Literature Review for ISFE
Students today are critical of educational games as the expected quality of a commercial recreational game is often missing. Modifying commercial games has become popular to avoid this, as has allowing the student to design their own game – either to concept level or a prototype if resources allow. Where the computer game is used in the classroom for research, it will often be an educational game specifically developed for the purpose, and often by the researcher. Where a game is utilized as part of a lesson, it will tend to be a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS), and often a recreational game, or a commercial game that has been modified for the desired learning outcome.
We were fortunate to be ask to complete a literature review as part of Work Package 2 of the ISFE-EUN Partnership work plan – Games in Schools. The specifics included a review of available literature in the field of game-based learning and specifically how it relates to teaching in the classroom. Hence we provided a critical analysis of some of these studies including a summary of the methodologies employed. The discussion includes the benefits and perceived problems associated with video games, providing specific examples of the use of game-based learning within the curriculum.
To conclude, we analysed the characteristics of video games and suggest how this method of teaching can support the learning process. As games can extend outside the classroom, they provide an ideal platform for study aids and to assist with learning impairments. The medical profession has been quicker on the uptake of this technology than has academia and examples were documented in this report.
The entire report can be download from here and we will present the findings at the request of the ISFE (Interactive Software Federation of Europe) at the 2009 Game Based Learning conference in London.