The co-design of educational video games
The co-design of educational video games
The co-design of educational video games
By Daniel Kleuffmann
Abstract
“Co-design is a widely implemented practice in many areas of design, from software and industrial engineering to the applied arts. It deliberately and systematically incorporates the ideas, knowledge, and interests of stakeholders into the design of an artefact. Contemporary co-design practices in the context of educational video games (EVGs) exist. However, the professional and academic literature gives insufficient insight into how these practices are structured to improve the design process. This research aims to start closing that gap by exploring (1) how EVGs are being co-design, (2) how stakeholders are being identified, (3) involved and (4) how they influence the game design elements (GDEs) of EVGs. Twelve semi-structured interviews with educational game designers from international companies were conducted to answer those questions. First, interviewees are asked to describe their co-design practices. Then, they are invited to participate in a hierarchy-building exercise to review an EVG of their portfolio, define its stakeholders and explore how they influenced specific GDEs. After systematically exploring these relationships, the data collected from these exercises were aggregated and contrasted with the interviews for interpretation. Results show that co-design practices follow a three-stage process but varying degrees of stakeholder involvement. Five different types of stakeholder were identified and are involved at specific stages of the co-design process. Most seem to consistently influence specific GDEs regardless of a game's content or context. These findings offer a preliminary framework that serves as a guide for educational game designers. Additional research on co-design could validate these practices, detail them further, optimise the processes and increase the value of EVGs as educational tools in their many fields of application, from healthcare to formal education.”
Reference
Guimarães Santos, A., Oliveira, W., Hamari, J., Rodrigues, L., Toda, A., Palomino, P., & Isotani, S. (2021, August 05). The relationship between user types and gamification designs - user modeling and user-adapted interaction. Retrieved December 22, 2021, from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11257-021-09300-z
Keyword
Educational video games, game-based learning, game design, co-design, stakeholder involvement, research