ELLE the EndLess LEarner

ELLE, The EndLess LEarner:

An interdisciplinary digital humanities collaboration

ELLE the EndLess LEarner a suite of language learning games for Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), mobile, and PC created in collaboration with faculty and staff members from the Office of Instructional Resources, the Center for Humanities and Digital Research, and Modern Languages, Games and Interactive Media, as well as groups of Computer Science students. Designed with the dual purpose of education and research, each game is linked to a database that stores terms and definitions and allows the player to select the level of difficulty and terms, ideal for a midterm review as well as an isolated research study. See what’s been happening lately and download games at endlesslearner.com!

We were awarded internal Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) funding to add a professionalization pack to the game—Portuguese language students researched job interview questions common to Brazil and Portugal that were then incorporated into the database. Players can then choose to add this group of questions to their game, augmenting language learning with important professionalization skill practice.

This endless-runner-style language learning game sprung up from a Games Research Group meeting where we watched a demo of the endless-runner in Unreal. After our research team received the honor of first runner-up for an internal grant (but no funding), we pitched the idea to a Computer Science Capstone course and got a top-notch group of students to make it a reality.

The first iteration of the project won Best Computer Science Project at the College of Engineering and Computer Science’s Fall 2017 Senior Design Showcase!

Collaborative Interdisciplinary Sponsor & Research Team:

Media

Manu-ELLE

Download the manual on all the new ELLE games by Jesslyn Parrish, current student in UCF’s Texts & Technology Ph.D. program:

ELLE ManualDownload

Iterations and Computer Science Teams

ELLE oh ELLE (moble multiplayer)

  • Brock Checchia, BS Computer Science 2021, Game Developer, ELLE oh ELLE
  • Francisco Franco, BS Computer Science 2021, Game Developer, ELLE oh ELLE
  • Javier Gonzalez, BS Computer Science 2021, Game Developer, ELLE oh ELLE
  • Joshua Pace, BS Computer Science 2021, Game Developer, ELLE oh ELLE

ELLE-ments of Learning (VR)

  • Kaarthik A. Alagappan, BS Computer Science 2020, Backend Developer & Project Manager, ELLE VR
  • Jonathan Jules, BS Computer Science 2020, VR Developer, ELLE VR
  • Tiffany Lin, BS Computer Science 2020, Website Developer, ELLE VR
  • Catalina Morales, BS Computer Science 2020, VR Developer, ELLE VR
  • Samuel Tungol, BS Computer Science 2020, Backend Developer, ELLE VR
  • Michael R. Justice, BS Digital Media 2021, Associate Director of Game Design & Publication

ELLE Card Game (for PC and Mac)

  • Noah Corlew, BS Computer Science 2020, Unity Developer
  • Kalvin Miller, BS Computer Science 2020, Website Developer
  • Michael Santiago, BS Computer Science 2020, Backend Developer
  • Michael R. Justice, BS Digital Media 2021, Associate Director of Game Design & Publication

ELLEBetterRacer (mobile for android and iOS)

  • Jinyu Pei, BS Computer Science 2020, Game Developer, ELLE for mobile
  • Zach Schickler, BS Computer Science 2020, Game Developer
  • Reinaldo Villasmil, BS Computer Science 2020, Backend/Game Developer
  • Michael R. Justice, Digital Media 2021, Associate Director of Game Design & Publication

ELLE Speak Your Mind 

ELLE Ultimate

  • Kalonte Jackson-Tate – Full Stack Developer
  • Eugene Lucino – Website Front End Developer
  • Christopher Rodbourne – Mobile / API Developer
  • Josh Sewnath – Project ELLE Game
  • Patrick Thompson – Project Manager

ELLE Mobile and AR

  • Christian Acosta – Database Developer
  • Kyle Hendricks – Android Developer
  • James Jachcinski – iOS Developer
  • Mustapha Moore – Website Developer
  • Dominic Rama – Android Developer

ELLE 2.0, as seen at Otronicon 2019 and HCII 2019!

