%0 Thesis %1 habgood2007thesis %A Habgood, Matthew Peter Jacob %D 2007 %K design digital games learning %T The effective integration of digital games and learning content %U http://etheses.nottingham.ac.uk/385/1/Habgood_2007_Final.pdf %X This thesis is concerned with how the coveted user-engagement of digital games can be usefully harnessed for educational goals. Educational software has traditionally used gaming elements as a separate reward for completing learning content. The early ‘edutainment’ sector became synonymous with this cursory “chocolate-covered broccoli” approach (Bruckman, 1999): tagging games on to learning content in order to make it more palatable. However, such methods have often proved ineffective (Kerawalla & Crook, 2005; Trushell, Burrell, & Maitland, 2001) and have been criticised for combining the worst elements of both games and education (Papert, 1998) as well as for following extrinsically motivating design models (Lepper, 1985; Parker & Lepper, 1992). This thesis provides a theoretical and empirical exploration of game designs that follow a more integrated approach. Five studies are described which detail the development and evaluation of a new theory for creating intrinsic integration based on integrating learning content with the game mechanics of a game. This includes the development of Zombie Division: a game that teaches mathematics to children through swordplay with skeletal opponents. Two experimental studies examine the motivational differences between integrated and non-integrated versions of Zombie Division by measuring time-on-task. Two more examine the educational effectiveness of integrated and non-integrated versions by measuring learning gains for a fixed amount of time-on-task. Statistically significant results are found which suggest that the integrated version is motivationally and educationally more effective than the extrinsic equivalent. Full results and implications are discussed.

@phdthesis{habgood2007thesis, abstract = {This thesis is concerned with how the coveted user-engagement of digital games can be usefully harnessed for educational goals. Educational software has traditionally used gaming elements as a separate reward for completing learning content. The early ‘edutainment’ sector became synonymous with this cursory “chocolate-covered broccoli” approach (Bruckman, 1999): tagging games on to learning content in order to make it more palatable. However, such methods have often proved ineffective (Kerawalla & Crook, 2005; Trushell, Burrell, & Maitland, 2001) and have been criticised for combining the worst elements of both games and education (Papert, 1998) as well as for following extrinsically motivating design models (Lepper, 1985; Parker & Lepper, 1992). This thesis provides a theoretical and empirical exploration of game designs that follow a more integrated approach. Five studies are described which detail the development and evaluation of a new theory for creating intrinsic integration based on integrating learning content with the game mechanics of a game. This includes the development of Zombie Division: a game that teaches mathematics to children through swordplay with skeletal opponents. Two experimental studies examine the motivational differences between integrated and non-integrated versions of Zombie Division by measuring time-on-task. Two more examine the educational effectiveness of integrated and non-integrated versions by measuring learning gains for a fixed amount of time-on-task. Statistically significant results are found which suggest that the integrated version is motivationally and educationally more effective than the extrinsic equivalent. Full results and implications are discussed.}, added-at = {2010-09-02T17:53:37.000+0200}, author = {Habgood, Matthew Peter Jacob}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/260c817baedebe49394670e6a6d622a05/yish}, interhash = {7e8c6830e415ca802edc9baca8c4bd05}, intrahash = {60c817baedebe49394670e6a6d622a05}, keywords = {design digital games learning}, timestamp = {2010-09-02T17:53:37.000+0200}, title = {The effective integration of digital games and learning content}, url = {http://etheses.nottingham.ac.uk/385/1/Habgood_2007_Final.pdf}, year = 2007 }