Design and Development of a Collaborative Serious Game to Promote Professional Knowledge Acquisition of Prospective Teachers

Role-Playing in Teacher Education with InCoLearn and its Qualitative Usability

“…InCoLearn (Figure 1) is a multiplayer serious game and online RPG intended as well as newly designed and developed forbut not limited tostudent teachers [18]. It was developed on the theoretical basis of the Integrated Design Framework for Playful Learning, constructivist and social constructivist learning theories [47], and the learning forms of collaborative and explorative learning [18].…”

“…InCoLearn (Figure 1) is a multiplayer serious game and online RPG intended as well as newly designed and developed forbut not limited tostudent teachers [18]. It was developed on the theoretical basis of the Integrated Design Framework for Playful Learning, constructivist and social constructivist learning theories [47], and the learning forms of collaborative and explorative learning [18]. It offers non-linear storytelling through quests, quest tasks, and dialogs in the form of a "directed network" [48] and offers a safe space to explore, train, as well as reflect on teaching and different teaching styles [18].…”

“…It was developed on the theoretical basis of the Integrated Design Framework for Playful Learning, constructivist and social constructivist learning theories [47], and the learning forms of collaborative and explorative learning [18]. It offers non-linear storytelling through quests, quest tasks, and dialogs in the form of a "directed network" [48] and offers a safe space to explore, train, as well as reflect on teaching and different teaching styles [18]. Bridging the diegetic frameworks of educational role-play, which strongly emphasize narrative elements to support learning objectives, with those of RPGs [4] that prioritize world-building and interaction with game mechanics, InCoLearn aims to transform educational role-play for the digital domain.…”

“…Particularly notable are the students, whose individual needs and qualities emerge through spontaneous actions, dialogues, and quest-driven activities. These interactions reveal each character's complexities to others and add depth as well as intricacy to the group's overall experience [18]. The audio design [18] features three unique zonesthe classroom, hallway, and schoolyardeach with isolated voice chats and ambient sounds, creating a lifelike environment.…”

“…The experiential and immersive nature of role-playing provides unique opportunities to develop essential competencies required for effective teaching. Although the available evidence points to the positive impact of integrating role-playing games into teacher education, little is known about the design and use of digital game-based learning (DGBL) with RPGs in professional education (e.g., [17]- [18]).…”