State of the art in Game Based Learning: Dimensions for Evaluating Educational Games

Headnote

Abstract An increased use of educational games makes it essential to verify these tools for a sound impact by evaluating them from multiple dimensions. This paper presents a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) on state of the art in Game based Learning (GBL) evaluation. Our research examines the current trends and evaluation practices based on data drawn from search in four open databases along with a manual search of 4 journals proceedings. The paper begins with the context for our study, followed by a depiction of the analysis grid that is used to generate a database of existing literature, and methodology adopted to conduct systematic review of this literature. From initial sample of 1929 articles, a total of 58 relevant articles were identified and further examined for the extent of research carried out in GBL evaluation, highlighting the research topics, type of resources, the highly-cited articles, and the existing evaluation approaches and criteria used for evaluation of GBL. It then analyses the selected studies for outlining the dimensions for evaluating educational games. The findings of this papers provide insights for researchers and evaluators into current trends, evaluation practices and multiple dimensions for which an educational game must be evaluated.

Keywords: game based learning, educational games, evaluation framework, evaluation dimensions

1.Introduction

Computer games are played for many reasons including enjoyment, entertainment as well as educational purposes. Computer games prove to be an effective educational tool as they can provide enjoyment to learners in the learning process, allowing them to engage in education while having fun (Mohamed and Jaafar, 2010). Educators began to acknowledge the power of computer games for educational purposes back in 1980s. Games that embody educational objectives are considered to make learning more enjoyable, interesting, fun and more learner-centered thus making it more effective (Wang et al., 2011). The term GBL refers to the use of computer games or software applications that utilize games, for educational or learning purposes. Now days, mobile phones have also been widely used for GBL under the label "mobile game-based learning". Although traditional practices for education remain in use, GBL has extensively been implemented in various courses (Alfadhli and Alsumait, 2015).

The rapid increase in the use of educational games makes it essential to verify these tools to provide...