After doing some research on fun, play and motivational strategies in my other blog 21st Century Chalk, I wanted to address how SpellMe is designed to make sure the learning is front and centre. Many may think that SpellMe is not fun enough for learning because the UI is too simple, or that there is not enough gamification included. But research suggests that a busy UI, and too much gamification can do more harm than good when the main focus is learning and progress.

Gamification

My article "Are EdTech Apps Actually Teaching, or Just Entertaining?" focused on explaining the different types of fun, manufactured and organic, and also talked about Hard Fun, a phrase coined by Seymour Papert to explain that some things are fun because they were hard not in spite of them being hard. Manufactured fun focused on the promise of fun based on badges, streaks and points, whereas organic fun was an innate joy felt from just doing the task without the promise of badges and points. It is organic fun that is more useful for learning and development, and that is what I try to use within SpellMe. Although there are experience points, there are no badges or coins. This is to ensure that the focus is solely on the learning. The points aren't designed to be an accurate indication of proficiency, but are just a general indication of progress and a marker for the learning journey as a whole.

I did initially have an intention of adding badges and coins, where the coins were directly linked to the number of points given and could be used to buy things, like avatar decorations etc. Even though, these are still ideas I may consider in the future, I have decided to see how the learning progresses without these incentives, and hope to try and focus on the learning.

User Interface

The more visual aspects of apps also helps nurture fun, but can also be a distraction. This is something I have considered a lot and have compared SpellMe with other app that are more ‘flashy’ (which shall remain nameless). The fact is research supports a more sparse, simple, distraction free design, especially when considering accessibility, but also with young learners in general:

• Working memory in young learners is limited. So anything not directly related to the topic at hand can negatively affect the learning and progress of the student by overwhelming their cognitive resources. Sweller, J. (1988). 
• Including interesting but irrelevant graphics or animations harms the learning process by diverting attention and causing students to build mental models around distractions rather than the core material  Harp, S. F., & Mayer, R. E. (1998) 
• According to the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning, students learn significantly better when unnecessary information, sounds, and visuals are completely excluded from the learning interface Mayer, R. E., & Moreno, R. (2003).
• Young children placed in highly decorated or visually dense environments demonstrate more off-task behavior and achieve lower learning outcomes compared to children in sparse environments. Fisher, A. V., Godwin, K. E., & Seltman, H. (2014) 

In SpellMe, the colours are simple, the animations are minimal and the overall look and feel is designed to be calm. The simple UI may seem boring to some, but the research shows that it is much better for learning than the busy distracting UIs in other apps. And by minimizing the gamification to only what is needed, SpellMe is asking students to engage with and focus on the core challenge itself, spelling. By doing this we are not just removing distractions, we are making room for organic fun. We are trying to nurture the fun of the challenge - of taking a difficult word, breaking it down and spelling it right. That is the kind of fun that builds lasting literacy, and it is the foundation that SpellMe is built on.

Sources

• Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive Science, 12(2), 257-285.
• Harp, S. F., & Mayer, R. E. (1998). How seductive details do their damage: A theory of cognitive distraction in science instruction. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(3), 411-434.
• Mayer, R. E., & Moreno, R. (2003). Nine ways to reduce cognitive load in multimedia learning. Educational Psychologist, 38(1), 43-52.
• Fisher, A. V., Godwin, K. E., & Seltman, H. (2014). Visual Environment, Attention Allocation, and Learning in Young Children. Psychological Science, 25(7), 1362-1370.
• Image by Gemini