Wii Learn

I recently prepared a presentation for work about how the Wii could be used to complement learning within a special educational needs setting. It was meant as showing that IT for leisure activities doesn’t purely revolve around.  Here is a piece that has sort of spun from that presentation.

When you think of students using IT for Leisure it is simple to dismiss it as simply watching videos and listening to music. However it can be much more. With the advent of motion control consoles such as Nintendo Wii a new level of accessibility has arisen due to it not requiring the fine motor skills some modern day multi buttoned videogame controllers require. Such game systems having become very popular with our student base. On a purely leisure based level students have enjoyed playing Wii Sports and other games during IT Club which has allowed inherent development of functional skills such as speaking and listening, turn taking and others.

But the game is just the beginning of the game/technology based learning experience and there are many other activities that revolve around the game. I am currently organizing a Wii Bowling Tournament with a group of students and there are many other components to this than simply getting a room full of people playing video games. We’ve had students practicing their word processing skills to create posters, score sheets, potential schedules and also start to film a promotional video which further down the line we hope to bring in our Media Pathway students to edit for us. So it’s very much about using the game as a springboard as well as a motivational tool. Videogames are a major part of modern culture with a more and more diverse user base than ever before and it makes sense to tap into this to help give learning a purpose with a context that the students can relate and/or enjoy.

For some of our students with visual impairments Wii Sports Bowling is not accessible as it relies upon the player being able to see visual stimuli. All your shots are lined using an on-screen cursor with no audio feedback as to whether it is facing the pins or not. It does have a commentator who comments when the player gets a strike or a spare but other than that he is largely quiet.

However a team of programmers have put together a package called Vi Fit. VI Bowling has a motor learning feature that allows players to find the direction in which to throw their ball using vibrotactile feedback. Audio and speech effects are used to indicate the result of each throw detailing how many pins were hit and what the players score is throughout the game. There is an adaptation of Wii Tennis available where both vibrotactile feedback and audio feedback are used to help the student learn when they need to press the button. Recently they have also developed a brand new original product called Pet-n-Punch, which is a Whack a Mole game that again relies on the Wii Remotes features to let the student know when they should hit a mole, and this is something I intend to test in the future.

Along with providing a more accessible version of a popular video game using the VI Fit games also helps reduce the financial barriers families may face that could prevent students being able to access it as a leisure activity once they leave college. The Wii currently retails at around £180, however buying a Wii Remote is just £30 and is compatible with most home PC’s/laptops and the VI Sports software is freely available to download via their website.

It’s worth mentioning at this point that the Wii Remote is also able to be used in place of a mouse for students who perhaps lack the motor skills to operate a mouse accurately. We have found success using this with students editing movies in Windows Movie Maker using the Wii Remotes accelerometer to easily drag and drop clips into the place where they may struggle to do such actions using a conventional mouse set up.

Me and Mii has also been a very popular student activity. Where each student creates an in game avatar and uses it to play with. This aids students in thinking about their own body image and recognizing the point that everyone’s different. There is plenty of fun to be had when students play around and see what they would look like with a different nose or a different haircut.

Wii Fit is a piece of equipment using a Wii Balance Board that is both a game to be played as fun but one also has its uses as an application that provides many physiotherapy benefits, this is something we are looking into further in the hope of establishing using the Wii in physio based sessions. Whereas students may have had body resistance through feeling self-conscious within a physio session, using the Wii with a balance board can allow students to work on physio based tasks by playing a game and diminishing the consciousness of performing the same tasks within a physio based session. By making the experience more enjoyable through focusing around achieving in the videogame helps to motivate the student into taking part whilst at the same time doing exercises/routines that are physically beneficial. Brief trials last year showing a marked improvement in students achievements with the videogame aspect of the activity cited as a major motivator. This is something we hope to push further in the future and strengthen the link between games and therapy.

Thanks for taking the time to read this I have a few similar articles in the offing so please check back over the next few weeks.

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