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Introduction
Our second application under the JISC TechDis Heat Scheme focused on trying to obtain a deeper level of understanding about the potential of the Nintendo DS Lite for use as an educational mobile device for learning.
Additional items requested in this bid were the Big Brain Academy and Opera Browser software packages to complement the equipment we received under our first JISC TechDis project (Pulman 2007). Big Brain Academy was the second title released under Nintendo's brain game series providing a package of fifteen mini games testing the ability to think, analyse, compute, memorise and identify. The Nintendo DS Browser is based on the same core as the Opera desktop browser, delivering high speed web page rendering. Users can connect to the Internet with their DS Lite via a hotspot or wireless router and with the touch screen keyboard and stylus, could navigate the web with PDA-like functionality. Browser functionality could possibly be used inside – classrooms and seminars - and outside of campus within any valid wireless network. The browser supports HTML, XHTML, XML, ECMAScript, SSL 2.0/3.0, some functions of CSS and some TLS 1.0 functionality. File types not currently supported include Flash, movie, sound and PDF files whilst other files which require a plug-in – like Microsoft Word and Excel - are also not vieweable.
During our first project, although up to sixteen participants could take part, they did not have the full flexibility to take the package with them anywhere they went. As one copy of Brain Training held four different student records if the kit was taken off-campus and another student wanted to use it at the same time they would have to wait until it was brought back. Secondly, a large percentage of students were involved in long periods away on placement during the project which caused scheduling difficulties. These issues could only be resolved by asking participants to come to a central campus location to use the package.
As a result of our successful application for funding under the Heat 2 scheme we were able to allow three students from the School of Health & Social Care (HSC) to have full access to a Nintendo DS Lite, Brain Training, the Opera Browser and in two cases Big Brain Academy for a sustained period of time – from the end of October 2007 to the beginning of March 2008.
This allowed us additional scope to assess how the DS Lite and software packages could function as assistive technology aids. For example, when the first project participants were asked if given the opportunity they could access the Internet through a DS Lite would they make use of it in a classroom or home environment, 65% suggested they would (Pulman 2007).
The three students involved in phase two provided us with an interim report during November 2007 and another report at the beginning of March 2008.
“The DS has been of great help to me. Brain training I found very difficult to get on with. I'm very visual in my learning style, and as the tests tend to be in black and white with outlines, my speed and responses were very slow.
Big Brain Academy; well what can I say, fantastic, fantastic, it's more intuitive in its style, bold colours and much more useful tests. I began at about 600, C- and now am up to 1901, A+!!!! It is luck however which games work, as the addition, blocks and visual sound memory games are just too difficult. If I have those then I get around 800. It's interesting to see the differences, i.e. my own strengths and weaknesses. The game has been invaluable and I have noticed consistent improvements in memory and processing. As yet I haven’t used the Internet browser as I have no connection for the wifi, but will try to use it at university.
For anybody with my learning issues I would wholeheartedly recommend the DS, as to everyone who wants to just speed things up. I'm not sure what I’ll do without it, interesting to see if my scores drop if I stop using it religiously nightly”.
Student 1 - Final Report [March 2008]
“I was sceptical of the DS as a learning tool to begin with; having never enjoyed video games before, being dyspraxic always hindered my coordination to the point of giving up.The brain training software was a totally different set up, by allowing me to see visually my learning styles and achievements.It started slow but I got better more or less at the same rate until it really took off, I always wanted to break 2000 score and finally I did, ending up with 2147!!! Which I checked on line and found to be pretty good.It gave me a sense of achievement and 1000 percent improved my learning abilities.I will say that I did give up with some of the games and the DS concentrated on my better ones.After getting a high score I went back to improve my least favourite and successful ones, eventually getter better.I think this demonstrates that unless the experience is fun, then it's harder to improve without an incentive.
The Internet I did use but being a smaller screen I found less useful, and not having current home access to the net I tended to use less, although for students with it, and wanting to use it as academic support in university Wi-Fi areas it is a great tool without a doubt, especially for me and others wanting to check their academic email. For students with additional learning needs, who need support, the DS allows learning improvements without them being tedious, and to be able to do it home without having to make appointments. It would benefit from maybe having a Dictaphone to use in class or a word application and diary to make it more into a PDA, so as to tie it in to the university diary appointment system. At the moment it seems a bit disjointed, but very useful. Maybe removable storage device so to keep a copy of emails etc. I found the browser a little hard to use sometimes too.
