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In project-based learning environments, students often face team frustration and conflicts, necessitating the development of conflict management skills. This study examines how integrating a game-based learning approach impacts students' perspectives on managing conflicts in game development project courses. Drawing on theoretical frameworks related to project-based learning, conflict management, and serious games in conflict resolution education, a case design is employed in higher education that incorporates the game "Cards of Conflict". Document analysis of student reflection notes is utilised to assess the outcomes. The results demonstrate heightened engagement among participants during the game session, leading to awareness and understanding of conflict managing principles. This encompasses the what, the why's, and the how's of conflict management, as well as the diverse perspectives of peer students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Programming education at university level has often been identified as problematic learning. At the same time, prognosis for future labour market is increased need for professionals with programming and related skills. To meet demands of future society, K-12 schools around the world have integrated programming in the curriculum. However, research show challenges for integrating programming in K-12 education. Challenges include students' and teachers' struggle with learning and teaching programming, lack of time to properly incorporate programming in existing teaching and learning, and insufficient support for teachers. This study addresses these challenges by designing, developing, and evaluating an educational game on programming that combines the idea of game-based learning with digital escape rooms. In the game, the player develops knowledge about programming concepts to escape 10 rooms. The study's main research question was: What are K-12 students' perceptions of the game and what do they considered to be important design factors for a digital escape room game on computer programming? A design science approach was used for designing, developing, and evaluating a web-based escape room game on programming. This was conducted in a five-step process: 1) Explicating the problem, 2) Defining the requirements, 3) Designing and developing the artefact, 4) Demonstrating the artefact, and 5) Evaluating the artefact. The game was tested and evaluated by 32 K-12 students with a questionnaire during the autumn semester of 2021 and spring semester of 2022. Collected data were then analysed and grouped into categories to answer the study's aim and research question. Findings of the study show several suggestions for further development and important design factors to consider when developing a digital escape room game. The next steps of research are to combine these findings with evaluations from teachers, and to incorporate this in an updated version of the game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While playtesting is an established part of game development, empirical research on playtesting in general and volunteering as a playtester appears to be limited. In this case study, our aim is to explore who volunteers for playtesting and how their player motivation and experience affect the feedback they provide during the playtest sessions. The dataset (2019-2020) is a mixed methods approach, here we focus on three data types: 1) how the playtesters see themselves as gamers in the pre-test survey, 2) the think aloud method during game play and 3) the semi-structured interview after playing. Playtests were conducted for eight local game developers in Finland and Sweden and all games were tested by at least three volunteers. The playtesters were selected based upon a screening survey on gaming habits and preferred devices as the intended age group specified by the developers. Due to the limited research on the topic, we employed Bartle’s (1996) player typology as a starting point for the analysis. We focus on one game during two test iterations and four playtesters, each representing one player archetype. The results show that the playtesters provided feedback and suggestions for improvement in line with their respective player archetype, we see the need for more empirical research on the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Programming education has been classified as problematic learning in higher education, and in the current process of reaching a younger audience there are several challenges. Three of them that are highlighted in this paper are learner motivation, visualisation, and the need for engaging self-learning. To address these challenges this study builds upon a combination of the old idea of game-based learning, and the new trend with escape rooms for educational purposes. The overall aim of the study is to design, develop, and evaluate a game where players can learn about fundamental programming techniques such as variables, data collections, selection and iteration. In the first step a web-based game prototype has been created and tested on teachers in K-12 education, and on teachers in the Makerspace movement. The main research question to answer was: "What are the teacher perceptions about important design factors for an escape room game on computer programming?". This study was conducted with a design science approach involving the recommended steps of 1) Explicating the problem, 2) Defining the requirements, 3) Design and development of an artefact, 4) Demonstrating the artefact, and 5) Evaluation of the artefact. The requirement specification was built around the syllabus framework recommended from the Swedish National Agency for Education. Evaluation data were divided into categories in an inductive thematic analysis, and later compared with design factor found in other studies on educational games for programming education. Preliminary findings show a mixture of attitudes among the teachers in the test group, there are also several suggestions for further development. The two important next steps are to 1) Test the prototype on students, with help from the teachers in the test group, and 2) To refine the prototype and develop the game further to meet the standard of games that K-12 students and Makerspace kids play. To obtain a high-quality outcome of the second next step, there is probably a need for a shift to a more professional development environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Games-based learning has its historical roots in the military context with examples such as chess and Kriegsspiel. Nowadays, digital games and simulations are widely used in military training with a focus on operation planning and mission command. However, the rapidly changing global situation calls for new types of leadership skills, both in the civilian world and in military service. To be efficient in the military context, a leader must be competent in three areas: technical, social, and conceptual. As the nature of military conflict evolves, army officers must be ready to act in ill-defined situations and interact with diverse populations. Currently, the games and simulations designed for leadership training generally address technical and managerial skills, whereas the