The effectiveness of three serious games measuring generic learning features

Abstract

Maartje Bakhuys Roozeboom is a researcher at TNO, Leiden, The Netherlands. Her main interests are in the area of the evaluation research in various domains such as occupational health and serious gaming. Gillian Visschedijk is a researcher at TNO, Soesterberg, The Netherlands. Her main research interests are in the area of serious games in various domains such as education, health, crisis management and military. Her work is characterized by both design projects and validation studies. Esther Oprins is a researcher at TNO, Soesterberg, The Netherlands. Her main research interests are training design, assessment, evaluation and validation research of training with new technology (serious gaming, simulation, simulators), in which she has a PhD, in various domains such as education, aviation and military. Address for correspondence: Ms Maartje Bakhuys Roozeboom, TNO, AbstractAlthough serious games are more and more used for learning goals, high-quality empirical studies to prove the effectiveness of serious games are relatively scarce. In this paper, three empirical studies are presented that investigate the effectiveness of serious games as opposed to traditional classroom instruction on learning features as well as learning outcomes. All three studies used a similar longitudinal case-control study design and measured the same set of learning features (control, challenge, feedback, engagement and social interaction). Learning outcomes were measured by self-report and knowledge tests. Results of the three studies show that students that played the serious games scored higher on features associated with high-quality learning. Furthermore, the studies show that serious gaming is more effective on self-reported learning outcomes than traditional classroom instruction. Effects of serious gaming on the knowledge tests were not found. The studies serve as a first step to the development of a generic evaluation framework for serious gaming.

A Proposal for Global-Change Education based on an educational board game: A Planet on the Abyss

“…Game-based learning has been widely recognized as one of the most effective approaches for learning for children as well as adults [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14].…”

Digital Social Learning – How to Enhance Serious Gaming for Collaborative Networks

“…On the other hand, it can be applied in form of a curve that illustrates skill improvements and achieved mile stones. This way, gaming mechanisms like feedback and progress impart a feeling of competence and positively affect self-reported learning outcomes [29]. All three components, challenge, progression and feedback, positively affect users motivation and are therefore appropriate mechanics for Serious Game in a corporate context.…”

A framework for applying learning analytics in serious games for people with intellectual disabilities

“…The game industry is growing rapidly and estimated to be $18.4 billion in the USA alone (Statista, 2017). Several studies have recognised and realised the educational potential of digital games (Cheng, Lin, She, & Kuo, 2017;Roozeboom, Visschedijk, & Oprins, 2017). As a result, educational technologists and researchers have designed and developed serious games, a new genre of digital games for educational purposes.…”

“…Moreover, educational technologists have also applied serious games in special education for people with disabilities (Torrente et al, 2014). Previous research suggests that serious games are a type of educational technology that can provide an enhanced experience compared to other teaching methods (Carvalho et al, 2015;Roozeboom et al, 2017). However, it is important to have a deeper understanding of the impact of serious games on the learning process to encourage its use in education.…”