The DS is a great way to illustrate the way my visual learning style works, and to demonstrate my weaknesses at processing and numeracy. I have taken this on board and I now have a better understanding of my needs as a student whilst also having fun.
A criticism of the DS would be that without its regular use, improvements are harder to come by, which in reality is true of most things. It is easy to become too competitive with it after seeing the improvements and neglecting school work. The results speak for themselves as my average pre DS was 55ish and my last assignment was 68 percent. How much of that is improved concentration from using the programs I would like to say is a big percentage.
Anybody like myself wanting to improve their memory, thinking power or concentration, or simply have a great effective addition to the learning resources should take advantage of this useful tool.”
Student 2 - Interim Report [November 2007]
“So far I have enjoyed the brain training. It is sometimes difficult to do it everyday, but it's nice to know that you need only do a few minutes one day and then if you have more time a more intensive training. I have struggled with the voice recognition, and this makes some of the activities very frustrating. For instance, on voice recognition calculations it will not understand it when I say six. To make matters worse a lot of the calculations' answer is six!
As for the Internet browser, this does seem quite handy, but I haven't found a time when I have really needed to use it at university. If I did need it though I do find it quite slow, and haven't been that successful in connecting to the university's wireless. It does work in my house though and it has been handy if someone else is on the computer and I need to quickly check something.”
Student 2 - Final Report [March 2008]
“I joined the project as I was hoping to improve in doing quick calculations and generally improve all areas of my brains function. I found that at first there was noticeable improvement with the results in the calculation activities on brain training, and I felt that this improvement was evident with the calculations I do in my day to day activities.
I really enjoyed the memory task and found this an interesting way to understand the ways in which my memory works better, which turned out to be through making up a story with the words. It was then nice to sort of challenge myself and try and get more words each time. This was also the case for the brain age calculation, as you keep aiming for the optimum brain age and in doing so you are getting motivation to keep doing it and when trying to unlock all the extra training exercises. I also really enjoyed using the sudoku and found it a change from the other training. I was able to do the brain training about three times a week, varying from five minutes to one hour in the length of training session. However I did find that after a while I started to only choose three brain training exercises a time (to get the larger stamp) and would avoid the ones which I wasn’t as good at, and in turn not training the areas that actually needed improving.
The things that I didn’t enjoy about the Nintendo brain training were the way in which the little hints and tips you are given after every training activity kept repeating themselves and how frustrating voice recognition activities were.
I found it really difficult to connect to the university’s wireless internet, and never actually achieved connection. I found the set up quite simple, with easy to understand steps, however that is only when it was a straight forward connection. When I was trying to sort out the university’s connection using advanced settings I found this really difficult to understand and the guide didn’t talk about connecting to institution settings, which I believed was the problem. Even if I had established connection in university I wouldn’t have had many reasons to use it during lectures, and it is quite distracting to use as people do tend to watch you using it. Also there are plenty of computers around university to go to if you need to check your email and is easier and quicker to use for emailing (i.e. typing), and as you cant use words documents etc. you are quite limited as to what you can do on it for university work purposes. I was able to connect to my home’s wireless very easily, and as long as you have the WEP key to hand it is easy to set up. I was also able to use it in a few public places that had wireless connectivity and I took the Nintendo on holiday with me and was able to connect to the hotel’s wireless internet which was really useful and better than taking a whole laptop on holiday. For these places it was quite useful to use it as you could check your emails and search things quickly without having to turn your computer on or carry a laptop around with you.”
Student 3 - Interim Report [November 2007]
“The Nintendo DS/Brain Training has been a very enjoyable experience to date. As my course (social work) requires the individual to assimilate and make decisions quickly. The Nintendo has definitely improved the speed with which I do this, especially the brain training package, because of the fast moving information processes involved. I found that using it on the bus, before getting in to work, prepared me and made my mind more agile for the tasks in hand.
The set up operation was very user friendly and could not have been simpler. I found the size of the hardware to be most useful, as it allowed me to carry it without it taking up too much space. The screen size was excellent and very clear. While I have no dislikes about the Nintendo or the software, I think that it should have a reminder of how long you have spent on it in one session.
Additional Note - The Nintendo has been used at an Acquired Brain Injury Unit (AQB) with some good results. A full report will be sent at the end of the study, but their may be huge potential in the field.”