social and conceptual skills are neglected. It is suggested that the social and conceptual skills of military leaders should be given particular attention during both pre- and in-service training. The development of conceptual understanding and personal awareness cannot depend on traditional learning methods, and the games-based approach offers potential for filling this gap. This paper introduces a basic model of the competencies needed in the military sector, which could be developed with the support of games-based methods. Many studies have described the core elements of an effective educational game, and researchers agree on the basic stages of game development. Because the terminology used is frequently ambiguous, a basic taxonomy of the stages of game development will be included in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to establish new and motivating learning environments, we have developed the "Purposive Game Production " concept. Our students at the Medialogy education have different interests within the Medialogy curriculum, but had a desire to know how they could use their knowledge, skills and competences from their study when graduating. In order to let them experience this first hand, and to improve employability, we wanted to enable learning activities where students could experience collaboration, communication and management of a cross-disciplinary project, with a goal to produce a purposeful game. These skills are included in the AAU Problem Based Learning curriculum, but are not stated as explicit learning goals and are not especially valued in students work. Thus, our basic idea is that students should be embedded in a larger, more complexly organized game production group, and that they would get motivated to develop and practice technical skills needed for game and interactive media productions. Over the last four years, the concept has developed to a production environment very close to a real game company, where students could practice technical-, communicative- and management skills. Currently, there is not much documentation about using game development as a learning environment, especially not at university level. In order to gain more knowledge and develop new learning environments aimed at enabling students to practice technical, communication and management skills, we have started 4 years ago to organize and document the game production semesters, changing the formats and experiments every year. In this paper, we will summarize this 4-year's long study, where a multitude of methods has been used, such as surveys, interviews, and observations, including recent interviews with the participants from the first interventions and analyses of the processes. Our investigation indicates that students are becoming more motivated and that they are acquiring a lot of experience in fields, which are not directly a part of the curriculum, such as communication in larger teams, management of complex productions and technical production skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being prepared for crisis requires learning about crisis and training for handling crisis. Since the tragic event on July 22nd of 2011 where a man killed and injured men, woman and children in two separate terror strikes in Norway, the focus on learning about and training for handling crisis has contributed to a regulation ordering all municipalities to have a plan for handling crisis and crisis preparedness ((DSB), 2012). At Hedmark University College of Applied Sciences, Norway, it is possible to obtain a bachelor degree in crisis management. The degree offers courses that present theory and with practical examples that present different perspectives and that in total provide the students with a solid basis for handling crisis and being prepared for crisis. However, the need for expanding beyond theory and practical examples has been recognized. Simulations and realistic exercises are valuable, but may also represent huge costs resources to organize. With the emergence of video games other ways of simulating has been made possible. The digital games have also become more advanced and offer a user interface that is quite realistic. Games have been used for learning purposes for many years, and this has been subject for academic interest. This paper presents the work of testing a game “in the making”. The game is being developed by professional game developers and is based on a platform that games have been developed that have been used for educational purposes as well as having been sold as a commercial game. This is a part of a project at our campus called “Preparing for Future Crisis Management” (Skår, 2015). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The large upfront investments required for game development pose a severe barrier for the wider uptake of serious games in education and training. Also, there is a lack of well-established methods and tools that support game developers at preserving and enhancing the games’ pedagogical effectiveness. The RAGE project, which is a Horizon 2020 funded research project on serious games, addresses these issues by making available reusable software components that aim to support the pedagogical qualities of serious games. In order to easily deploy and integrate these game components in a multitude of game engines, platforms and programming languages, RAGE has developed and validated a hybrid component-based software architecture that preserves component portability and interoperability. While a first set of software components is being developed, this paper presents selected examples to explain the overall system’s concept and its practical benefits. First, the Emotion Detection component uses the learners’ webcams for capturing their emotional states from facial expressions. Second, the Performance Statistics component is an add-on for learning analytics data processing, which allows instructors to track and inspect learners’ progress without bothering about the required statistics computations. Third, a set of language processing components accommodate the analysis of textual inputs of learners, facilitating comprehension assessment and prediction. Fourth, the Shared Data Storage component provides a technical solution for data storage - e.g. for player data or game world data - across multiple software components. The presented components are exemplary for the anticipated RAGE library, which will include up to forty reusable software components for serious gaming, addressing diverse pedagogical dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advent of new pedagogies and new technology, an opportunity existed to look at other mechanisms of engaging students in a medicine research and development environment in the Discipline of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The aim of this paper is to describe the process of conceptualisation and development of a medicines research and development game for undergraduate pharmacy students, in a resource constraint setting, where access to pharmaceutical industry is limited to other parts of the country. A series of meetings were held with academics from different divisions (Pharmaceutics, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pharmacology and Pharmacy Practice) within the Discipline