VILLE – A collaborative learning platform

A web-based digital game platform for education for learning mathematics, languages and science topics

Summary

Digital educational games can gamify student assignments to make them more fun and engaging. Students can learn and practice better while having fun. VILLE is a digital game platform used in 35-40% of schools in Finland. Research shows that VILLE helps with student engagement and achievement. It is especially effective for mathematics topics because students can do exercises on their own and put their mathematics knowledge into practice regularly. 

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Keywords

Mathematics, learning analytics, digital games

Quick reference
Objectives
To make students practice mathematics and track their learning progress on their own.
Country
Finland
Subject
Foreign languages, Mathematics, Science
Prerequisites
1 device/student
Implementation level
Intermediate
Target group age
9 - 13
Digital tools
DFA tool
Digital games
Duration
10 minutes per exercise

Context

ViLLE is a web-based learning platform with many exercises. The Digital Math Learning Path includes about 500 ready-to-use lesson aligned with the curricula of 17000 exercises and 200 000 + tasks. ViLLE is for students above the age of six, including university students. It is used mainly for mathematics and programming, but there are exercises available also for foreign language learning.

ViLLE includes materials created by teachers for use in Finnish schools. It gathers data of student submissions, which is presented to the teacher in various forms. 

For example, ViLLE automatically recognises pupils’ mathematical misconceptions and alerts the teacher when they arise. Usually, students do more calculations with ViLLE than with traditional methods during a lesson. This naturally leads to improved learning results, which has been observed, for example, in arithmetic fluency. 

  1. Offer data on students’ learning process to teachers. This data is presented to teachers in real-time and is gathered from regular schoolwork. Therefore, the information is versatile and does not require a separate test to gather, thus avoiding the effects tests or exams have on assessment.
  2. Create a pedagogical framework that outlines the ways the data can be used to develop teaching methods, individualise teaching, and enhance learning with digital platforms. For example, data analytics and automatic feedback can shift the focus of teaching more on individuals. The teacher can spend more time with students who are having difficulties and offer individual exercises that meet the needs of the individual better. The time spent on correcting and checking exercises is saved for other tasks when using a computer.
     

  • Immediate feedback and assessment - Students receive feedback of their submissions immediately, thus guiding the learning process. Feedback may be an encouraging message, points achieved, a short animation reflecting students’ performance, and a comparison of their answer to the right one.
  • Continuous assessment - Student data is presented to the teacher in a way that it can be used to continuously assess their progress.
  • Differentiation - ViLLE includes exercises for different levels, allowing the teacher to individualise the materials for different students. 
  • Analytics - ViLLE’s analytical tools enable the teacher to identify misconceptions and learning difficulties in early stages when the situation can easily be solved.
  • Gamification and teamwork - ViLLE employs many gamified elements, such as progress bars, achievements, and graphics which motivate students. Students and teachers can co-operate in ViLLE, creating new possibilities for teamwork.

Figure 1 An example exercise, for learning English (top) and programming (bottom)

The Activity

Typical application of ViLLE includes a weekly lesson during which students practice skills learned during previous lessons. For example, a class would spend one to two lessons to learn a new skill (e.g. multiplying fractions) after which they would spend one lesson in ViLLE.

Students do exercises on the platform at school. The students’ goal is to achieve a trophy (50% of lesson points). If the goal is not achieved during the lesson, the work can be continued at home. Additionally, teachers may assign some of the exercises as homework. 

The students have a diverse set of new exercises to work on weekly. The lessons are created to progress from easier to more difficult tasks, but students have a lot of freedom to decide how to progress. The exercises are very adaptable: Students can choose which exercises to do, make as many attempts as they want and, also choose the difficulty level of some questions.

During the lesson teachers can follow students’ progress and identify possible challenges. In addition to tracking overall progress, teachers have tools that analyse students’ progress in different types of exercises and skills (skills are currently analysed only in mathematics).

For example, if a student has difficulty with multiplication, the teacher can offer easier and guidance. Teachers can have a periodical look at the statistics and pay special attention to students in need of guidance during ViLLE lessons, while others can progress largely on their own.

ViLLE includes a pair work mode that can be used for collaborative learning. It allows two students to use one computer to work on their exercises. Their progress is shared between their accounts when this mode is active.

If a topic is difficult for a significant number of students, the teacher can easily spot this and return to the topic during class. The teacher can look at every incorrect answer to find the mistakes, students are making and address specific misconceptions.

As a web-based platform, ViLLE is suitable for remote teaching and learning. While students do their exercises at home, the teacher can track their progress and deliver different tasks depending on the progress they make.

You can participate in the trial by filling out the contact form and registering via a separate link delivered to you personally. After completing the contact form you will receive an email to the address you specified which includes an activation code and a link. Follow the link and input the activation code and other basic information. Once you have completed this step you will receive another email with login information that can be given to your students. As soon as students have the login information, you are ready to start the trial. You can access statistics and analytics with the activation code so you can assess student performance during or after the lesson. You can find out more information on how to use ViLLE on this webpage. The ViLLE team has prepared this page with instructions just for Assess@Learning teachers.

Outcome and lessons learned

Several scientific studies have shown that using ViLLE weekly, for several weeks has positive impact on students’ learning outcomes. The exercises on ViLLE enable students to do many repetitions to improve their skill of putting knowledge into practice. Students become more autonomous as they can do exercises regularly at school and continue at home in their own pace. 

Students are easily motivated when they have concrete goals that they can realistically accomplish. Teachers can develop motivation by offering encouragement and help that is based on exact information regarding student performance. Based on performance, teachers can personalise the goal and level of challenge.

Teachers benefit from data on their students’ learning, allowing them to respond quickly to situations, where a student struggles to learn or apply a new skill. Teachers can reliably identify students who require more guidance or extra challenge in an earlier stage. This way they can assist students before they frustrate themselves with tasks that are not on their level.

  1. “I like the exercises, they are very good. I also like your creativity! I have fun doing them.”
  2. “ViLLE exercises are in my opinion more diverse and I learn better because of that.”

  1. “I like how independently students can progress in ViLLE. We use the platform with immigrants, and they understand the logic of the exercises fast, even though the language is foreign. This platform has really helped my daily work and improved learning experiences.”
  2. “ViLLE motivates my students more than a traditional exercise book. Working with a pen is difficult because of developing motor skills and too many exercises can cause anxiety. ViLLE is great because you can progress one exercise at a time and you receive feedback on how you performed. The students feel very satisfied when they are awarded a trophy.”