Serious Games as a Means for Scientific Knowledge Transfer—A Case From Engineering Management Education

Abstract

Disseminating scientific findings through journal publications is the very nature of every academic discipline. However, with the emergence of knowledge society and lifelong learning needs, there is a growing demand for alternative ways to enhance the dissemination of research findings to a broader audience than academics and young students. In this paper, we first introduce the concept of serious games as a well-acknowledged alternative method to discourse and delivering current engineering or management-related research findings to society. Then, considering the lack of a unified serious game design framework and the gaps in the extant literature, we illustrate our design rationale for the development and evaluation of serious games. The proposed framework contributes the following advancements to the body of extant literature and practices. It is strongly centered on a well-known knowledge transfer framework, and it is strongly based on a participatory design approach deliberately involving iterative and frequent testing and fine-tuning sessions that overcome the inherent limitations of traditional stage-gate or waterfall development models. We conclude by providing some insights gained during the development of the game and the framework, as well as by discussing the challenges associated with the design and use of serious games as an alternative genre for disseminating engineering- and management-related research findings.