Category: Elearning
Serious Games: The relationship of game attributes to learning outcomes
The relationship of game attributes to learning outcomes
A group of researchers headed by Katherine Wilson has done a review of the literature about the effectiveness of serious games. They found that very hard evidence is available: most is anecdotal and suggestive, particularly with respect to which game elements promote which outcomes in learning. However the existing research is suggestive of relationships that could be the subject of future research. Wilson’s group listed fourteen proposals for such research, which could be very useful as guidelines in designing learning games, even if they aren’t scientifically proven.
Continue readingSerious Games: Simulations – how real is real enough?
Simulations: how real is real enough?
How realistic does a simulation have to be? The answer is: just high enough to achieve your specific learning objectives.
Serious Games: Keys to Success
Keys to Success
Know your target audience.
If some learners might benefit more from alternatives, provide them. Different learners will like different types of games, so you may need to provide more than one game, targeted to different audiences.
Choose a game that supports the learning objectives and content, but balance this with the requirements of game play. Focus in on specific objectives and outcomes as much as possible.
Continue readingSerious Games: Potential problems with using serious games
Potential problems with using serious games
“Although games can be effective learning environments, not all games are effective, nor are all games educational. Similarly, not all games are good for all learners or for all learning outcomes.”
– Diana Oblinger, 2006
- When deciding to use a game for training, it’s important to clearly state your learning objectives and to determine exactly what advantages the game will provide. If the game is too easy or too hard, or does not focus on the objectives, it may simply waste the learners’ time. Depending on the type of game you intend to use, you may need to go through a substantial testing phase to ensure success.
Some of the possible issues to watch out for:
Serious Games: Why use games for training?
Why use games for training?
“Without motivation there is no learning”
-James Paul Gee
“If a learner is motivated, there’s no stopping him [or her]”
-Will Wright
Why is there so much excitement around the idea of using games for
workplace training? Simply put, games have some advantages that make
them exceptionally suited for training in certain situations.
One word: Engagement!
Serious Games: discussion of the Virtual Knee Surgery game
Virtual Knee Surgery is designed to teach high school students some of the
concepts and steps in a knee replacement procedure. It is fairly simplistic but demonstrates some typical game structures and objectives well. You can try the real Virtual Knee Surgery game here, or just follow along with some of the screenshots below.
Serious Games: Online game terminology
- An Open World game is one where players can freely roam a virtual world. Usually the
term is used to describe a game that has objectives and a storyline, but is sometimes used to describe completely open-ended virtual worlds like Second Life. - Non-Linear gameplay: Players are presented with challenges that can be completed in more than one order. Nonlinear sequencing may consist of multiple entire plot sequences to complete the game, subplots or small branches off the main plot.
Serious Games: The Virtual Patient specification
The Virtual Patient – a common standard for medical simulations
From Transforming Professional Healthcare Narratives into Structured Game-Informed-Learning Activities by Begg, et.al.
The Virtual Patient specification was developed to take advantage of the natural affinity for the branching narrative style of much of medical education. The Virtual Patient is a common standard by which patient cases can be structured in a manner that can be read by many game and simulation systems.
A virtual patient represents whichever characteristics of the patient are relevant to the current educational context.
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