O n f e r e n c e

 
Software architecture 
We considered different software architecture designs and ended up with using a client-
server approach. This way, we reduced the workload on the devices used by the students 
(as they could run out of battery) and we created a centralized point to monitor the 
game development while keeping a log of students’ interaction. We implemented client 
software for Android devices using Java programming language. The Android community 
is the largest at the moment, and devices are affordable while development is easy using 
open-source tools. As for the server, it is an Open Fire chat server that uses XMPP 
communication protocol to interact with clients. Once the nickname and password of the 
player are entered, the app connects to the server to register in a chat room. When all 
the team members are connected, the App starts the game (see 
Figure 4 
for the 
architecture diagram). Furthermore, the application is available as open-source software, 
and is language-independent. So it can be easily adopted for other languages other than 
German.
 

Figure 4: Architecture diagram
The experience
Participants
In order to evaluate and fine-tune the design of our 
gamificated app 
and to guarantee 
that it meets our target-student needs, we played the 
App
with 14 students who 
voluntarily participated in an acceptance and usability test of the first stable version of 
the system. The study was carried out in two sessions: one session in which students 
individually played levels 1 to 3 of the App to familiarize them with the game, its 
mechanism and vocabulary and a second session, in which students had to showcase the 
previously acquired vocabulary knowledge by performing the collaborative online-game 
(level 4).