Evaluation of the lasting impacts on employability of co-operative serious game-playing by first year Computing students: An exploratory analysis

Abstract

Abstract-This paper reports a case study of co-operative, small-group, game-based learning by a cohort of undergraduates on a range of computing programmes, during the first trimester of their first year. Game-based learning in the form of a totalenterprise business simulation is presented here as a medium to promote self-efficacy and employability through teamwork, presentation skills and greater self-confidence, with a possible relationship with improved work placement and graduate employment opportunities. The simulation is implemented to engender friendships amongst new students, in order to foster resilience and help prevent isolation.Appended is a discussion of the results of a small-scale exploratory evaluation of the benefits of the simulation experience on aspects of self-efficacy, as reported by those students who took the module in session 2010/11 and remain on the course in the final year of their degree. The study's findings are mixed: although the evidence for SimVenture being beneficial in gaining a placement is weak, respondents consider it enjoyable, a valuable learning experience, and cite its importance in gaining presentation skills, improving teamworking, making friends, and indirectly supporting the value of embedding simulations within meaningful learning activities to promote employability.