Interdisciplinary Design Of Game Based Learning Platforms

This book represents a four-year research and development project. It presents a phenomenological examination and explanation of a functional design framework for games in education. It furnishes a rich description of the experiences and perceptions of performing interdisciplinary collaborative design among experts of very diverse fields, such as learning systems design, architectural design, assessment design, mathematics education, and scientific computing.

The volume focuses on epistemological, theoretical and empirical issues of game-based learning in various disciplines. It encompasses questions of game design as well as instructional integration and organizational implementation of game-based learning across various disciplines and includes contributions from different levels of the formal educational system (i.e., primary, secondary and tertiary education) as well as contributions reporting the use of game-based learning in informal learning settings. The volume addresses scholars, practitioners and students who are interested in how games and game-based learning can be designed, implemented and evaluated in a cross-, inter- and transdisciplinary perspective.

"This book discusses the need for interdisciplinary awareness in the study of games and learning"--Provided by publisher.

The capabilities and possibilities of emerging game-based learning technologies bring about a new perspective of learning and instruction. This, in turn, necessitates alternative ways to assess the kinds of learning that are taking place in the game-based environments. The field has been broadening the focus of assessment in game environments (i.e., what we measure), developing processes and methodologies that go beyond psychometrics practices (i.e., how we go about assessment in games), and implementing the game-based assessment (GBA) in real contexts. The current state of the field calls for a revisit of this topic to understand what we have learned from the research on this topic, and how the GBA work changed how the field thinks about assessment beyond game environments. Accordingly, this comprehensive volume covers the current state of research, methodology, and technology of game-based assessment. It features four major themes: what we are measuring in games, how GBA has influenced how people do assessment beyond games, new methods and practices, and implementations of GBA. The audience for this volume includes researchers, graduate students, teachers, and professional practitioners in the areas of education, instructional design, educational psychology, academic and organizational development, and instructional technology.

Various pedagogies, such as the use of digital learning in education, have been used and researched for decades, but many schools have little to show for these initiatives. This contrasts starkly with technology-supported initiatives in other fields such as business and healthcare. Traditional pedagogies and general digital technology applications have yet to impact education in a significant way that transforms learning. A primary reason for this minimal impact on learning is that digital technologies have attempted to make traditional instructional processes more efficient rather than using a more appropriate paradigm for learning. As such, it is important to look at digital technology as a partner and use transformative applications to become partners with students (not teachers) to empower their learning process both in and out of school. The Handbook of Research on Transformative and Innovative Pedagogies in Education is a comprehensive reference that identifies and justifies the paradigm of transformative learning and pedagogies in education. It provides exemplars of existing transformative applications that, if used as partners to empower student learning, have the potential to dramatically engage students in a type of learning that better fits 21st century learners. Covering topics such as gamification, project-based learning, and professional development, this major reference work is an essential resource for pre-service and in-service teachers, educational technologists, instructional designers, educational administration and faculty, researchers, and academicians seeking pedagogical models that inspire students to learn meaningfully.

Aesthetics and Design for Game-based Learning provides learning designers with insight into how the different elements that comprise game aesthetics can inform the design of game-based learning. Regardless of the cognitive complexities involved, games are essentially entertainment media, and aesthetics play a large role in how they are experienced. Yet too often the role of aesthetics in the research about game-based learning has been relegated to a surface discussion of graphics or neglected altogether. Aesthetics and Design for Game-based Learning begins by addressing the broad context of game aesthetics, then addresses specific elements with chapters focusing on: player positioning game mechanics narrative design environment design character design. Each chapter includes research and guidelines for design, and a conclusion addresses aesthetics in the research of game-based learning.

Book Description: Learning games have long been used in adult education, and are particularly common in business education. This has brought up the question on how to design effective learning games to be continuously readdressed, often to emphasize some particular aspect as key to designing effective, game-based learning. Despite famous game-designer Costikyan's characterization of game-design as an art, rather than an engineering discipline, such studies all seem to look for a recipe for unraveling how to design effective learning games. This book discusses topics on game design and developmental research. Some of the topics include game design and development curricula for digital literacies and 21st century learning; the role of metaphors in game-based learning processes; illustrative, iterative, interdisciplinary and design-oriented use of learning games in university teaching; the relationship between game volatility, house edge and prize structure of gambling games and what it tells us about gambling game design; and a gaming system for shoulder rehabilitation. (Imprint: Nova)