  • Mark Behler
  • Phillio Da Silva
  • Ian Holdeman
  • Santiago Perez Arrubla
Boy playing ELLE VR

ELLE 1.0

  • Georg Anemogiannis (BS Computer Science, 2017)
  • Eric Butt (BS Computer Science, 2017)
  • Tyler Chauhan (BS Computer Science, 2017)
  • Megan Chipman (BS Computer Science, 2017)

Art

  • Christopher Ward (BA, Digital Media-Game Design Track, 2017)
  • Lily (Lark) Nghi (BA, Digital Media, 2018)
  • James Distel (BA, Digital Media, in progress)

Vocabulary Art

  • James Distel
  • Jennifer French
  • Tyler Gonzalez
  • Lais Marquez Da Silva

Research Support

  • Tech Fee Grant, University of Central Florida. Learn the Humanities with VR. 10/2020-09/2021. $6,458.75.
  • Quality Enhancement Grant, University of Central Florida. ELLE the EndLess LEarner: A Second Language Acquisition Videogame. PI: E. Johnson. 07/2018-07/2020. $3,500.

Publications & Presentations

iLRN 2021
Johnson, E.K. (2021). ELLE-ments of Learning: A Framework for Analyzing Multimodal Technical Communication Strategies in an Educational VR Game. Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN) Conference. June 5, 2021.

Journal of Universal Computer Science
Johnson, E.K., Giroux, A.L., Merritt, D., Vitanova, G., Sousa, S. (2020). Assessing the Impact of Game Modalities in Second Language Acquisition: ELLE the EndLess LEarner. Journal of Universal Computer Science, 26(8), 880-903.

AR/VR Innovation Discovery Event (AVID) 2020
Johnson, E.K. (2020). ELLE: The EndLess LEarner. UCF AR VR Innovation Discovery Event (AVID). UCF Downtown Campus, February 28, 2020. 

UCF Downtown Campus Maker Space Grand Opening 2020
Johnson, E.K.(2020). ELLE: The EndLess LEarner. UCF Downtown Maker Space Grand Opening, November 15, 2020. 

HCII 2019
Johnson, E.K., Merritt, D., and Giroux, A. (2019). Learning Portuguese in VR with ELLE. Human-Computer Interaction International Conference. July 29-31, 2019. Orlando, Florida.

iGBL 2019
Johnson, E.K. and Giroux, A.L. (2019). Effective ELLE-ments: Learner Preferences in Learning Game Features And Mechanics. Irish Conference on Game-Based Learning. June 26-28, 2019. Cork City, Ireland. 

Otronicon 2019
Johnson, E., Giroux, A.L., Merritt, D., Vitanova, G., and Sousa, S. (2018). ELLE the EndLess LEarner: Language Learning Videogame. (O)rlando Elec(tron)ic (I)nteractive Entertainment (Con)vention. January 18-19, 2019. Orlando Science Center, Orlando, Florida. [ELLE 2.0 VR]

iLRN 2018
Johnson, E., Giroux, A. L., and Merritt, D. (2018). ELLE the EndLess LEarner:
A Second Language Acquisition Virtual Reality Game. Demonstration. Proceedings from Immersive Learning Research Network Conference, Missoula, Montana, June 24-29, 2018. Graz University of Technology (Austria). [ELLE 1.0 VR] 

DH 2017
Merritt, D. F., Johnson, E. K., Giroux, A. L. (2017). ELLE the EndLess LEarner: Exploring Second Language Acquisition Through an Endless Runner-style Video Game. Paper presented by A. Giroux at Digital Humanities 2017 in Montreal, Canada, August 9, 2017. [ELLE 1.0 VR & PC] 

HASTAC
Giroux, A.L., Johnson, E.K., Merritt, D., Vitanova, G., Sousa, S. ELLE, The EndLess LEarner Videogame: An interdisciplinary digital humanities collaboration. Presented by all authors at Humanities Arts Science Technology Alliance Consortium (HASTAC), Orlando, Florida, November 2-4, 2017. [ELLE 1.0 VR & PC]

Anemogiannis, G., Butt, E., Chauhan, T., & Chipman, M. ELLE, The EndLess LEarner Videogame: Language Acquisition Through Interactive Technology. Demonstration at Humanities Arts Science Technology Alliance Consortium (HASTAC), Orlando, Florida, November 2-4, 2017. [ELLE 1.0 VR & PC]

College of Engineering and Computer Science Fall 2017 Senior Design Showcase
Anemogiannis, G., Butt, E., Chauhan, T., & Chipman, M. ELLE (EndLess LEarner): Learn a Second Language with Virtual Reality Video Game. Presented at UCF College of Engineering and Computer Science Fall 2017 Senior Design Showcase November 30, 2017. *Awarded Best Computer Science Project [ELLE 1.0 VR & PC]

Share this: