Digital game for international students' adjustment.

As a consequence of rapid development in technology and communication, the global village provides the opportunity of studying in foreign universities all over the world. Though this journey has a valuable outcome, it can turn out to be stressful and challenging for International students. To accelerate the adjustment process of international students, this study presents the design and evaluation of a computer-based application, known as 'Digital Game for International Student Training' (DGIST). The purpose of this game is to transfer adjustment-related information. Immersion, challenges and social interaction, as three major aspects of fun were incorporated into the design of DGIST in order to make the adjustment process enjoyable. The effectiveness of DGIST on transferring information was compared to a document-based method using a pre-test-post-test experimental design. A total of 80 international students from a local university in Singapore were invited to participate in the study. Participants were randomly divided into two groups and were requested to answer an identical set of adjustment-related questionnaire comprising 39 close-ended items. Thereafter, those in the control group were given a document containing adjustment-related information while those in the experimental group were exposed to DGIST. Finally both groups were given the chance to refine their answers to the questionnaire. The results after evaluation of both groups indicated that although both methods increased the information level of students, the game-based method was more effective and preferable.Master of Science (Information Systems

A digital game for international students' adjustment

Although digital games have been developed for various subject areas, little attention has been focused on using digital games to address international students' adjustment issues. For this reason, this paper endeavors to explore the use of a digital game in facilitating international students acquire adjustment-related information. Specifically, the objectives of this paper are twofold. One, it seeks to introduce a digital game called Digital Game for International Student Training (DGIST) which is intended to satisfy important aspects of international students' information needs through fun. Two, it seeks to perform a preliminary evaluation of DGIST in terms of its efficacy in helping international students acquire adjustment-related information through a before-and-after with control experimental design. A total of 80 participants were involved in the study. Despite a few shortcomings, the results for DGIST appeared to be promising. Statistical analyses confirmed that DGIST was more effective in helping students acquire adjustment-related information than the paper-based document. This paper concludes with some limitations and suggests a few areas for further research.Published versio