to map out the stages of a game for medicines research and development. A pharmaceutical industry partner was identified for interviews regarding the roles and responsibilities of pharmacists in this sector. A video game concept was developed and a collaboration was initiated with game specialists to develop a game on medicine research and development for South Africa, using a Balanced Design approach. The emphasis of this framework was to help game designers and academics to better align the learning goals with game mechanics to produce more deeply engaging and effective learning game experiences that included assessments. In terms of the current status of game development, an 8-stage outline for the eight stages of version one of the game has been approved. Development of the game is underway and the game is to be piloted in the second half of 2016. This nuanced experience has underscored the need for careful planning, engagement of the different stakeholders in the process as well as acceptance by the academics to try something new. In addition, understanding of the underlying pedagogy is critical in the construction of the game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we will introduce the Game Enhanced learning Model (GEM), which describes a range of game-oriented learning activities. The model is intended to give an overview of the possibilities of game-based learning in general and all the way up to purposive game productions. In the paper, we will describe the levels of the model, which is based on our experience in teaching professional game development at university level. Furthermore, we have been using the model to inspire numerous educators to improve their students’ motivation and skills. The model presents various game-based learning activities, and depicts their required planning and expected outcome through eight levels. At its lower levels, the model contains the possibilities of using stand-alone analogue and digital games as teachers, utilizing games as a facilitator of learning activities, exploiting gamification and motivating students through role-play. The higher levels include modifying existing games, fundamental game development, creating games while enhance learning in a desired topic, and finally the development of purposive games. It is our experience that the four lower levels, which are concerned with using games in the classroom, gamification and roleplay, can be applied by almost any teacher in any topic - if assistance is available at the first sessions. It is however in the four higher levels, which are concerned with game development, that we experience the greatest impacts. Most so with digital game development since these levels also simultaneously improve students’ technical skills and motivation to learn programming. In order to illustrate the use of the model, we will describe an initiative to change the renowned Aalborg University Problem Based Learning model into a more production-oriented approach. The initiative was named “The Purposive Game Production” and focused on accommodating a range of wishes from students while making the education more tailored towards finding the students’ passion and securing a job after graduation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of Game based learning has proven to have many possibilities for supporting better learning outcomes, when using educational or commercial games in the classroom. However, there is also a great potential in using game development as a motivator in several other kinds of learning scenarios. Using game development as an approach for including game based learning in various educations has become more accessible due to more user friendly game development tools and systems. This study will thus focus on an exploration on how game development motivates students and what they learn when creating games. We exemplify the potential of using game fabrication as a learning environment with the investigation of a game production, which involved over 25 students across semesters. In order to investigate students' experiences during this purposive game production, we set up an experiment where students were "hired" to work in a virtual game development company. Students then had to produce a game concerning global warming during their 2.5 months semester project. The main results indicated that students who worked on the purposive game production acquired several new technical and analytical skills, they increased their skills in production management, and they were more motivated to continue their studies after the production. The findings illustrate that there are great potentials in harnessing the power of game development in education. We conclude with a framework of best practice guidelines for other educators, who want to incorporate a purposive game production in their own activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Video games have become an integral part of the educational process. Born and raised in the digital era, Russian students of the 21st century are seduced by entertainment and in contrast they perceive STEM educational activities as boring and annoying. To spark an interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) programming we decided to implement a competitive contest in the educational process. By combining the developments of the eScience Research Institute and educational techniques, we have introduced elements of entertainment to a group project of 6 ECTS during the second semester of the Double Degree Master's Program in Computational Science. The main goal of this project is to teach students basics of AI programming by creating bots for a strategy video game. Typical tasks and multi-domain specificity stimulate students to discover and apply new information from available sources promoting the principles of self-education and lifelong learning. An exaggerated and concentrated example of diverse behavioral patterns in the game should help students to transfer the patterns acquired from the games to solve real-life problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, games have gained much attention in education and it is widely recognized that Game Based Learning can help engage students to learn. Educational gameplay with various levels of "forced participation" works well in the classroom where games are played for a limited time period under the supervision of a teacher. Participation in educational games played outside of the classroom, on the other hand, is less predictable or reliable. This is particularly a problem for pervasive games, where most of the gameplay takes place outside of the classroom in the player's leisure time. Pervasive games have shown potential within GBL, but experience has shown that active participation is a major challenge. Even if the players have a positive attitude towards the game and experience the game as a fun and exciting to play, it is still difficult to motivate students to participate sufficiently to reach the defined learning outcomes. For Game Based Learning to take the step out of the classroom and into the players' everyday life, making learning pervasive, it is important to understand the gaming elements and features that motivate the players to engage in the game play and consequently the learning process. This paper presents the results of the experimental pervasive game HiNTHunt2013 which extends a previous version of the same game with specific features intended to increase player participation. The extended features can easily be adapted and integrated into other types of games used in Game Based Learning. The aim of the experiments documented in this paper is to explore and evaluate different types of motivational features in game play and the effect these features have on player participation. The results presented in this paper show that the extensions introduced in order to increase player participation had a positive impact. These findings will contribute to the understanding of how to motivate player participation in pervasive games. