Game-based learning GBL is a teaching method that uses game elements to define, support, and help achieve desired learning outcomes. It must also meet specific criteria to be effective, such as expert implementation, clearly defined goals and aims that supplement learning goal, and a post-activity assessment. According to studies, game-based learning has multiple benefits, such as improving problem-solving skills, encouraging critical thinking, creativity, and teamwork, increasing student engagement, helping people with special education needs, furthering motivation to complete school tasks, and more.
GBL is exceptionally suitable to help develop and improve fundamental skills such as math, spelling, reading, communication, and others. Learners don’t have the feeling that they are learning. Instead, they engage in a fun activity while learning becomes a passive activity that is no less effective if implemented correctly.
Examples of good practice and classification
The viability of GBL can be seen based on examples from the aviation and medical industries, which have been using GBL as part of their daily training routines and procedures for years – simulation games or simulators. Those are Flight simulator, which lets aviators practice and train flying in a safe environment, and Pulse, which is used in the medical field to train future healthcare specialists by creating immersive simulations of unpredictable crises in a risk-free environment.
If we were to categorize the different types of GBL games roughly, it would look something like this:
- Board games
- Real-life games and Role-playing games
- Digital games, Online platforms, and Augmented reality/Virtual reality
Board games
The most well-known example of an educational board game is Monopoly. GBL board games feature essential elements such as a story, characters, points, a goal… The difference between board games and the other types is the learning environment, which in this case, is limited to the board or the playing space.
Games such as Dobble, Spot it, Catan, Cluedo, Guess who, Chess, Scrabble, Ludo, Checkers, various puzzles, Sudoku, card games like War, and many others have inherent and in-designed educational goals and values.
Role-playing games (RPGs) and Real-life games (RLGs)
Role-playing and real-life games have one massive advantage over all others. Namely, they can create a most immersive environment, as they are primarily set in the real world. Their most significant benefit is that the complete framework, goals, aims, positioning, strategies, conflicts, and topics can be fully customized to the needs of the learners. Knowingly or not, many educators already use RPGs and RLGs as part of their teaching tool kit. The primary prerequisite of RPGs is for learners to pick a character, face challenges, and solve them by playing said character or role. Group exercises, role-playing, and teamwork exercises fall into this category.
Good examples of RPGs perfect for GBL are Prodigy, Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and various Live Action Role Play or LARP systems. Whereas, games such as different varsity sports games, raffles, pub-quiz events, Bingo, hot potato, games of tag, scavenger hunts, and the like would be RLGs.
Digital games, online platforms, and Augmented reality (AR)/Virtual reality(VR)
When we talk about digital games, we mainly talk about video games, but this is a false equivalency fallacy. Namely, all of the games mentioned can be successfully transferred into a digital environment. Therefore, a better word for this category would be video games. Whether we know it or not, GBL video games have been around since the beginning of video gaming. Some of the most well-known games were designed to teach. Oregon Trail, one of the first video games, was designed to teach children the basics of agriculture. Math Blaster, Civilization, Minesweeper, Solitaire, Pac-Man, Minecraft, Leapster GS, LittleBigPlanet, Math Playground, Scribblenauts, Duolingo, and many others are great examples of videogames that were designed based on GBL principles and help learners develop crucial skills.
Online GBL has evolved to a point where we have access to many educational websites and platforms dedicated to and full of great GBL content, such as Kahoot, Gametize, Centrical, Archy Learning, Hoopla, Raptivity, ProProfs, and many more. They are great repositories of knowledge and worth checking out.
The best examples for AR/VR are flight simulators. AR/VR technologies are on the rise, with companies investing heavily in their development for various purposes, including education. Widely used tools for educational purposes are Nearpod, Unimersiv, CBC VR, Sesqui VR, Veative, EON Reality – Education, ENTiTi Creator, InstaVR, and others.
How to teach using game-based learning in online teaching environments
The neat part regarding GBL is that we can apply all games above in online teaching environments. Whether we discuss using them through Teams, Visme, Google Classroom, Zoom, Ted Talks, Skype, Discord, or Roll20, it matters not. It is paramount that the learning process is an integral part of winning and scoring since that is when a game becomes educational.
There are a few easy steps to make that happen, regardless of the game pick:
- Define objectives
- Decide what you want your students to learn. This is imperative as it affects everything else.
- Decide the type of game and set the rules.
- Will it be a trivia game, board game, pub quit, simulation, LARP, or something completely different?
- Are they going to play against the game or each other? If they cooperate, you need a solid storyline framework.
- Set clear rules for your players to understand.
- Define challenges
- Objectives are just challenges for your players to overcome. Define those challenges clearly. Are they questions, measurements, or identifications?
- Make sure the challenges are gradually growing.
- Define the rewards
- Each game must have a reward but do not use grades as rewards, as that defeats the purpose of GBL.
- Prepare the complete game.
- Design and print what you need, including boards, cards, minis, scripts, and everything else you need.
- Pro tip: Quality props are reusable, so investing a bit of money and ensuring they are sturdy will save you time and money in the long run.
- Play-testing
- Each game requires play-testing to see if it is any good, what the issues are, and determine its actual playtime, downsides, and efficacy on the learning process. Take advantage of this.
- Have fun running it in your educational environment.
The big caveat
At this point, it is essential to talk about the problems regarding GBL. Each novelty brings with it its range of issues, such as games still carrying stigmas, incorrect and ad-hoc implementation of games or their elements, insufficient expert knowledge during implementation, technical difficulties when implementing digital GBL, funding issues, lack of follow-up activities and reflection, and my personal favorite, implementing GBL for the sake of implementing it to waste time – that is activities without any follow-ups. These can result in many classroom problems and significantly decrease effective learning.
Conclusion
Technology is advancing fast as it forces us to adapt our teaching methods and methodologies. As such, GBR is quickly becoming an invaluable part of the teaching process and education. It may seem intimidating. It may seem overwhelming and challenging in many ways. It may seem like a massive time-sink, and I understand you. It is all of those things. However, it is also one of the best modern approaches to teaching when done right. The overwhelming support GBL enjoys from professionals and researchers is proof of this. It’s a train worth getting on as the benefits far outweigh any potential downsides.
This post was written by Peter Oletič. Read his previous post on GBL Gamification and Game-Based Learning in Online Teaching.
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Resources:
https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/digital-game-based-learning-dgbl/7628
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1909&context=grp
https://nwcommons.nwciowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1240&context=education_masters
https://journal.seriousgamessociety.org/index.php/IJSG/article/view/176
https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/
