Deliverable 3: A Language of Learning Patterns

A repository of patterns for the design, development and deployment of games for mathematical learning. Will include best practice guidelines, working examples, and theoretical analysis.

Preface

Over the last few years have witnessed a growing recognition of the educational potential of computer games. However, it is generally agreed that the process of designing and deploying TEL resources generally and games for mathematical learning specifically is a difficult task. The Kaleidoscope project Learning patterns for the design and deployment of mathematical games aims to investigate this problem. We work from the premise that designing and deploying games for mathematical learning requires the assimilation and integration of deep knowledge from diverse domains of expertise including mathematics, games development, software engineering, learning and teaching. We promote the use of a design patterns approach to address this problem.

This deliverable presents a set of over 100 learning patterns for use by educators, researchers, practitioners, designers and software developers when designing and deploying TEL-based mathematical games. In order to reduce the load on newcomers, we include here only those patterns which have matured to beta status and above. The rest can be viewed in the workspace section. 

Our pattern language is suggested as an enabling tool for good practice, by facilitating pattern-specific communication and knowledge sharing between participants. We provide a set of trails as a ‘way-in’ to using the learning pattern language.

You can use the discussion forum at the bottom of this page to leave any feedback you may have. We look forward to hearing from you.

Executive summary

The goals of this deliverable are to :

• Identify the need for learning patterns and motivate their use.
• Provide a pattern language for the TEL community to use as a resource in their everyday practice, in particular as an analytical tool for making visible implicit design decisions.
• Provide an associated suite of online tools for using and updating the pattern language.
• Detail the development process of building the pattern language and discuss its structure.
• Provide in-depth example of a subset of patterns and their use.
• Detail the pattern template structure and the process of its development.
• Ensure that the learning patterns developed reflect the synergistic collaboration between the design and deployment strands of the project, through addressing critical aspects of the process identified by experts in both strands..

We provide a detailed introduction to the design patterns approach and motivate their use for the design and deployment of mathematical games. We briefly outline previous work before going on to discuss in detail our language of learning patterns. We show how the template structure for each pattern is informed by our previous work (see Deliverables 1 and 2) and provide a means of 'linking' subsets of patterns together for achieving particular tasks. Finally, we scaffold initial pattern use by 'non-experts' who often do not know where to start with the language through the development illustrative accounts of how patterns were derived or how they might be used.

Structure

The Overview tab presents an introduction to our pattern language and the system we use for presenting and creating it.
Use the Browse the patterns tab to explore our pattern language
It allows you to browse the patterns either as one long list, or as a hierarchical structure.

While we do not claim to offer a comprehensive set of patterns, we aim to address issues across a broad range of aspects pertaining to the process of designing, implementing and deploying games for mathematical learning.

Our patterns are distributed along two axis:

• Vertical: level of detail, where one pattern elaborates a higher level one, or is used by it as a component.
• Horizontal: modes of the process, where different patterns refer to the design, implementation and deployment of games.

We try to maintain a coherence across these two dimensions. Nevertheless, variations in form and style are inevitable, as the nature of the questions asked differ.

Trails

Paradoxically, often as more expert knowledge is embedded in a pattern languages it becomes less accessible to novices. As a pattern language grows more rich and intricate it becomes the private language of the community which created it. Novices do not know where to start and how to penetrate it, because the structure of the language does not expose the path along which it evolved. In an attempt to address this issue, we have added a tool called 'Trails'. A trail is an informal illustrative account of how patterns were derived or how they might be used. It is not presented as hard data or detailed analysis, but rather as an aid for the casual reader.