Serious Games in Higher Education:

Problems and Potentials

Peter Shea, Jim Grenier, and Nikki Boots

July 22nd, Serious Play Conference

Introductions: Who We Are

Nikki Boots, Ph.D.Manager, Learning and Development, DataXu, Boston, MA (Formerly - Instructional Technologist, Harvard University)

Jim Grenier, M.Ed.Instructional Designer, Associate Director, The Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology Innovation at Massbay CC, Wellesley, MA

Peter Shea, M.A.Instructional Designer &Director, Professional Development Middlesex Community College, Bedford/Lowell, MA

Overview•Introduction

•History of Serious Games in Education

•Obstacles & Problems to Games in Education

•Potential - Signs of Hope

•A Way Forward

•Questions & Answers

Let’s Test What You Know•What percentage of American households play computer or video games?

•What is the average age of a gamer today?

•What percentage of gamers are women?

What percentage of American households play computer or video games regularly?

42%Entertainment Software Association. 2015 Sales, Demographic and Usage Data Essential Facts. http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ESA-Essential-Facts-2015.pdf

What is the average age of a gamer today?

35Entertainment Software Association. 2015 Sales, Demographic and Usage Data Essential Facts. http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ESA-Essential-Facts-2015.pdf

What percentage of gamers are women?

44%Entertainment Software Association. 2015 Sales, Demographic and Usage Data Essential Facts. http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ESA-Essential-Facts-2015.pdf

Definition of Serious Gaming (Abt, 1970)

•Two or more independent decision-makers seeking to achieve their objectives in some limiting context.

•A game is a context with rules among adversaries trying to win objectives.

•Games have an explicit and carefully thought-out educational purpose and are not intended to be played primarily for amusement.

Abt, C. C. (1970). Serious Games. New York: Viking Press.

Definition of Serious Gaming (Zyda, 2005)

•Game: “A physical or mental contest, played according to specific rules, with the goal of amusing or rewarding the participant.”

•Video Game: “A mental contest, played with a computer according to certain rules for amusement, recreation, or winning a stake.”

•Serious Game: “A mental contest, played with a computer in accordance with specific rules that uses entertainment to further government or corporate training, education, health, public policy, and strategic communication objectives.”

Zyda, M. (September 2005). From Visual Stimulation to Virtual Games to Games. IEEE Computer, 38(9), 25-32.

Competing for Attention•“What is different is children’s sense of entitlement: Whereas under earlier conditions, students had to earn, to merit, to “deserve” their teachers attention, nowadays increasingly today the tables are turning; it is the teacher who must earn or ‘deserve’ the attention of her students—or they will turn it elsewhere.” (DeCastell & Jenson, 2006)

•“Playing multiple-level video games because these games are characteristically associated with high levels of engagement.” (Gee, 2004)

DeCastell, S., & Jensen, J. (2006). Education, Games, and Serious Play. The International Handbook of Virtual Learning Environments, III(Chapter 37), 999-1018. Gee, J. P. (2004). What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

The Equality of Gaming•“That each and everyone of us ‘learn’ at whatever rate we are able given shifting constraints like time, attention to the task, experience, interest, etc. is, in a way, precisely what video games do presume.” (DeCastell & Jenson, 2006)

•“The strength of motivational engagement was in part influenced by the gamers’ perceived ability to control the gaming process and the perception that there were few consequences to failure when gaming.” (Hoffman & Nadelson, 2009) DeCastell, S., & Jensen, J. (2006). Education, Games, and Serious Play. The International Handbook of Virtual Learning

Environments, III(Chapter 37), 999-1018. Hoffman, B., & Nadelson, L. (2009). Motivational engagement and video gaming: a mixed methods study. Educational Technology Research and Development, September, 21.

Theories Applied in Gaming•“Role play and case-based teaching and training are examples of approaches, which quite naturally lend themselves to be realize in a game-based training system.” (Martens, Diener, & Malo, 177)

•Participants have the opportunity to settle their own learning goals, construct models of reality, and define game rules.” (Kriz, Puschert, Karl, Dufter-Weis, 220)

Martens, A., Diener, H., & Malo, S. (2008). Game-Based Learning with Computers – Learning, Simulations, and Games. Transactions on Edutainment I, 5080, 172-190.Kriz, W. C., Puschert, M., Karl, J. & Dufter-Weis, A. (2004). Effective learning through gaming simulation design. In R. Shiratori, K. Arai, & F. Kato (Eds.), Gaming, simulation & society (pp. 217-227). Tokyo: Springer

The Value of Gaming

Smith, R. (2007): Game Impact Theory: The Five Forces that are Driving the Adoption of Game Technologies within Multiple Established Industries. Games and Society. Retrieved September 12, 2009,www.modelbenders.com/papers/Smith Game Impact Theory.pdf

Recent Research Findings

D’Angelo, C., Rutstein, D., Harris, C., Bernard, R., Borokhovski, E., Haertel, G. (2014). Simulations for STEM Learning: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.

•SRI International and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – Game-based learning can boost learning for average students up to 12%.

•University of Central Florida DimensionM Research study – Students gained an average of 8.07 points compared to a gain of 3.74 for the control group, after 18 weeks of gameplay

Common Criticism of Educational Gaming

• “Gaming-based education is criticized from the authoritarian viewpoint for the following reasons.

•Students do not always consciously understand what they are learning.

•Teachers cannot control the way in which the content is made use of by the students.

•Teachers cannot easily evaluate the learning results.

•It is as if the students are only playing, not learning.” (Arai, p. 17)

Arai, K. (2005). A Horizon of Simulation and Gaming: Difficulties and Expectations of Facilitating Science, Technology, and Practice . Agent-Based Modeling Meets Gaming Simulation, II, 15-21.

