Approaches of participatory design the design process of a serious game to assist in the learning of hospitalized children

Abstract

Although the literature shows initiatives of conception of serious game for the support learning of hospitalized children, generally, the design process stays on the draftsman responsibility, exclusively, being based on the initial requirements set-up. In this scenario, this article presents the design process of Three-Dimensional Virtual Environments (3D VEs), based on games, here considered as serious game, to assist in the learning of hospitalized children. The serious game is grounded in the Reference Model for conception of 3D Virtual Learning Environments (3D VLE) to assist hospitalized children [4] and counted on Participatory Design (PD) approaches. From the approaches of Contextual Inquiry (PD technique) with health professional, including the hospital class teacher, it was possible to identify the main needs and expectations related to the conception of a pedagogic, interactive and ludic tool that supports learning on children who stay long periods hospitalized. However, the serious game proposal can be extended to all the childish public interested in learning by means of serious games. In the next stage of PD process, we will apply the Mockups technique with the patient (children) using the prototype developed.