Morse Typing Trainer
Crit 4 for 05418-Design Educational Games, Prof. Erik Harpstead, CMU
Basic Information
Morse Typing Trainer
Link to the game
Developer: Use All Five and Google Creative Lab.
Platform: Browser; requires Google GBoard Keyboard with Morse Keyboard enabled
Instructional Goal: Teaching players Morse Code
Brief Description
The game is exactly what its name says it is — a tool for teaching morse code to users and it does it in a wonderfully designed and interactive way. While it is true that Morse code is not nearly as widely used as it once was, it is still quite widely used in many communication systems around the world. The game asks the players to install the GBoard keyboard and activate the Morse keyboard on it in order to play the game. However, any other keyboard that has Morse inputs is also compatible but the Google Morse keyboard seems to be the best in the market at the moment. The game dives straight into the game by putting up letters and prompting the right combination of dots and dashes that represent that character in Morse. Players start out with basic letters that require one or two inputs and the game provides visual representations to help remember the morse equivalents. As the player becomes comfortable with one set of characters, the game introduces more letters that have progressively more complicated representations in Morse code. After the letters, the game also teaches numbers and then punctuation marks.
Educational Objectives
What knowledge or skills do players need to have before starting the game?
In terms of prior knowledge required for the game, a player needs to know the letterforms that are displayed on the screen and should be able to match the suggested morse equivalent with the Dot or Dash key on the Morse keyboard. Hence, a basic level of literacy is the most important prerequisite for the game, along with some form of familiarity with the Morse Keyboard.
What knowledge or skills can players reasonably be expected to learn from the game?
The game has a very simple and direct objective and that is to teach the players about Morse code. Playing the game through till the end will definitely enable the player to know the morse codes for at least the letters and numbers, given that the morse codes for the punctuation are much more complicated.
What knowledge and skills might they learn that go beyond what they encountered in the game?
This makes the game a memory exercise that pushes the players to remember codes where the changing or skipping of one dot or dash would result in an entirely different character. Furthermore, the way the game pairs certain images and words with the pattern of the dots and dashes is what makes this game amazing. It might even teach the players about important memorization techniques such as word and picture association that they can utilize in other aspects of their life.
MDA — Mechanics, Dynamics, Aesthetics
Mechanics: The game has fairly simple mechanics with a sliding screen that shows one letter at a time forming part of a larger word. As mentioned before, the player starts off with simple letters having simple dot-dash combinations and progresses to more complicated patterns, with all the letters being covered within one to four dot/dash combinations. Furthermore, the inputting the dots or dashes generates the beeps that are associated with Morse code signaling, which familiarises a player with the sounds despite this game mainly focusing on the typing part and not the listening or interpreting part of Morse code. There is a time delay between two letters that enables the keyboard to understand whether the player is still typing the same letter or has moved on to the next, and it takes a while for the players to get used to it if they are typing fast. It can, however, be adjusted in the Keyboard settings to increase or decrease the sensitivity of the keyboard depending on how fast a player wishes to type. Also, given that there is no points system or leaderboard, the game is like a self-learning tool much like a basic Duolingo for morse code typing.
Dynamics: The game is not exactly time-sensitive, so the player can take his time in learning the letters. However, it does prompt the associated word and picture after a delay if the player is taking too long as a reminder of the solution. Additionally, the player is then made to replay the words on which he had taken assistance so that those letters are repeated and the player ends up learning the morse code patterns. In order to get through all the letters and complete the first stage of the game — the letters, a player requires patience and persistence. Understanding the game’s feedback loop and using it to their advantage would also enable a player to complete all the characters of a level successfully.
Aesthetics: The game works majorly on the challenge aesthetic by requiring the players to memorize the patterns for the code as well as it keeps testing the player’s skills throughout the game, i.e — the letters learned at the very beginning don’t appear for a while and then the game throws in a number of words with the newly learned letters mixed with the older ones to keep the players on their toes. Since the game works in an endless loop it evokes the submission aesthetic where the player can keep on playing the game.
Instructional Principles
Principle 1: Scaffolding
Build upon prior concepts when introducing new concepts, and build towards a higher goal. As mentioned before, the game starts off by introducing letters that require simple morse code patterns like a single dot (E) or a single dash (T). And then as the player starts memorizing those patterns, the game starts introducing letters with more complex patterns such as dot-dot-dash-dot (F) or dash-dot-dot-dash (X). This is done sequentially and the increase in difficulty never feels like a jump too high.
Principle 2: Multimedia
The most beautiful aspect of this game, besides the pretty minimal design, is the way it provides visual representations of the Morse code patterns that the player is learning. It is easy to come up with words from the vast English vocabulary with one starting from each letter of the alphabet — we even have the NATO Phonetic alphabet for that. But coming up with a word for a letter that when remembered will generate an image in the player’s head which in turn will help the player remember the dot-dash pattern associated with that letter is something incredible. And this game does it magnificently! E for Eye, Eye has a single dot in it — hence E is represented by a single dot. Simple as that on the surface, but beautifully designed underneath.
Principle 3: Immediate Feedback Timing
Providing immediate feedback on errors. Since the game is like a sliding screen with correct inputs required from the player for the screen to slide forward, the game provides immediate feedback if the player is has gone wrong. The game allows the player the ability to backspace a dot or dash if required but after the time delay set in the keyboard as mentioned earlier, the game provides audio and visual feedback that indicates that the Morse code equivalent for the on-screen letter is incorrect. Also, if the player is taking too long to enter a value, the game makes the assumption that the player is stuck and prompts the solution in the form of the visual aid that the player had used to memorize the Morse code pattern.
Synthesis and Critique
While the game uses a novel technique to help memorize the morse code, there are several things it could have introduced in various modes in the later stage. Modes like timing mode to test how fast a player can decode, a mode where a message is given and the player needs to decode the message or perhaps encode the message. Other aspects that were missing were keeping a score of number of errors, missed words, correct answer streak. These stats often motivate players and increase a sense of competitiveness.
