up with a currency, that was more exchangeable, credits. One credit stands exactly for one question to be answered. For our rent example, the person expecting the rent would receive an amount of credits.
To sum it up, the payer pays with answering questions, the receiver receives an equal amount of credits.
We have chosen three types of questions to achieve a higher degree of learning success. The three types are:
All three types of questions are answered by multiple-choice.