900
Questions
3
Months until go-live
100
Players:inside at the same time
The Federal Institute for Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB), based in Bonn, is a public institution for the research and further development of initial and continuing vocational education and training in Germany. BIBB was founded in 1970 and has over 800 employees.
1970
Bonn
Education
Serious game app development
Together with SPRYLAB, the Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB) has successfully realised the development of a serious game app, known as the MIKA-Game®, with the aim of promoting media and IT skills. The primary target groups are training staff and trainees, but interested third parties can also benefit and learn through play. SPRYLAB created the MIKA-Game® app within three months in cooperation with Kröpelin Projekt GmbH. The project highlights at a glance:
MIKA stands for media and IT expertise for training personnel.
The BIBB’s MIKA project was launched several years ago with the aim of promoting the media and IT skills of trainers. Over the past few years, the MIKA Learning World has been created, with the MIKA-Seminars® at its centre.
The MIKA seminars are in-service training courses offered nationwide and standardised by authorities, companies and educational institutions throughout Germany. The MIKA learning world is administered on the MIKA-Campus®, the ILIAS system for in-service and standardised further education. All of MIKA’s programmes and teaching materials are bundled in this open source system. The idea of developing a serious game app was born in order to supplement the MIKA-Seminars® with a playful format.
The original challenge was to develop an intuitive app that offers added value through play – also for the trainees. To this end, gamification was to be introduced as a central element in order to impart knowledge in a low-threshold manner and at the same time create an interactive, varied learning environment. “We wanted something playful with quality: the MIKA-Game® app was to complement our existing MIKA learning environment with a playful format,” explains Natalie Deininger, Project Manager at MIKA.
Developing an app that is closely linked to the hardware and at the same time needs to function smoothly on a large number of smartphones from different manufacturers also requires particular precision during development. With the ever-growing variety of Android devices, each with different hardware configurations and operating system versions, developers and testers must overcome a wide range of compatibility issues. This is the only way to ensure a coherent user experience – regardless of whether the app is running on a high-end smartphone or an older tablet.
Following an EU-wide public tender, BIBB chose SPRYLAB as its project partner for the development of the serious game app. “The intensive and very agile collaboration was great fun right from the start. The SPRYLAB team gave their all to meet our tight timeframe,” reports Deininger.
The MIKA-Game® app combines playful elements with serious content to impart knowledge, train skills or simulate complex problems. The app offers a playful way to learn about data protection, data security and media reflection. The game is thematically based on the MIKA topics, which are covered by specific questions. With almost 900 questions in its repertoire, the app offers various game modes such as single game, 1-on-1 challenge, team game mode and classroom challenge. Users can test their knowledge in six rounds of ten questions each, with 20 seconds per question. After each question, they receive an explanation to promote the learning effect.
The MIKA-Game® app also allows users to customise their profiles with their own avatars and profile pictures. With an integrated high-score system and the option to use the MIKA-Game® for business games, the app is not only an interactive learning tool for trainers, but also for trainees. The backend of the game is seamlessly linked to the MIKA-Campus® and enables easy integration of content via the ILIAS learning management system. The development is based on a hybrid model with React for Android and iOS. A scalable API backend makes it possible for up to 100 players to compete simultaneously.
The MIKA-Game® was presented to the public for the first time at didacta, the largest trade fair for the education industry in Europe. A further presentation, together with SPRYLAB, took place at the ILIAS conference in Cologne. Since its release, the MIKA-Game® has been an integral part of the MIKA learning world.
The MIKA-Game® is to be continuously developed further. In a next step, for example, a desktop version of the game will be developed. The planned introduction of an AI authoring tool with a further 1200 questions promises not only a wider variety of content, but also a personalised learning experience. In addition,
integration into the Leando portal, a renowned BIBB platform for training and examination staff, is planned.
If you would like to read more. Click here for the case study about the web-based serious game “ohnekippe”, which SPRYLAB developed for the Thorax Clinic at Heidelberg University Hospital.
About the Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung
The Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB), based in Bonn, is a public institution for the research and development of initial and continuing vocational education and training in Germany. BIBB’s objectives are to identify future challenges, to promote national and international innovation and to develop new practice-oriented solutions for initial and continuing vocational education and training. BIBB was founded in 1970 and has a staff of over 800.
We are driven by exciting and challenging serious games applications. If you are looking for an IT service provider to grow with, we are the right partner for you.
Keithstr. 2-4
10787 Berlin
Germany
