Open AccessA Systematic Review of Serious Games for Collaborative Learning: Theoretical Framework, Game Mechanic and Efficiency Assessment
Author(s) -
Chaoguang Wang,
Lusha Huang
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of emerging technologies in learning/international journal: emerging technologies in learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.454
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1868-8799
pISSN - 1863-0383
DOI - 10.3991/ijet.v16i06.18495
Subject(s) - computer science , space (punctuation) , game mechanics , collaborative learning , empirical research , test (biology) , game based learning , game design , data science , human–computer interaction , knowledge management , multimedia , mathematics , paleontology , statistics , biology , operating system
In recent years, there has been extensive research on serious games for edu-cational purpose. However, the design space for collaboration in games re-mains substantially unexplored. In this study, we systematically reviewed 31 empirical research articles regarding game-based collaborative learning published from 2006 to 2020 and attempted to provide new information about designing serious games for collaborative learning. We surveyed a number of games and investigated their design features that encourage col-laborative learning. Twenty game mechanics were identified and grouped in-to six main domains: (1) Space, (2) Objects, attributes and states, (3) Ac-tions, (4) Rules and goals, (5) Skill, (6) chance. The analysis of user studies they performed indicated that most of the game projects relied on self-report methods to test their learning effectiveness, and only a few studies adopted the data mining method based on game logs. The implications for research into facilitating collaborative learning and recommendations for future re-search directions are discussed.