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The use of handheld computers in educational contexts has increased considerably in recent years and their value as a teaching tool has been confirmed by many positive experiences, particular within collaborative learning systems (Mobile Computer Supported Collaborative Learning [MCSCL]). The cost of the devices has hindered widespread use in schools, however, and cell phones have emerged as an attractive alternative. To test their functionality as a platform for collaborative educational activities, the authors adapted an existing Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) application for use on cell phones equipped with Wi-Fi. This article examines the problems of developing applications for this alternative technology and reports on a usability analysis of a collaborative classroom activity for teaching physics. The results confirm the viability of the cell phone platform, taking due account of the device's processing, network and interface limitations. With an appropriate design, users quickly master the technology, though a certain decline in efficiency relative to PDAs is observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Role Game is a co-located CSCL video game played by three students sitting at one machine sharing a single screen, each with their own input device. Inspired by video console games, Role Game enables students to learn by doing, acquiring social abilities and mastering subject matter in a context of co-located collaboration. After describing the system's ludic and gaming structure, we present an experiment conducted in a kindergarten situation, whose results are subjected to a usability analysis. We conclude that a console video game for learning applications such as Role Game can easily be operated by 6-year-old students who are yet to learn to read or operate a computer. Console multiplayer games designed for learning are shown to be a powerful device for collaborative work in the classroom while maintaining its attractiveness to the gamer. They are consistent with the need to align learning software with the school curriculum, creating a socio-technical environment that can support meta-design and social creativity in an educational setting. Our findings thus confirm McFarlanes view that they “provide a forum in which learning arises as a result of tasks stimulated by the content of the games, knowledge is developed through the content of the game and skills are developed as a result of playing the game”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]