Game Design as a Compelling Experience
Summary: At the end of this presentation, the attendees will have learned ways to:
- create an effective game design learning environment;
- deal with the challenges in game design learning experience;
- integrate game design with the subject matter such as language learning.
- initiate international collaboration on game design and other learning activities.
Description:
Game design holds great potentials as a learning medium. However, it does not automatically lead to better learning. The educative values of game design can only be realized when it is appropriately developed according to the pedagogical goals and the characteristics of the learner. The intention of this study was to answer three related questions: (1) what makes a game design learning environment effective; (2) what learning outcomes do students accomplish in the game design process, and (3) why game design makes such kind of learning happen.
As an initial attempt, we created a game design learning experience for our students to achieve three goals: cognitive growth, emotional engagement, and self-discovery. Thirty-six college juniors in the software engineering major from a Chinese university participated in this learning experience, where they designed 47 simple and small-scale games for beginning Chinese Language learners, using authoring tools such as Flash MX and JAVA. The goal of the project was to create functional and engaging games for a 3-D massive online game environment for Chinese language learning. The students worked in small teams of 2 to 4 people. It took 12 weeks to complete the entire design cycle from brainstorming to accomplishing the final products. The students and the instructor decided collaboratively on the team task and each team member’s role. Every team made individualized design plans. According to their prior skill structure and their role in the team, each individual student came up with their own personal learning plans to update their skill portfolio. The students were required to keep design journals and submit final reports, in order to facilitate the reflection process. The evaluation was made on the basis of the final products, team collaboration, design journals, and final reports.
We examined the students’ learning outcomes, based on the final products (47 functional mini games), students’ final report, as well as in-depth interviews. Findings suggested that game design expanded students’ perceptive capacity; enhanced their subject-matter understanding, problem-solving skills, meta-learning ability and motivation; and facilitated students’ reflection on themselves as well as their environments. Meanwhile, we identified key components of effective game-design learning environments. First, the environment includes clear goals, authentic task and formative evaluation to genuinely engage students. Second, it allows multi-leveled dialogues to polish students’ design ideas. Third, it activates reflection trigger to transform students’ design experience, via peer competition, writing activity.
This design-for-learning experience has several implications for students, teachers and curriculum designers. The first implication is for students to reconsider the nature of knowledge, learning, and career adaptability. Second, this project implies that teaching is collaborative and reciprocal as much as learning is. Third, the curriculum designers should consider a reasonable way to integrate game design into regular curriculum, in order to foster both creativity and school achievement. Further research is necessary to examine how such design activity is influenced by contextual factors, such as school climate, technology adoption, teaching practice, and students’ motivation.
As an initial attempt, we created a game design learning experience for our students to achieve three goals: cognitive growth, emotional engagement, and self-discovery. Thirty-six college juniors in the software engineering major from a Chinese university participated in this learning experience, where they designed 47 simple and small-scale games for beginning Chinese Language learners, using authoring tools such as Flash MX and JAVA. The goal of the project was to create functional and engaging games for a 3-D massive online game environment for Chinese language learning. The students worked in small teams of 2 to 4 people. It took 12 weeks to complete the entire design cycle from brainstorming to accomplishing the final products. The students and the instructor decided collaboratively on the team task and each team member’s role. Every team made individualized design plans. According to their prior skill structure and their role in the team, each individual student came up with their own personal learning plans to update their skill portfolio. The students were required to keep design journals and submit final reports, in order to facilitate the reflection process. The evaluation was made on the basis of the final products, team collaboration, design journals, and final reports.
We examined the students’ learning outcomes, based on the final products (47 functional mini games), students’ final report, as well as in-depth interviews. Findings suggested that game design expanded students’ perceptive capacity; enhanced their subject-matter understanding, problem-solving skills, meta-learning ability and motivation; and facilitated students’ reflection on themselves as well as their environments. Meanwhile, we identified key components of effective game-design learning environments. First, the environment includes clear goals, authentic task and formative evaluation to genuinely engage students. Second, it allows multi-leveled dialogues to polish students’ design ideas. Third, it activates reflection trigger to transform students’ design experience, via peer competition, writing activity.
This design-for-learning experience has several implications for students, teachers and curriculum designers. The first implication is for students to reconsider the nature of knowledge, learning, and career adaptability. Second, this project implies that teaching is collaborative and reciprocal as much as learning is. Third, the curriculum designers should consider a reasonable way to integrate game design into regular curriculum, in order to foster both creativity and school achievement. Further research is necessary to examine how such design activity is influenced by contextual factors, such as school climate, technology adoption, teaching practice, and students’ motivation.
Wei Qiu
Doctoral Candidate
Michigan State University
Doctoral Candidate
Michigan State University
Wei Qiu is a doctoral candidate in the Program of Educational Psychology and Educational Technology at the College of Education, Michigan State University. She is interested in online learning environment design, comparative education, and language education.
Yong Zhao
University Distinguished Professor
Michigan State University
University Distinguished Professor
Michigan State University
Dr. Yong Zhao is a University Distinguished Professor of Educational Psychology and Educational Technology at the College of Education, Michigan State University. His research interests include diffusion of innovation, teacher adoption of technology, computer-assisted language learning, globalization and education, and international and comparative education. His articles have appeared in American Educational Research Journal, Teachers College Record and Language Learning and Technology. His most recent publications include What Should Teachers Know about Technology: Perspectives and Practices (IAP, 2003) and Research in Technology and Second Language Education: Developments and Directions (IAP, 2005).