Abstract
Using a survey of higher education students (N = 2145), correlations between game play habits and the attainment of certain graduate skills or attributes (communication skill, adaptability and resourcefulness) are presented. Correlations between graduate attribute attainment and a range of demographic and educational factors, including age, gender, level of study and year of study, are also calculated. While it is shown that there is no significant relationship between existing game play habits and graduate attribute attainment, several broad observations are made. Students who do not play video games tended to score best, while those students who play games in a variety of modes (online and local cooperative play, team-based and other cooperative play) also scored better on measures of graduate attribute attainment. Assumptions about the development of graduate attributes over time are also challenged by the data presented here, which suggest there is little correlation between attribute attainment and years spent at university. The work suggests that, while video games may be used to develop graduate skills on campus, there is no strong correlation between existing game play habits and the attainment of certain transferable skills.
Highlights
Evidence produced by a randomised experimental study, Barr (2017), suggests video games may, under certain conditions, be used to develop generic skills in a fun and engaging way
These analyses revealed that the apparently negative correlation between the year of study and resourcefulness is so weak (Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient = −0.0004) and statistically insignificant (p = 0.987) that it is meaningless
The positive correlations between the year of study and the other three measures are statistically significant in all cases, suggesting that adaptability and communication skill improve over time at university, but the correlation is extremely weak
Summary
Evidence produced by a randomised experimental study, Barr (2017), suggests video games may, under certain conditions, be used to develop generic skills in a fun and engaging way. Gains were reported in students’ self-reported communication skill, resourcefulness and adaptability – skills commonly referred to as ‘graduate attributes’ (Hughes and Barrie 2010) – following an 8-week experiment, wherein students played an average of 2 h of specified video games per week under lab conditions. As Barrie (2006) has suggested, it is not generally agreed how best the attributes of our students may be developed at university.
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