S. Vishnu Sharma
IIT Madras students have again made it to the limelight by developing a digital game ‘IITM Covid Game’ to create awareness among the general public, particularly among children about the need to follow precautions set by government to safeguard themselves against COVID-19.
The game developed by IIT Madras students can be played on any several devices including personal computers, laptops, tablets and mobile phones.
IIT Madras students develop great game for COVID-19 awareness
The game developed by IIT Madras students is available free of cost and can be played from the home page of www.letsplaytolearn.com.
The game brought by IIT Madras students is also available in the website of IIT Madras under ‘https://dost.iitm.ac.in/iitmdost/pages/game-corner’
Based on initial prototyping and feedback from different audiences, IIT Madras students team translated the game to several Indian regional languages to improve its reach.
Apart from English, the game developed by IIT Madras students is already available in 12 languages – Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu.
IIT Madras students are planning to make the game available in more regional games in the future.
This game was created by IIT Madras students who took a nine-credit elective course called ‘Let’s Play To Learn’ offered during the January-May 2020 Semester, in which students were taught game-based learning tools and techniques.
Professor Preeti Aghalayam, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras and Mr. Kartic Vaidyanathan, Founder, LetsPlayToLearn and an IIT Madras Alumnus (B.Tech (Mechanical Engineering) 1996) were the co-facilitators for this general elective course.
Speaking about the game developed by IIT Madras students Professor Preeti said he full credit for this game goes to our students.
‘It is a matter of great pride for me that they conceived this, at a time when the world was reeling under the pandemic.’
Covid game developed by IIT Madras students is a small but very meaningful and engaging contribution and it clearly exhibits how thoughtful and aware our students are, she said.
IIT Madras students who took the course ‘Let’s Play To Learn’ felt the need to not only spread awareness but also convey the message in a fun-filled method, applying their learnings in this elective.
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The game by IIT Madras students takes inspiration from the famous ‘Super Mario’ game and consists of a character who encounters various right things – like masks, washing hands and also encounters things to be avoided – like hugs, handshakes.
As the character does the right things, points keep getting added.
If the character fails to avoid a wrong thing, points get deducted to highlight the consequence. The game goes on for 1 minute and the players should aim for maximum points.
Mr. Kartic Vaidyanathan said IIT Madras students applied the concepts and created a number of game design prototypes that are relevant in general for science and engineering courses (Aircraft design, Tissue engineering, Circuits, Buildings and structures, among other fields), and can be used in IIT Madras courses.
The mission of Mr. Kartic Vaidyanathan’s organization – www.letsplaytolearn.com – is to enable joyful learning through the power of play for corporate firms and educational institutions.
The collaboration with the students and faculty of IIT Madras is providing great impetus to these initiatives, Mr. Kartic Vaidyanathan added.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) was established in 1959 by the Government of India as an ‘Institute of National Importance.’
The activities of the Institute in various fields of Science and Technology are carried out in 16 academic departments and several advanced interdisciplinary research academic centres.
The Institute offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes leading to B.Tech., M.Sc., M.B.A., M.Tech., M.S., and Ph.D., degrees in a variety of specialisations.
IIT Madras is a residential institute with more than 580 faculty and 9,500 students. Students from 18 countries are enrolled here.
IIT Madras fosters an active entrepreneurial culture with strong curricular support and through the IITM Incubation Cell.
IIT Madras has been ranked No.1 in the ‘Overall’ Category for the second consecutive year in India Ranking 2020 released by National Institutional Ranking Framework, Ministry of Education, Government of India.
The Institute has also been ranked No.1 in the ‘Engineering Institutions’ category in the same Rankings for five consecutive years – 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
It was also adjudged as the ‘Top innovative Institution’ in the country in Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) in 2019 and 2020. ARIIA Ranking was launched by the Innovation Cell of Ministry of Education.