Pilot Evaluation of a Narrative-based Listening and Communication Skills Game: Oracle

Abstract

Gamification in an educational context has been shown to be a valuable tool to learners and educators in a diverse range of environments both inside and outside higher education. We have invented a narrative-based card game called “Oracle” that can be played by between 2 – 5 players, intended to aid development of both listening and communication skills through play. We provided the game to a mixed gender group of pre-university students as part of a larger session on developing communication skills to explore their perceptions of a game-based approach to this. We asked for anonymous self-evaluated perceptions of both listening and communication skills pre- and post- gameplay using a 5-point Likert scale. Our pilot data shows a positive perception of our game-based approach to engaging with listening and communication skill development, as well as positive perceptions of improvements in communication and listening skills. We therefore hypothesise that using a narrative-driven game to support and develop communication and listening skills offers a range of positive benefits that may be transferable to other disciplines, such as medical and legal education. Our future work will look to refine and develop Oracle to better capitalise on these benefits, as well as to explore different learning contexts where the use of Oracle could be adopted or adapted.