Game-based Learning
Shaalan, K., M. Al-Mansoori, and H. Tawfik,
"An awareness-raising E-learning approach for children living in a high diabetic population",
Informatics for Health and Social Care, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 81-103, 2014.
Abstract Recent epidemiological studies have shown an increased incidence of diabetes worldwide. In United Arab Emirates (UAE), where this study on Emirati children was conducted, over 20% of the population has diabetes. With such a high incidence, there is a need to raise the awareness of the disease in order to reduce the growing number of cases and manage the disease more effectively. This research aims to identify the needs of affected children and proposes a design for an E-learning prototype that can pedagogically raise their awareness and knowledge of the disease. The use of a prototype was chosen in order to validate and refine the usability of the system, and to quickly evaluate user-interface designs without the need for an expensive working model to help refine and develop the system design. The system requirements were identified through a set of interviews with kindergarten teachers, curriculum design experts in UAE, and diabetes nutrition specialists and clinicians. The rationale behind the interview was to identify the optimal age group, describe the appropriate level of the instructional materials and activities, and propose a suitable learning approach that could facilitate and improve diabetes awareness among this age group. The prototype was evaluated by children, teachers, parents (or guardians) and nutrition specialists. We followed a three-stage software development based on a user-informed approach model for stepwise refinement that ranged from prototype to final design. The evaluation results indicate that the proposed computer-supported learning approach can generate positive learning and behavior in children while reducing the time needed to complete awareness tasks when compared to traditional methods; thus making learning more engaging and allowing children to learn at their own pace.
Al-Mansoori, M., K. Shaalan, and H. Tawfik,
"Using E-learning for helping children with diabetes",
The 7th International Conference on Innovations in Information Technology (Innovations’11), Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, pp. 145-149, 26 April, 2011.
Abstract Diabetes is a common and costly condition disease that is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Recent studies have shown remarkable increases in diabetes during the last decade. This has attracted many researchers and doctors to investigate e-learning technologies as a way of assisting people
with diabetes. However very little work exist that focus on educating children to adopt healthy lifestyle. As a result, this research work aims to create awareness of diabetes among children, and thereby, ultimately contribute to reducing the growing rate of diabetes. This paper presents an investigation into E-Learning systems and how it can help people with diabetes, especially when it comes to children who are largely unaware and poorly informed about the menace of the disease. This research addresses children’ needs expectations, and proposes a design of an E-Learning prototype that can raise their awareness and knowledge in order to help reduce the effects of this disease on children.