Obstacles and Problems

Faculty Perspectives

Games, are you serious? What is

this, kindergarten?

Funding

Funding

The “Fawlty Towers” Theory of Educational Expenditure

Time

Resistance to Change

The Slowness of Innovation Adoption: One Theory.

Potential: Signs of HopeHey, I think

I see someone using our game in a classroom

Seven Reasons to Be Hopeful1. Paradigm Shift

2. Potential Sources of Funding

3. Need for Data

4. The Rise of Mobile Platforms

5. Games & Sims Aligned with Current Higher Education Priorities

6. DIY Game & Sim Tools

7. Promising Partnerships

Possible Sources to Fund Games & Simulations for Learning Development

•Department of Education (FIPSE, Title III)

•Department of Labor - Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 2014

•Gates Foundation

Paradigm Shift

Paradigm Shift

“If great lecture is theatre, the future of learning is games.”

Anant Agarwhal – President, EdX

[Source: Inaugural Celebration Symposium: The Future of Education. 2012 MIT Alumni Leadership Conference .http://storify.com/mitalc/2012-mit-alumni-leadership-conference]

Analytics: The Need for Data

[Sources: http://www.maviinteractive.com/https://maviflow.com]

Games & Sims for Multiple (but Especially Mobile) Platforms

[Source: https://www.kognito.com/changetalk/web/]

Games & Sims Aligned with Current Higher Education Needs

[Source: www.toolwire.com]

Partnerships with LMS Providers

Partner with Community Colleges

Partner with Instructional Design Programs

Partner with Organizations Involved in Higher Education Learning Assessment

Sim & Game Building Tools

Some Suggestions about a Way Forward….

Coordinate Our Efforts

Serious Game & Sim Developers

(Commercial)

Serious Game & Sim

Developers (Non-

commercial - iOER)

Consider a Consortium

Create a Direct Market to the Learners

Set a BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal)

Questions & Answers

Bibliography•Entertainment Software Association. (April 2994). 2009 SALES, DEMOGRAPHIC AND USAGE DATA ESSENTIAL FACTS. Retrieved September 11, 2009, from www.theesa.com/facts/pdfs/ESA_EF_2009.pdf Great source to find statistics on the exponentially growing gaming industry. Also strong connection to the ESRB. 8/10.

•Smith, R. (2007): Game Impact Theory: The Five Forces that are Driving the Adoption of Game Technologies within Multiple Established Industries. Games and Society. Retrieved September 12, 2009,www.modelbenders.com/papers/Smith Game Impact Theory.pdf Broke down the components of design and the reasoning behind its impact in learning. 8/10.

•Zyda, M. (September 2005). From Visual Stimulation to Virtual Games to Games. IEEE Computer, 38(9), 25-32. Found this to be a good introduction to the differences in defining educational gaming, and the important differences between serious games and gaming for pleasure. 9/10.

•Abt, C. C. (1970). Serious Games. New York: Viking Press. Great introductory novel to serious gaming, covering some basic theories, examples of successful games, and some practical designing considerations. 7/10.

•Lee, J. A. (2004). History of Computing in Education. IFIP International Federation for Information Processing, 145, 13. Short and informative introduction to the use of computers in education, more focused on computer education, rather than education with the use of computers. 6/10.

•TheGameConsole.com. (n.d.). A History of Home Video Games from Atari to Xbox, Playstation and Wii. Retrieved March 19, 2009, from http://www.thegameconsole.com/ A very detailed and entertaining website which chronicles the history of video games, mostly consoles, only. 5/10.

•Arai, K. (2005). A Horizon of Simulation and Gaming: Difficulties and Expectations of Facilitating Science, Technology, and Practice . Agent-Based Modeling Meets Gaming Simulation, II, 15-21. Short overview of common viewpoints on educational learning and the expectations of simulation, as well as standpoints from educational authorities. 8/10.

Bibliography (cont’d)•Hoffman, B., & Nadelson, L. (2009). Motivational engagement and video gaming: a mixed methods study. Educational Technology Research and Development, September, 21. A new study to be present at AECT 2009, which involves feedback from participants in regards to why gaming is an enjoyable way of learning. 10/10Gee, J. P. (2004). What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. An eye opening book regarding motivation, engagement, and learning while playing video games. 10/10

•Boer, W. D., Janousek, S., & Leggett, R. (2006). Foundation Flash Applications for Mobile Devices (Foundation). Tokyo: Friends Of Ed. Focuses mainly on the building applications with flash, while introducing the era of mobile gaming. 7/10

•DeCastell, S., & Jensen, J. (2006). Education, Games, and Serious Play. The International Handbook of Virtual Learning Environments, III(Chapter 37), 999-1018. Highly informative on the benefits of educational gaming, and why it is effective. Addresses the change of today's learners, and the economics of attention. 10/10

•Martens, A., Diener, H., & Malo, S. (2008). Game-Based Learning with Computers – Learning, Simulations, and Games. Transactions on Edutainment I, 5080, 172-190. Delves into game development, and considers both the technical aspect, as well as the pedagogical theories that needs to be explored and incorporated. 8/10.

•Kriz, W. C., Puschert, M., Karl, J. & Dufter-Weis, A. (2004). Effective learning through gaming simulation design. In R. Shiratori, K. Arai, & F. Kato (Eds.), Gaming, simulation & society (pp. 217-227). Tokyo: Springer. Explores the specific use of simulation in training and educational settings. 9/10.

•Educational Games. (n.d.). Retrieved September 12, 2009, from http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/ The Nobel Prize website, which supports educational games and has several that can be used online in different content areas. 8/10.