Games for learning : a design pattern approach ( Workshop )

The rapid co-evolution of technology and learning is offering new ways to represent knowledge, new educational practices, and new global communities of learners. Yet the contribution of these changes to formal education is largely unexplored, along with possibilities for deepening our understanding of what and how to learn. Similarly, the convergence of personal technologies offers new opportunities for informal, conversational and situated learning. But this is widening the gulf between everyday learning and formal education, which is struggling to adapt pedagogies and curricula that were established in a pre-digital age.

Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 2012

This paper puts forward a new design perspective for game-based learning. The general idea is to abandon the long sought-after dream of designing a closed learning system, where students in both primary and secondary school could learn – without the interference of teachers – whatever subject they wanted while sitting in front of a computer. This describes a caricature, I know, but it still lurks in the background whenever we speak of, read or write about learning with computer games. The entire field of learning with games is called ‘serious games’, since they find themselves on a direct collision course with off-the-shelf, commercial entertainment games. This paper promotes two different yet interconnected ideas. The first aims to describe a new design perspective for game-based learning, which in many ways not only will provoke the abovementioned latent dream of a closed game-based learning system, but will also confront aspects of modern learning theory, especially the notion of reference between the content of an assignment and the reality with which it should or could be connected (situated learning). The second idea promotes a way of tackling the common experience of the average learner from primary to secondary school. He or she is often unable to fully grasp, understand or comprehend the learning process in which he or she is embedded. Portfolios, and especially e-portfolios, can be used to encourage reflection on both the learner’s development and the learning process in order to ground the student’s reason to learn. This paper proposes a different approach: using visualisation in immersive 3D worlds as both documentation of learning progress and as a reward system which motivates further learning. The overall design idea is to build a game-based learning system from three or more different, yet interconnected, elements; namely a teacher, a web-based platform and an immersive game or play world.

EduTech Computer-Aided Design Meets Computer-Aided Learning

The objective of the IMS Learning Design (LD) Specification is to provide a containment framework of elements that can describe any design of a teaching-learning process in a formal way. It is pedagogical independent and does not impose any learning approach. In previous works we analyzed this specification from a structural perspective and proposed some extensions. In this paper, we consider the tasks and difficulties of learning designers, e.g. teachers, in order to compose courses and learning experiences. We investigate how already existing patterns and possibly pattern languages for learning and pedagogic can be used to improve IMS LD usability. Patterns are used in other domains to describe generic solutions to common problems. Pattern languages structure and relate patterns to each other forming a network of interconnected patterns, providing in this way an enhanced support to design.

Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, 2018

The study reports on an ongoing research that intends to identify and validate the core dimensions for Game-Based-Learning (GBL) and further explore the shift in dimensional focus between different phases of educational game development life cycle: pre-production (design), production (development) and post-production (testing and maintenance). Hence, this paper presents the initial work focusing on design phase by presenting a comparative analysis of educational game design models using GBL attributes, validity and framework attributes as analytical lens. The main objective is to analyze the fundamental GBL attributes in existing design models; to identify the common attributes which demonstrate their importance for design phase and highlight any need for further research in terms of attribute validation and framework improvement. This study also highlights the strengths and weakness of existing design frameworks. The results of analysis underline learning/pedagogical aspects and game factors as the most essential attributes for design phase of educational games. Comparative analysis also guides researchers/practitioners to better understand GBL through various properties of different existing design models and highlights the open problems such as lack of tool support, empirical validation, independent evaluations, adaptability and absence of concrete guidance for application to make more informed judgments.

2008

While design patterns have their roots in architecture, they have successfully been adopted for software design and analysis. In the field of pedagogy and technology-enhanced learning, some recent design pattern initiatives have raised several questions regarding features, notations, scopes, languages, reuse and usability of patterns and pattern repositories. In this paper we address the question what qualities and features patterns and repositories need to have in order to be usable and reusable from the users' perspective. The reasoning will be illustrated by tracing a concrete pedagogical goal/request through the phases and steps of the proposed pattern application cycle. The users' view as illuminated in the paper is intended to enrich pattern providers by experiences and insights resulting from considering the users' perspective.

Game-based learning allows leveraging on young learners preference towards playing games to turn games into tools for learning. There are a number of frameworks developed in the various aspects and theories of gamebased learning. There are many relationships in existing frameworks that has been discussed regarding certain domains such as subject-matter expert, the game environment, developers, game goals and game designs, however, the relationship between subject-matter, game environment, learning theories and game-play is yet to be discussed together. This paper analyzes a few educational frameworks and discusses their relations among domains that they have used. In addition, this paper will discuss the software engineering practices that is of concern to educational games development but have not been discussed in previous literature.

Gamification refers to the use of gaming elements to enhance user experience and engagement in non-gaming systems. In this paper we report the design and implementation of two higher education courses in which ludic elements were used to enhance the quality of the learning experience. A game can be regarded as a system of organised gameplay activities, and a course can be regarded as a system of organised learning activities. Leveraging this analogy, analysing games can provide valuable insights to organise learning activities within a learning experience. We examined a sample of successful commercial games to identify patterns of organisation of gameplay activities that could be applied to a course design. Five patterns were identified: quest structure, strategic open-endedness, non-linear progression, orientation, and challenge-based reward. These patterns were then used to define the instructional design of the courses. As a result, courses were organised as systems of quests tha...

Game-based learning has dominantly embedded itself into a tool of education in the 21st century. In developing educational games, many researchers have proposed frameworks to define elements of an educational game. This paper presents a survey of the different frameworks for educational games and analyzes these frameworks against several criteria for effective video games, well-designed games and key elements of educational games. The authors will also look at the frameworks support towards learning theories. In addition, the analysis continues in the context of software engineering practices to develop effective educational games.

Computational Science and Its …, 2011

The standardization of the design of learning games is a contradictory topic: The existence of a rich variety of domains and applications is in conflict with the desire for unification that would result in improved reusability, interoperability and reduction of design complexity. In this paper, we describe the use of the ICOPER Reference Model (IRM) specification as foundation layer for the design of digital learning games. This reference model incorporates design and development processes as well as standards such as IMS Learning Design, a framework for presenting content according to logical rules like conditions and properties. The paper reports about exemplary learning games that make use of e-learning standards the IRM consists of, and explains about potential and limitations both from the game and e-learning design perspective, resulting in suggestions how to close missing links.

2005

This paper explores the rapid escalation of demand for information in both complex and convergent forms of accessible technology. The authors contend that this growth creates a concomitant demand for a highly skilled information technology workforce. To ensure the preservation and continued development of this workforce, education of the information technology professional is increasingly acknowledged as one of the primary challenges confronting educators and educational institutions. Many institutions have sought solutions to this educational conundrum in populist concepts of "e-learning".