An Exploratory Review of Design Principles in Constructivist Gaming Learning Environments

1. INTRODUCTION "This is so boring." Many students who are being taught with the traditional education system echo this sentiment. Therefore, it is extremely important that the educator gives meaning to the knowledge being taught, in other words, its usefulness in real life situations. The central concept of the learning theory of Ausubel, Novak and Hanesian (1978) is the idea that meaningful learning occurs when new knowledge is consciously integrated into the ideas and concepts previously acquired by the learner. The construction and reconstruction of meanings by learners necessitates that they incorporate new knowledge with knowledge existing in their cognitive structure (Novak, 2002). This is the essence of the Constructivist view: knowledge is actively constructed within the limitations and contributions of the learning environment; it is not mechanically obtained (Liu and Matthews, 2005). Nevertheless, the limitations of the learning environment can make the learning process more difficult for students. Consequently, the instructor must also find the right tools (in addition to the right approach) to motivate students and thus to create a favorable attitude towards learning. Playing computer games is not a new phenomenon. Since the creation of the personal computer, different genres of computer games have been created to appeal to different interests. Educational computer games exist with the purpose of teaching while entertaining users, currently providing a single player experience only. With the advent of the Internet, a new type of computer game was conceived: The Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG). A MMOG is a computer game played on the Internet capable of supporting thousands of players in its own huge virtual world. These games are currently enjoying tremendous popularity around the world thanks in part to the virtual communities created for these games with users debating several game aspects. However, very few MMOGs are designed to provide learning opportunities, even though many of these MMOG may offer opportunities for learning by motivated individuals. For instance, player A that wants to defeat the Green Dragon may or may not find the discussion thread on this topic. If player A does, it is because player B, for example, was sufficiently interested in this issue. The learning can occur after player B shares his or her ideas or strategies about that dragon with the rest of the community. However, the gaming environment itself may not offer many clues of how to defeat the Green Dragon. If the gaming environment could provide learning opportunities as well, MMOGs could potentially become a powerful tool for constructivist learning. It is conceivable to somehow design educational Massively Multiplayer Online Games that have a Constructivist Learning Environment incorporated. Any game created under this philosophy will provide a new type of learning environment; we would call this environment Constructivist Gaming Learning Environment (CGLE). In this new environment, MMOGs would become an instrument to offer meaningful knowledge where students can learn, in a fun way, by doing. Additionally, constructivism can foster participation and collaboration among people through feedback from knowledge and experiences. Thus, a MMOG is the perfect place to create a visually interesting and appealing interface that supports both participation and collaboration. This paper begins with the discussion of the Information Systems Design Theory (ISDT) proposed by Walls, Widmeyer, and El Sawy (1992). Next, we discuss the twelve design principles to be used in the Constructivist Gaming Learning Environment, which are the focus of this paper. Following that, we present our findings from two pilot studies based on our observations and game play testing of five popular MMOGs and two educational games with regards to these twelve principles. These tests were of a qualitative nature, where the presence of each of the twelve principles was assessed. …