Report of the Pilot Test of the Gabb Global language learning system in public schools in the US.
Supported by Gabb Global Linguistics and Learning Science Department
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The purpose of the pilot is to demonstrate the effectiveness of Gabb Global language learning games to potential stakeholders. After the pilot phase was completed on November 5th, we are sharing the results with the WXR Fund and other relevant potential stakeholders. As we must demonstrate the effectiveness of the product based on the pilot results, Gabb Global games on a limited budget have proved its worth in the classroom and should be scaled up.
Increasing motivation, engagement, and learning outcomes play a critical role in language learning instructions for teachers, students, and administrators—especially during COVID 19. The major responsibilities of the educator are to create a seamless fun, effective language learning program that reinforces learned classroom material while creating an engaging experience for the target users: teens and young adults. It was essential to make sure the interface was fun and intuitive, to make the learning less of a chore. One of the major responsibilities of teachers is to facilitate classroom learning and teach not only for the test but to encourage lifelong learning struggle to find new tools like these for their students using resources such as Duolingo and Mango Languages in their classrooms to fill the gap and reach their students in a more profound way during these uncertain times.
Gabb Global is a language learning platform and online solution for children and young adults learning English, Spanish, and German. The system mobile, tablet, and VR experiences are being developed, and the pilot was done on our web links where teachers could access the games during the pilot period.
After piloting in US public schools for 3 months, at ten high schools across the US, we notice positive day-to-day classroom operations, engagement, motivation, and interest in continuing to learn English using our platform.
To achieve this, Gabb Global set up a pilot program to initiate a more engaging, and fun language learning program at 10 different high schools. The feedback in the reports was collected on November 5th as we did a hard cut-off to be sure to have the reports done by the end of the year on the motivation, engagements, and the degree that the students enjoyed learning this way.
Even though the 10 schools we piloted with have achieved significant success on various levels, there are challenges hampering the actualization of its mission namely.
● Lack of engagement during online learning sessions
● Decreased motivation throughout the semester
The above problems are primarily due to the absence of a fun, effective language learning information system for teachers to assign to students as a complement to classroom and e-learning via zoom.
To help solve the language learning crisis, we proposed the use of our language learning games This is a web-enabled, server-based, language learning software designed for students in classrooms. It was developed by Gabb Global’s in-house game developers, learning scientists, and curriculum developers. Gabb Global is made up of three components: one for games (we did not pilot), Virtual Reality (which we piloted); one for management of learning (LMS) which we are developing right now and did not pilot.
Gabb Global PILOT TEST
The main objective of the pilot test was to determine the engagement of Gabb for meeting the students’ engagement and motivation needs.
Specifically, it was aimed at
● Determining the capacity of the system to improve enjoyment
● Ascertaining the ability of the system to improve engagement throughout the semester.
● Identifying potential problems associated with the use of the system
● Establishing the ease with which the system can be implemented in other schools
Fourteen members of the staff of Gabb Global are made up of UI designers, curriculum developers, full-stack developers, and game designers.
Data entry started on 5th September 2020 and ended on 5th December 2020. This was followed by data analysis and report generation.
Throughout the period of the pilot testing, the pilots required very little maintenance. There were no system crashes, virus attacks, lockdowns, or data corruption. The database was successfully backed up.
OUTCOME
The outcome of the Gabb Pilot Test was a remarkable success. In all, students and IT staff were successfully trained in the use and administration of the system. The Gabb appliance was easily added into the framework of Chromebook computers using wireless LAN, and we provided five Microsoft HP VR headsets for each school. The students did express a desire for multiplayer games, which we would like to integrate into the next MVP. Though 3 classrooms expressed some concerns with the headset freezing, this was more so a problem with the individual devices rather than our platform. We are now moving away from the Microsoft MR headset for Oculus Quest 2. Other teachers expressed a need for customized content as many students also mentioned that the grammatical levels were not right for them- especially for the “ESL 2” levels. Future installments will include a variation between higher-level classes.
How we did:
Updated personal information on 3,507 students from all the public facilities in the region was collected, verified, and stored after we interviewed the educators. We stored the data in Qualtrics and created a word association of the words used to describe Gabb. Information (location, type, and name) on all school facilities in the region, both public and private were collected and stored in the system after we interviewed the educators.