Hendrik H. Leemkuil

Learning from games: Does collaboration help?

This paper examines whether people benefit more from playing a commercial off-the-shelf game in pairs rather than in solitary mode. The basic idea behind this didactic method is that there is a serious risk that solitary game play yields insufficient articulation and explanation for learning to take place. Participants in the experimental condition played a strategy game in collaborative mode (pairs). Solitary play formed the control condition. During game play data were gathered about engagement (ie, flow). Also, the dialogues of the pairs were recorded. After game completion participants individually completed a knowledge test. For solitary players this ended the session. Collaborating pairs could discuss test answers (without receiving experimenter feedback) and give a final group answer. Collaboration was found not to affect game engagement and also did not affect individual knowledge test scores. The collaboration presumably did not advance the players individual knowledge because the game dialogues mainly dealt with superficial game features such as move proposals. The collaborating players benefitted significantly from the opportunity to discuss test scores. The discussion revolves around game selection and game didactics (including scripted collaboration and debriefing) as routes for future studies to follow in ways of improving game utilisation in school.

Does individual or collaborative self-debriefing better enhance learning from games?

The primary aim of this study is to find out whether use of different self-debriefing modes affects learning from a game. In self-debriefing participants are led to reflect upon their game experiences by a set of debriefing questions. Two conditions were compared: Individual and Collaborative self-debriefing. The 45 participants first played the game of Lemonade Tycoon Deluxe, were tested for knowledge and self-debriefed in pairs or alone. Then they played the game once more and were tested again. Game scores increased significantly from the first to the second round of gameplay to an equal degree in both conditions. Knowledge scores of participants in individual self-debriefing increased significantly more than those of participants in the Collaborative condition. The study shows that game-based learning can be effectively scaffolded with self-debriefing. Future studies might investigate whether the type of self-debriefing differentially affects game motivation. In addition, attention to the role of feedback is called for.