Educational motivation through game-based learning : A case study on serious games in xMOOC

Abstract

The purpose of this case study is to examine how educational games implemented in an xMOOC affect educational motivation and engagement. During the course, we implement several two-dimensional educational games for the web browser with an aim to help university students refine and learn crucial programming skills in selected web programming topics, then study the student responses to these games. The secondary objective of the study is to collect qualitative feedback from the students that can be used in the further development of game based learning. A total of 200 participants enrolled in the xMOOC and around 150 finished it.

The results indicate that students enjoy educational games and find them advantageous for their studies when these games are well implemented and fun to play. As a result, most of the games were seen as useful tools for visualizing abstract topics and reviewing educational content. When erroneous design decisions and instructions do not hinder student experience, educational computer games can make the lessons significantly more enjoyable and result in increased educational motivation. In this context, we can argue that using educational games in computer science contributes favorably to the learning setting if their design decisions and instructions do not lose focus on student needs.