Serious about gaming
Playing games in school is taking on a whole new meaning at the University of Saskatchewan

May 8, 2009

By Colleen MacPherson

Students in Dr. Rani Kanthan’s pathology classes regularly play online games, but not just for fun. The games are proving to be an effective tool for reinforcing concepts, increasing vocabulary and reviewing materials prior to exams, and for Kanthan, this relatively novel approach to teaching and learning encapsulates what she termed “the three Es of digital learning – engaging, educational and extending the learning environment.”

A team from Educational Media Access and Production (EMAP) that included instructional designer Barbara Schindelka, designers Carrie Gates and John Ogresko, programmer Mark Altman, and new media project manager Ginger Koolick developed the series of three pathology games which recently won top honours in a Saskatchewan Interactive Media Awards competition. According to Schindelka, serious gaming – “games that are purposeful” – is a hot topic and a growth area, “and these are certainly the most complex, in-depth games that have been developed here on campus.”

Kanthan said the project originated in 2005 when she first encountered games specifically designed as educational tools. With less class time available for things like review, and with an abiding interest in exploring how learning can take place outside the formal classroom setting, “I decided to design my own games.” With Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) funding, Kanthan and the EMAP team set to work.

Schindelka said the first step was determining “what function the games would serve for students. In this case, it was to review the information already taught in class. Then we looked at elements like engagement, fun, play and tension.”

At the same time as the designers were working on how the games would look and play on the screen, Altman was working on the back end, the process for the instructor to create and edit content, then retrieve the results generated by the students playing the game. The whole process, he said, took about eight months.

The first game is a vocabulary word scramble that is timed but allows the player to take a hint or a letter. Scoring is based on correct answers but there are deductions for taking hints or letters. The second game – The Path is Right – allows students to wager on whether they know the answers to multiple choice, matching and fill-in-the-blank questions. The game awards prizes “so the better you do, the better your prizes,” said Schindelka. Prizes range from twigs and lab rats to tropical vacations and fake fur coats, “but of course they’re not real prizes.”

Path to Success is the third game. Like the game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, the game gives students a number of answer choices to each question as well as three life lines they can select for help.

Once students have played online, the instructor can analyze the overall results, the results for individual students or the results of a particular question, explained Altman.

Kanthan said she made the games voluntary for students “because learning should be a self-driven thing” but none are passing up the opportunity to participate as a way to review class material. After using the games for a year, Kanthan polled the students and received a very positive response. “They found them interesting, stimulating and a change of pace, but they didn’t like being penalized for taking hints.”

One particularly important design feature for Kanthan is how easy the games are to use for instructors. “The first year, they (EMAP) held my hand. This year, I’ve been uploading content myself. The games are very user-friendly and the easier it is, the better it is.”

Schindelka said EMAP has received enquiries from other instructors about the pathology games which are designed to be adaptable to other disciplines. “We can easily change the look but keep the same functionality.”