Student 3 - Final Report [March 2008]
“Participants included five to seven clients with a range of AQB injuries, with varying damage to brain regions. All members of the group displayed problems with cognitive functions such as memory, word/picture association and executive functioning disorder (concentration, attention span). This group was on average thirty to forty years of age. The group were on average two to seven years post-injury. Further to the first report, variables in the test results were identified. The clients were receiving other cognitive training, in the form of memory groups. The trials were then moved to a day when the clients had no cognitive groups and the results were recorded on these days.
During the trials on these days a memory game was taken before the clients used the DS and then after a period of use for approximately twenty minutes. Due to having only one DS this had to be distributed to only three clients. The clients all showed improved scores in the memory games after using the DS. The client’s scores were progressive throughout the trials. Unfortunately due to logistics combing the results with the cognitive training group was unobtainable.
Recommendation for Future Trials - Any future tests should consider linking these two forms of cognitive training groups together to obtain a realistic base line with which to measure outcomes. This could be achieved by contacting the local AQB.
All of the participants thoroughly enjoyed using the hardware and have since purchased or are considering purchasing the DS “
Conclusions
Based on this project (and the phase one findings), it can be recommended that utilising a similar methodology, the Nintendo DS Lite and associated packages (Brain Training and Big Brain Academy) offer a solution to help improve numeracy skills. It seems a beneficial solution; especially those students with alternative learning needs and provides a suitable way of including, motivating and assisting them. As a result of their short time using the DS Lite and associated packages, in the opinion of the students, the suggestion is that it has made a positive difference in helping to address student numeracy skill levels.
This project could be simply transferred into any subject area where students are required to use and improve numeracy or potentially language skills. For example, it would be a quick and easy solution to use the English Training package (Gamespot 2006) and offer it as a support aid to international students requiring language tuition. Similarly, the recent release of Maths Training (Nintendo 2008) – involving a teaching method used across Japan to help students learn fundamental arithmetic calculations - could have similar beneficial performances for numeracy support across any higher education subject area where these skills needed to be sharpened.
Based on this project, the DS Lite is less successful as a wireless internet resource with the limitations of supported file formats seemingly precluding effective use for a typical health and social care student at the moment. Other problems identified are around how devices and packages can be successfully utilised so that the maximum number of interested students can use them, in environments where students are sited at different campuses and are regularly out on placement. At present as stated in the phase one findings, the only way to appreciate the full flexibility of the system and software is to acquire additional units.
Other areas for more targeted research in the future could concern the sociability aspect of groups engaging with the software together rather than individually, which was not originally identified as a potential benefit. For example, using the wireless feature, Brain Training offers a calculation battle where up to sixteen players can compete to complete thirty sums. Whilst much has been made of the individual benefits of mobile learning, this social aspect - mentioned by some phase one participants who met and learnt occasionally in small groups - needs to be studied in more depth. Student 1 has highlighted how students with Dyspraxia might benefit more from using some forms of training (Big Brain Academy) over others (Brain Training) which could also reward further study.
Finally, the project has also helped to create an awareness of how mobile gaming devices could be used positively within the health care system for patients. In the case of the AQB work as suggested by Student 3, further research might consider linking the two forms of cognitive training groups together to obtain a realistic base line with which to measure future outcomes.
At the end of phase two of the project there are many exciting possibilities for where future research work might lead but at present there are compelling reasons to add the Nintendo DS Lite and Touch Generation packages like Brain Training and Big Brain Academy to any student support network as they provide a reasonably low cost, easily supported device for providing student support (and perhaps in the future as a tool for assisting with patient well-being).
Andy Pulman
HSC Web Team Leader
The School of Health & Social Care
Bournemouth University
28th March 2008
Bibliography
Gamespot UK News. (2006). Who Said That Learning a Language Wasn't Fun? Available from: Who Said That Learning a Language Wasn't Fun?
[Accessed 7 January 2008].
Nintendo. (2008). Welcome to Maths Training. Available from: Welcome To Maths Training.
[Accessed 4 March 2008].
Pulman, A. (2007).Can a Handheld Gaming Device Be Used As An Effective Assistive Technology Tool?
Available from: Can a Handheld Gaming Device Be Used As An Effective Assistive Technology Tool?
[Accessed 29 October 2007].
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