The effect of games and simulations on higher education: a systematic literature review

Abstract

The focus of higher education institutions is the preparation of future professionals. To achieve this aim, innovative teaching methods are often deployed, including games and simulations, which form the subject of this paper. As the field of digital games and simulations is ever maturing, this paper attempts to systematically review the literature relevant to games and simulation pedagogy in higher education. Two researchers collaborate to apply a qualitative method, coding and synthesizing the results using multiple criteria. The main objective is to study the impact of games and simulations with regard to achieving specific learning objectives. On balance, results indicate that games and/or simulations have a positive impact on learning goals. The researchers identify three learning outcomes when integrating games into the learning process: cognitive, behavioural, and affective. As a final step, the authors consolidate evidence for the benefit of academics and practitioners in higher education interested in the efficient use of games and simulations for pedagogical purposes. Such evidence also provides potential options and pathways for future research.

Simulation-based education involving online and on-campus models in different European universities

“…Bach et al (2017) give examples of how simulation games can be effectively integrated into management-related courses. Tao and Wu (2017) provide an extensive review of commercial simulation games, while Vlachopoulos and Makri (2017) analyse the influence of simulation games on higher education. In particular, they study how these tools can help students to achieve their learning objectives.…”

The Importance of ICTs for Students as a Competence for their Future Professional Performance: the Case of the Faculty of Business Studies and Tourism of the University of Huelva

“…Regarding the tools used in the teaching process, there are many ICT tools attached: tele-training platforms (Canals & Minguell, 2018), MOOCs (Infante-Moro, Infante- Moro, Torres-Díaz, & Martínez-López, 2017;López, Bernal, Leiva, & Martín, 2018;Torres-Díaz, Moro, & Díaz, 2014), intelligent tutorial systems (Pedroza, González, Guerrero, Collazos, & Lecona, 2018), serious games (Callaghan, Savin-Baden, McShane, & Eguiluz, 2017;Vera, Rodríguez, & Moreno, 2018;Vlachopoulos & Makri, 2017), social networks (Dumpit & Fernandez, 2017;Pérez, 2018;Puertas-Hidalgo & Carpio-Jiménez, 2017;Soler-Adillon, Pavlovic, & Freixa, 2018), virtual simulators (Duque & Pérez, 2018;Sánchez & Aguirre, 2018), which provide skills when dealing with these technologies.…”

Experiencing poverty in an online simulation: Effects on players’ beliefs, attitudes and behaviors about poverty

“…In addition, because poverty simulations can allow players to interact with models of complex social systems, they may help players to understand the structural causes of poverty, which is an educational goal of most simulation designers (Sezen, 2013;Stewart et al, 2013). More broadly, there is growing evidence that digital simulations and games can improve learners' motivation and engagement, self-efficacy, knowledge acquisition, conceptual application, content understanding, and action-directed learning (Vlachopoulos & Makri, 2017). However, skeptics suggest that digital simulations may fail to meet their learning goals because they are brief experiences, require careful post-play discussion to clarify learning goals for participants, and may impart an illusory sense of personal control over poverty as players seem to control their own fate by their choices (Roussos & Dovidio, 2016).…”