A series of experiments have been conducted with people with cognitive disabilities (mainly Down Syndrome) to test a serious game called DownTown – A Subway Adventure that aims to teach them how to move around the metro of Madrid. The game, available for free download at http://downtown.ceiec.es/, has been developed by CEIEC (Center for Research and Innovation in Knowledge Management), an Institute of Francisco de Vitoria University, and UCM integrated the Learning Analytics System that collects information about players choices in the game.
The Serious Game simulates the metro of Madrid in a realistic 3D environment and can reproduce any path of the metro map. The game involves missions and tasks that promotes the autonomy of the students while they are using the public transportation system and provides a playful environment for the users to train their mobility skills in an autonomous way before using the real-world subway.
Starting in May 2017, the experiments had a second round on last December 2017 and early Janurary 2018. During the experiments, a total of 43 students with different cognitive disabilities played the game at the Down Madrid training facilities. After playing, some students also went out to the Madrid Subway to test if they have improved their ability to move around the metro of Madrid. Work on this issue is being carried out on a PhD Thesis.