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to social, economic, and technological changes in our society creativity is nowadays seen as basic survival and success factor. Thus, innovation, creativity and production of media should be emphasized also in the school of the future. However, current schooling system tends to produce consumers of media instead of creative problem solvers, critical thinkers, and producers of media. At this point also educators and policy makers should be creative and introduce innovative learning solutions and practices that support the development of creativity and 21 century skills. This paper replies to this call by considering learning by developing games as one of future learning strategies. Learning by developing games is not totally new idea, but the research has only begun to explore the possibilities that this pedagogical strategy provides. In this article we introduce a new game authoring environment MAGOS that is developed according to the framework of creative pedagogy. The framework of creative pedagogy comprises of three interrelated elements of creative teaching, teaching for creativity, and creative learning. From these three elements we derived eight design principles that guided the development of MAGOS environment. MAGOS supports creative teaching practices by providing different tools for planning and for teacher participation. Teaching for creativity is supported by offering an imaginative and innovative learning environment and tools with which a teacher can support students' creative and constructive processes. MAGOS include multiple elements that promote students' collaborative game development that is supposed to enhance co-creation of knowledge. MAGOS requires a joint effort for game development and enables building on each others' ideas through sharing and remixing other students' existing work. MAGOS also provides a tool that helps students to generate novel ideas for their joint game development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to social, economic, and technological changes in our society creativity is nowadays seen as basic survival and success factor. Thus, innovation, creativity and production of media should be emphasized also in the school of the future. However, current schooling system tends to produce consumers of media instead of creative problem solvers, critical thinkers, and producers of media. At this point also educators and policy makers should be creative and introduce innovative learning solutions and practices that support the development of creativity and 21 century skills. This paper replies to this call by considering learning by developing games as one of future learning strategies. Learning by developing games is not totally new idea, but the research has only begun to explore the possibilities that this pedagogical strategy provides. In this article we introduce a new game authoring environment MAGOS that is developed according to the framework of creative pedagogy. The framework of creative pedagogy comprises of three interrelated elements of creative teaching, teaching for creativity, and creative learning. From these three elements we derived eight design principles that guided the development of MAGOS environment. MAGOS supports creative teaching practices by providing different tools for planning and for teacher participation. Teaching for creativity is supported by offering an imaginative and innovative learning environment and tools with which a teacher can support students' creative and constructive processes. MAGOS include multiple elements that promote students' collaborative game development that is supposed to enhance co-creation of knowledge. MAGOS requires a joint effort for game development and enables building on each others' ideas through sharing and remixing other students' existing work. MAGOS also provides a tool that helps students to generate novel ideas for their joint game development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer games can provide active and experiential learning environments, supporting problem-solving and collaboration, providing a forum for practice and learning through failure. Through scaffolding and immediate, contextual feedback, they can facilitate the transition from novice to expert. They can engage users, with mechanisms such as the use of compelling challenges and rewards, competition, satisfying curiosity and the human urge to complete sets. Above all, they can provide safe playful spaces for mistake-making and reflection, in which learners can experiment, build things, create mythologies, and have fun. However, obtaining or developing appropriate games for formal educational contexts is often problematic. Commercial games may not map closely to desired curricula, while bespoke games are typically time consuming to develop and require specialist skill sets and expertise. Digital games are often expensive to purchase or produce, and learners - particularly those in Higher Education, an increasingly expensive proposition in the UK - need to be convinced of their appropriateness and value for money. While the use of digital games for learning can be effective, it may not be practical given the increasing economic constraints, and this paper aims to present alternative ways in which the theory and practice of computer games could be used in education. Three alternative approaches to game-based learning without the expense will be presented. First, the option of developing lo-fidelity games, such as alternate reality games, or using virtual worlds or one of the growing number of accessible game-builder toolkits to create game-based learning experiences. Second, the notion of learning from games rather than with them is discussed, by examining what games are good at and how they achieve it, and looking for ways to embed those elements in traditional teaching practices. Third, the option of giving learners agency as creators of games rather than as consumers is presented, so that they become the developers and it becomes the process, not the product, that facilitates learning. The appropriateness of each of these approaches will be considered, and the advantages and drawbacks of each approach discussed, taking into account both practical and pedagogic issues. In this way, the paper aims to offer alternative ways of thinking about the potential of digital games for learning, and present possible solutions to the increasing financial constraints that face the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]