A Platform for Server-Side Support of Mobile Game-Based Learning

Abstract

mGBL is an EU-funded three-year research project into mobile game-based learning. We considered that it was not sufficient to only create a number of self-contained games which run independently on mobile devices. There had to be a way to deliver different learning content to the devices; teachers have to be able to control the learning progress and react to the results of pupils playing mobile games; and devices have to be coordinated for collaborative games (e.g. to define time limits and the communication between game participants).

This paper describes the technical solution chosen within the project. The mGBL platform (Petrovic et al. 2006) has been developed to meet these requirements based on server-side Java technology. A state-of-the-art three-tier server application has been created which supports all user administration and game management needs. Security and data consistency are adequate to serve a large number of clients independently. The application can be accessed via a web interface for configuration and management of data handled by the platform with the help of extensive reporting and logging support.

In addition to these quite conventional features, the platform facilitates flexibility and communication. The rich diversity of mobile game types requires high configurability and connectivity. Therefore, the platform has been designed to be not just a monolithic application providing a fixed set of features, but to be modular and extendable to a high degree. An innovative game modelling system is available in the platform administrative user interface for handling incoming, and outgoing SMS. MMS and email messages and reacting in ways suitable to the needs of diverse game types (Lindt et al. 2006), including pervasive games (Magerkurth and Roecker 2007). In order to further support communication between teachers and game participants, web interfaces for interactive message sending and blogging are provided.

The platform has already been used for diverse game projects, in practice, proving high reliability and suitability as a back-end support system for the mobile gaming domain.