Company-university collaboration in applying gamification to learning about insurance

Incorporating gamification into training–learning at universities is hampered by a shortage of quality, adapted educational video games. Large companies are leading in the creation of educational video games for their internal training or to enhance their public image and universities can benefit from collaborating. The aim of this research is to evaluate, both objectively and subjectively, the potential of the simulation game BugaMAP (developed by the MAPFRE Foundation) for university teaching about insurance. To this end, we have assessed both the game itself and the experience of using the game as perceived by 142 economics students from various degree plans and courses at the University of Seville during the 2017–2018 academic year. As a methodology, a checklist of gamification components is used for the objective evaluation, and an opinion questionnaire on the game experience is used for the subjective evaluation. Among the results several findings stand out. One is the high satisfaction of the students with the knowledge acquired using fun and social interaction. Another is that the role of the university professors and the company monitors turns out to be very active and necessary during the game-learning sessions. Finally, in addition to the benefits to the university of occasionally available quality games to accelerate student skills training, the company–university collaboration serves as a trial and refinement of innovative tools for game-based learning

The effect of time manipulation on immersion in digital games

Many empirical studies look into identifying factors that influence the quality of experience in video games. In this paper, we present research into the effect of playing time and players’ perception of the time on their immersion in the game. We invited 20 participants to play a puzzle game Bejeweled 2 for 7 min. They played the game in two conditions, namely, correct time (timer was programmed to be exactly 7 min) and wrong time (the countdown was set to be for 6 min, but was presented as a 7 min timer to the player). Players’ immersion scores were measured after the game using the IEQ. The results show no significant difference in immersion scores between the two conditions and participants’ comments also revealed that they perceived no difference in playing time between the conditions. This suggests that there is a dissociation between gaming time and subjective experience of gaming. Further research is required to investigate the relationship between playing time and positive gaming experiences

Beyond Educational Videogames to Educational Systems-That-Incorporate Videogames: A Case Study of a System for Learning about Energy

A common goal for designers of educational videogames is to make learning fun. Unfortunately, the result is often a game that tries to combine the fun aspects of videogames with learning elements, but that is neither fun nor effective for learning. In this paper we present our discovery of an alternative approach—a system that combines both education and entertainment, but that separates them into different modules that are loosely-coupled. Entertainment motivates education through a reward mechanism, where performance in the education module yields tokens that can be redeemed for in-game assets in the entertainment module. We present a case study of our specific implementation of this system, and we discuss how it can be generalized to motivate the learning of any topic where performance can be measured. This research contributes to our understanding of designing cognitive artifacts, and to our understanding of designing educational systems as distributed services

Storyline-Based Videogames in the FL Classroom

The use of videogames in the foreign language (FL) classroom seems to be gradually increasing nowadays. TICs are making the lives of educators easier and their teaching methods more effective; these positive experiences make that researchers in this field are constantly introducing and developing new teaching methods and electronic applications. This paper suggests the use of storyline-based videogames in the FL classroom in order to enhance students’ learning process and their communication outcomes through interactive and engaging tasks that raise their motivation. This research has been based on a literature review about the use of supportive material in the field of foreign language learning and it suggests that these interactive materials may be applied in the same way that traditional workbooks and e-workbooks have been used for several years. This proposal is addressed to teaching professionals interested in the use of videogames and to editorials of language teaching materials

Digital natives: a proposal to desing a videogame-based syllabus to develop communicative skills in children

Engaging and involving our students while learning English as a foreign language is a topic of great interest for teachers. Different strategies and methods are developed in order to provide learning environments where learners can improve their communicative skills and the use of videogames for learning proposed within this research project is not an exception. Applying the use of commercial videogames is not the same as using educative videogames in classroom. For that reason, it was necessary to design a videogame-based syllabus but using videogames produced for entertaining purposes since it was necessary to provide a real engagement in learners without altering the course of the teaching and learning goals, producing learning activities in which learners can feel self-confidence, commitment and self-awareness with the English learning process while having fun

Gen X and Digital Games: Looking back to look forward

Despite there being increased attention in recent years to older adults who actively play digital games, it seems that there has been comparatively minimal scholarly focus on the next generation of older adult gamers – Generation X gamers. Although there have been few, current audience studies that examine this population within a gaming context, a temporal perspective reveals another story. Older members of this generation were the first age cohort to be exposed to and engage in video gameplay at an early age (i.e., childhood). With the emerging popularity of video games in the 1980s, this did not escape the attention of scholars. This study provides an overview of those early studies that assessed video game use and its potential (for better or worse) among the older members Gen X. The study themes identified include: health, education, and behavior. In addition, the first studies that identified gaming characteristics of this generation in their formative years emerged in the latter half of that decade. By identifying themes in these early studies, scholars have the potential to track an entire generation’s gaming history and characteristics from childhood to present day. Ultimately, this may glean richer insight into those qualities when they become the next older generation of digital game players

The Interaction of Cyberaggression and Self-Efficacy within the Virtual World and the Real World

The present study seeks to analyze the impact of cyberaggression and positive feedback from an anonymous videogame player on one’s self-efficacy and performance both inside and outside of the videogame. The internet provides a unique way for individuals to interact, and the online disinhibition effect can lead users to engage in out of character behaviors once online. This shift in behavior can be an influencing factor for cyberbullying or isolated instances of cyberaggression. Negative feedback can lower one’s self-efficacy, and a lower self-efficacy can lead to a worse performance on the activity. It was hypothesized that mean comments from an anonymous competitor would lower self-efficacy both in the game and for an unrelated memory task, and similarly diminish the performance in both activities. It was also hypothesized that a positive comment after the first competition would both increase self-efficacy inside and outside the game and also improve performance on both activities. Participants in the present study took a memory test, played an online racing game, received predetermined feedback after losing the race, then played the videogame and took the memory test one final time, after rating their self-efficacy before every activity. It was discovered that the type of message received did not play a role on self-efficacy and performance both inside and outside of the videogame

Multiple Intelligences and Videogames: Intervention Proposal for Learning Disabilities

In recent years, there has been much research into the possibilities offered by digital tools for intervention in learning disabilities. The most recent studies have found that these tools can have positive effects on diverse aspects of learning, such as the acquisition of reading, writing, vocabulary and mathematics, as well as improvement of executive functioning and behavioural control skills. Despite the results showing the positive effects of using digital tools for students with learning disabilities, it remains necessary to widen their use in areas such as identification, assessment and intervention as early as possible. Within the current chapter, the application of the conceptual framework of multiple intelligences to the design of educational video games is proposed to facilitate diagnosis and improve intervention success in cases of learning disability. In this regard, a proposed novel tool is presented that may be used for the evaluation and intervention for students with learning disabilities

Teachers as designers of GBL scenarios: Fostering creativity in the educational settings

This paper presents a research started in 2010 with the aim of fostering the creativity of teachers through the design of Game-Based Learning scenarios. The research has been carried out involving teachers and trainers in the co-design and implementation of digital games as educational resources. Based on the results grained from the research, this paper highlights successful factors of GBL, as well as constraints and boundaries that the introduction of innovative teaching and learning practices faces within educational settings