An Exploratory Digital Board Game Approach to the Review and Reinforcement of Complex Medical Subjects Like Anatomical Education: Cross-sectional and Mixed Methods Study

Abstract

Background Serious games have the potential to resolve educational problems faced by medical students, such as insufficient rehearsal due to boredom and lack of motivation. However, serious games’ relatively novel concepts in science and many genres of games that are common in recreation remain underresearched in the literature. Board games are one such genre that, despite their potential, affordability, and flexibility, are rarely designed for medical students, and little is known about student perceptions of them and their compatibility with rehearsal. Objective In this cross-sectional study, we sought to elicit, via an exploratory mixed methods approach, student perceptions of a digital serious board game specifically designed for the gamified rehearsal of complex medical subjects, with the chosen topic of anatomy. Methods A digital serious board game, based on self-determination theory (SDT), was first designed and developed to facilitate the rehearsal of anatomy information. Students were then voluntarily recruited to partake in the intervention and were randomly split into three teams of 2 players per game session, after which they were administered the Flow Short Scale (FSS), which is a 13-item measure where items were rated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (“not at all”) to 7 (“very much”). Students then participated in a focus group discussion to elicit their perceptions of the game. Findings from the FSS were subject to descriptive analysis, and the focus group discussion was subject to inductive thematic analysis. Results A total of 12 undergraduate, second-year medical students from the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine in Singapore participated in the study. FSS results indicated a moderate level of overall flow (mean score 4.94, SD 1.07) via the subdomains of fluency (mean score 4.77, SD 1.13) and absorption (mean score 5.21, SD 1.1). Students perceived the game as fun, enjoyable, engaging, and appropriate as a rehearsal tool that alleviated the monotony of traditional methods of rehearsal. Conclusions Our digital board game–based rehearsal tool, when based on SDT, appeared to be suitable for gamified rehearsal in a fun and enjoyable environment due to its facilitation of intrinsic motivation in its players.

An educational board game for learning orofacial spaces: An experimental study comparing collaborative and competitive approaches

“…A review of the available literature has revealed evidence supporting the use of game-based learning in human anatomical education in either a non-computer-or computer-based format, [34][35][36][37][38][39] and including a board game format. [40][41][42][43] However, no educational board game designed for learning orofacial spaces has yet been created, especially to investigate the impact of competition and collaboration on student learning. As such, this research aimed to develop a board game for the teaching and learning of orofacial spaces to undergraduate dental students and to evaluate its implementation on whether a competitive or collaborative approach would be more effective.…”

Effectiveness and Student’s Perception of E-anatomy Kit as a Tool for Gross Anatomy of Respiratory System Virtual Practical During Covid-19 Pandemic

“…It also showed that the games increased their learning management skills, retention ability of the information learnt, attentiveness and motivation in the laboratory sessions compared to conventional teaching methods (36). Game based learning was also suitable as a rehearsal tool that increased the value of the traditional teaching and learning method (33).…”

“…Game-based learning methods significantly affect the student's attitude towards the taught subject (31). Game-based learning stimulates excitement (31), develops more engagement from the student (32,33) and increases study motivation among students and increases their focus on the concept being taught in the class (34)(35)(36). Study by Barros et al (2022) showed that game-based learning such as Kahoot!…”

The future of anatomy education: Learning from Covid‐19 disruption

“…Some of these changes are in response to new emerging pedagogical approaches such as moves to a blended learning construct (Pereira et al, 2007; Green & Whitburn, 2016; Khalil et al, 2018), integrated curricula (Evans & Watt, 2005; Klement et al, 2011, 2017), an emphasis on interprofessional learning (Hamilton et al, 2008; Herrmann et al, 2015; Smith et al, 2015) and near‐peer teaching (Evans & Cuffe, 2009; Morris et al, 2018; Harrison et al, 2019). The rise of digital innovations has enabled virtual dissection (Darras et al, 2020; Wainman et al, 2021; Duraes et al, 2022), three‐dimensional (3D) printing (McMenamin et al, 2014; Smith et al 2018; Ye et al, 2020), ultrasound (Swamy & Searle, 2012; Smith & Barfoot, 2021; Lufler et al, 2022), gamification (Ang et al, 2018; Rudolphi‐Solero et al, 2022; Tan et al, 2022) as well as virtual and augmented reality (Moro et al, 2017; Uruthiralingam & Rea, 2020; Zhao et al, 2020; Jiang et al, 2022) to become common features in many programs. Technology has also started to disrupt the way in which students are assessed with interactive e‐assessments being increasingly utilized (Elzainy et al, 2020; Chakrabarti, 2020; Bogomolova et al, 2021).…”