Essential features of serious games design in higher education: Linking learning attributes to game mechanics

This paper consolidates evidence and material from a range of specialist and disciplinary fields to provide an evidence-based review and synthesis on the design and use of serious games in higher education. Search terms identified 165 papers reporting conceptual and empirical evidence on how learning attributes and game mechanics may be planned, designed, and implemented by university teachers interested in using games, which are integrated into lesson plans and orchestrated as part of a learning sequence at any scale. The findings outline the potential of classifying the links between learning attributes and game mechanics as a means to scaffold teachers’ understanding of how to perpetuate learning in optimal ways whilst enhancing the in-game learning experience. The findings of this paper provide a foundation for describing methods, frames, and discourse around experiences of design and use of serious games, linked to methodological limitations and recommendations for further research in this area. Practitioner Notes What is already known about this topic • Serious game design is a relatively new discipline that couples learning design with game features. A key characteristic of this approach is grounded in educational need and theory, rather than a focus purely on entertainment. Under this approach, a common method for designing serious games involves the creation of learning strategies, content and principles for the purpose of enhancing the student’s learning experience. • There are no pedagogically driven strategies that take into account how learning attributes are interlinked to game elements for balancing learning with play. This is due to a limited evidence base of comparative evaluations assessing differing game designs against a single pedagogical model, or vice versa. This often leads practitioners seeking to introduce games into classroom with difficulties identifying what defines a game or how design should be enacted in a way that encompasses particular learning interventions. • Qualitative research methodologies have not been utilised as often for discerning how people experience, understand and use serious games for teaching and learning in higher education. What this paper adds • This paper presents the foundation of a taxonomy linking learning and game attributes along with teacher roles, aiming to encourage the cross-fertilisation and further integration of evidence on serious game design. The initial findings provide insight for practitioners on elements common to games and serious games, and how these link to particular learning design strategies that may afford pedagogically-rich games. • It informs development in the design and use of serious games to support teaching and learning in higher education. Given the key role of practitioners in the development of a wide range of serious games, due to the iterative and participatory methods frequently adopted, it offers insight into game elements and mechanics, allowing practitioners to easily relate to how learning activities, outcomes, feedback and roles may vary and visualised in relation to what needs to be learned out of playing the game. • The paper also identifies gaps in the evidence base and avenues for future research. Through this a practitioner can gain insight into the current unknowns in the area, and relate their experience of introducing games in the classroom to the current evidence base. Implications for practice and/or policy • The taxonomy informs serious game/instructional designers, game developers, academics and students about how learning elements (e.g. learning activities, learning outcomes, feedback and assessment) can be represented in games. We advocate dialogue between teachers and serious game designers, for improving the process of amalgamating learning with fun; and whilst the idea of using digital games is relatively new, teachers have a wealth of experience introducing learning features in games to be used into their classroom activities which frequently set out undocumented. • It aids the delineation of game attributes and associated game categories for characterising games based on primary purpose and use. Planning and designing teaching and learning in a game and teacher’s associated role in guiding the in-game learning process is a consistent challenge and this paper seeks to provide a foundation by which this process can be undertaken in an informed and conscious manner. • The findings of the review act as the point of departure for creating a research agenda for understanding disjunctions between espoused and enacted personal theories of using serious games through qualitative methodologies. Introduction Serious Games (SGs) design is a relatively new discipline that couples learning design with game mechanics and logic (de Freitas, 2006; Hainley 2006; Westera et al., 2008). Design for SGs involves the creation of learning activities that may use the whole game or entail a gaming element (e.g. leader boards, virtual currencies, in-game hints) for the purpose of transforming the student’s learning experience. Arguments against SGs have centred upon lack of empirical evidence in support of their efficacy; and the fact that appropriate research methodologies have not been enacted as yet for discerning how people understand and use SGs for teaching and learning in higher education (Mayer 2012; Connolly 2012). However, there are studies in the UK and US respectively that have demonstrated positive results in large sample groups (see for example Dunwell et al., 2014; Hertzog et al., 2014; Kato et al., 2008). Research evidence stresses the lack of commonly accepted pedagogically-driven strategies to afford game mechanisms and suggest that an inclusive model that takes into account pedagogy and teaching strategy, aligned to game activity and assessment is necessary for balancing play features with pedagogical aspects. This argument stems from an important observation that learning is a constructive process, which encompasses aspects of collaborative learning in which knowledge creation emerges through discussion and negotiation between individuals and groups. With these perspectives, this paper draws together evidence and material from a range of specialist and disciplinary fields to offer a critical review and synthesis of the design and use of SGs in higher