Enhancing Curriculum Delivery and Student Engagement through Gamification
Lead Research Organisation:
Brunel University London
Department Name: Computer Science
Abstract
This proposed project aims to pilot a new approach to providing enhanced feedback while integrating Student Centred Learning principles in allowing learners greater freedom to proceed at a pace suited to them. Drawing on recent research in to gamification and its application across a variety of areas (Robson et al., 2015; Hanus and Fox, 2015; Hamari et al., 2014), this project seeks to create a framework for delivering a course or curriculum that blends the freedoms and benefits of digital/e-learning (Bonk et al., 2004; Forman et al., 2002) with reward and feedback structures that draw from successful game based techniques (Richter et al., 2015) and the benefits of traditional teaching. This would allow a teacher or lecturer to guide a large cohort through a course with individual feedback provided through a combination of automated and manual processes, addressing some of the key criticisms of large courses (Burr and Brodier, 2010; Molloy, 2010).
Aims:
1) Evaluate the way in which games teach concepts and identify the core techniques used in games design to maintain engagement, relating them to pedagogical approaches and models.
2) Examine and evaluate the current role of game systems in education, from teacher/lecturer and student perspectives, and use this information to identify key factors in acceptance or denial of game systems as a curriculum delivery medium in current education practice.
3) Through an iterative process involving end-users, develop a framework for the design of a game system for delivery of a focused curriculum area in secondary education.
4) Pilot the game system in an educational setting for delivery of a curriculum area, alongside a comparative group learning the area through traditional classroom situations.
5) Based on the results of this pilot study, identify potential approaches to scaling up the piloted system to the delivery of a full curriculum within a particular subject or beyond.
Deliverables:
o A framework for the design of a game system to deliver curriculum topics
o Identification of key indicators to facilitate adoption of educational game systems within mainstream education
Proposed programme of work:
Year 1: Literature review, development and validation of qualitative interview/focus group questions, engagement with schools and educational game development companies, qualitative analysis, identify needs for framework development and appropriate outcome measures for evaluation
Year 2: Framework development feeding into game design brief, game system development recruitment of schools for game system piloting, user experience testing, first small-scale pilot study, pilot study analysis and framework/design refinement
Year 3: Game system refinement, user experience testing, second, larger scale pilot study, pilot study analysis and final framework/design refinement. Documentation and preparation of thesis. Examination.
Aims:
1) Evaluate the way in which games teach concepts and identify the core techniques used in games design to maintain engagement, relating them to pedagogical approaches and models.
2) Examine and evaluate the current role of game systems in education, from teacher/lecturer and student perspectives, and use this information to identify key factors in acceptance or denial of game systems as a curriculum delivery medium in current education practice.
3) Through an iterative process involving end-users, develop a framework for the design of a game system for delivery of a focused curriculum area in secondary education.
4) Pilot the game system in an educational setting for delivery of a curriculum area, alongside a comparative group learning the area through traditional classroom situations.
5) Based on the results of this pilot study, identify potential approaches to scaling up the piloted system to the delivery of a full curriculum within a particular subject or beyond.
Deliverables:
o A framework for the design of a game system to deliver curriculum topics
o Identification of key indicators to facilitate adoption of educational game systems within mainstream education
Proposed programme of work:
Year 1: Literature review, development and validation of qualitative interview/focus group questions, engagement with schools and educational game development companies, qualitative analysis, identify needs for framework development and appropriate outcome measures for evaluation
Year 2: Framework development feeding into game design brief, game system development recruitment of schools for game system piloting, user experience testing, first small-scale pilot study, pilot study analysis and framework/design refinement
Year 3: Game system refinement, user experience testing, second, larger scale pilot study, pilot study analysis and final framework/design refinement. Documentation and preparation of thesis. Examination.
Organisations
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP/N509437/1 | 01/10/2016 | 30/09/2021 | |||
| 1819281 | Studentship | EP/N509437/1 | 01/11/2016 | 31/10/2019 | Thomas Coleman |
| Description | Methods through which educational games may be designed which integrates educational techniques (Student Centered Learning) from the very early stages of the design. These games utilise techniques such as collaborative and peer learning while giving the teacher a role in game, allowing the students to share their experience with the teacher. Games designed this way can be used in a classroom setting as part of a course and students learn through them as much as they would with a traditional experience. |
| Exploitation Route | Designing and developing games using these techniques and building courses and curricula to deploy such games in classrooms. |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism |
| Description | Findings from the project are informing the design of some modules within the university, with a focus on more active learning in laboratory sessions and an emphasis on collaboration outside of dedicated modules. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2018 |
| Sector | Education |
| Title | LogicGate System |
| Description | Developed based upon the Minecraft game, the LogicGate system is a Student Centered educational game that emphasises the importance of collaborative work. It asks students to solve puzzles through teamwork where they are only able to see an aspect of the problem and must describe what they see and how their and their teammates actions influence it. Delivering a blending of active learning with academic, social and communication skills that iterates on concepts such as Student centered learning. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Impact | This has been deployed on several courses within Brunel university with interest from external parties. It demonstrates the importance of social aspects in gamified learning which had often been neglected. |