Abstract
ABSTRACTResearch skills are challenging to teach in a way that is meaningful to students and has ongoing impact in research practice. This paper investigates constructivist and experiential strategies for effective learning and deep understanding of postgraduate research skills and proposes a game-based learning (GBL) solution. A (non-digital) game called How to Fail Your Research Degree was designed and iteratively developed. Gameplay loop analysis identifies various learning and game mechanics and contextualises them in relation to GBL theory. Evaluation of gameplay (n = 127) demonstrates effective transmission of intended learning outcomes and positive game experience based on Keller’s Attention-Relevance-Confidence-Satisfaction (ARCS) model. Discussion proposes that the game has high cognitive authenticity, relies heavily on tutor facilitation, can create tension between knowledge and confidence, and is applicable to multiple domains and learning situations. GBL is proposed to be an original and effective approach to teaching high-level, functional learning outcomes such as academic research skills.
Highlights
Educational games are widely acknowledged as fruitful tools for learning and skills development across multiple domains, educational enhancement (Bellotti, Kapralos, Lee, Moreno-Ger, & Berta, 2013)
Research skills are challenging to teach in a way that is meaningful to students and has ongoing impact in research practice
This paper investigates constructivist and experiential strategies for effective learning and deep understanding of postgraduate research skills and proposes a game-based learning (GBL) solution
Summary
Educational games ( known as ‘serious games’) are widely acknowledged as fruitful tools for learning and skills development across multiple domains, educational enhancement (Bellotti, Kapralos, Lee, Moreno-Ger, & Berta, 2013). The literature on game-based learning (GBL) has moved on from questioning whether educational games can successfully enable learning and concentrates on how learning occurs: the particular ways in which games and their associated teaching practices can be best exploited to meet learning outcomes (Hanghøj & Hautopp, 2016). Higher Education has lagged behind school-based implementations of GBL, due to the barriers to adoption particular to this context (Moylan, Burgess, Figley, & Bernstein, 2015; Whitton & Moseley, 2012) and the difficulties of evaluating high-level cognitive outcomes (Whitton, 2012) resulting in little research addressing high-level, functional learning outcomes and less still specific to a postgraduate context. This paper analyses the development and evaluation of How to Fail Your Research Degree, an educational game for teaching postgraduate research skills. Results are discussed in relation to GBL theory and this informs reflections on the game’s implementation
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