278 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES, VOL. 3, NO.

4, OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2010

Guest Editorial: Special Section on

Game-Based Learning
Timothy K. Shih, Senior Member, IEEE, Kurt Squire, and Rynson W.H. Lau, Senior Member, IEEE

1 INTRODUCTION

E DUTAINMENT and serious games introduced a new

important marketing direction for practical technologies
such as multimedia communication, computer-human-
pedagogical models for instructional design and assessment
need to be enhanced to consider using video games for
education. Thus, a model bridging between the educational
interaction, and ubiquitous computing. This exciting out- considerations and the usage of technologies has become
come also pointed out the educational potential using essential. In addition, the strategy to evaluate the success-
computer games. Several commercially succeeded games, fulness of GBL is necessary.
although not intentionally designed, have interesting This special section focuses on the Information and
learning, socializing, and interacting strategies embedded Communication Technologies (ICT) for GBL. In the next
in them. These fundamental and intrinsic learning aspects secton, we briefly discuss a few current research trends.
of successful games must be investigated. How to explore
pedagogical principles for serious games, to design and
implement systems for Game-Based Learning (GBL), and to 2 INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
assess student learning achievement are essential. TECHNOLOGIES FOR GBL
GBL, according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/ GBL uses technologies from different areas. Although
wiki/Game_based_learning), is a branch of Serious Games. educational technologies usually focus on cognitive psy-
GBL uses game technologies, while presenting learning chology, learning design, and assessment, here, we only
materials in a game story, to attract and encourage students study technologies that are related to ICT. The following
to apply subject matters to the real world. With the sections point out some important issues.
development of pervasive and communication technolo-
gies, GBL further allows students to play and learn in a 2.1 Virtual Reality and Human-Computer Interaction
social community. The experience is successful in that The history of technologies for video games starts from the
students are engaged in a deeper manner to a subject. As a development of 3D computer graphics with limited control
consequence, in most cases, the motivation of the student is devices such as a joy stick or PlayStation 3’s game
higher and the learning performance can be improved. controller. In order to support realistic scenes, virtual
There is no limitation of subject or course for GBL. reality and augmented reality systems can be built in a
However, a few studies suggest that GBL is closely related cave, with more sophisticated interactive devices such as
to problem solving, which leads to problem-based learning wired gloves, the Wii Remote, and Kinect. With the
and inquiry-based learning. Thus, “learning-by-doing” advances of image and video processing technology,
seems to fit the theme of GBL. realistic scenes with video tracking techniques allow
There are some definitions of game taxonomies or game advanced simulation games to be developed. Although
genres. Game taxonomies can be divided into action games, these advanced technologies are not only used for GBL in
adventure games, fighting games, Role Playing Games general, networked virtual reality systems, such as Second
(RPGs), simulations, sports games, and strategy games. Life by Linden Lab, are commonly used in GBL studies.
However, some games fall into more than one category. For
instance, a basketball game can be regarded as a strategy 2.2 Mobile/Ubiquitous/Pervasive GBL
game and a sports game. One advantage of using mobile devices for learning is to
There still exists a fundamental issue of whether GBL incorporate location-aware scenarios [1] for situated learn-
technology really helps students in learning. Traditional ing. Location information can be computed using GPS
(higher location accuracy) or WiFi/ZigBee (lower location
accuracy) by triangulation. In addition, mobile devices can
. T.K. Shih is with National Central University, No. 300, Jhongda Rd., be connected to RFID readers to detect RFID tags attached
Jhongli City, Taoyuan County 32001, Taiwan, ROC.
E-mail: timothykshih@gmail.com. to specific objects (the highest location accuracy). One
. K. Squire is with the School of Education, Curriculum and Instruction, scenario is to use a mobile GBL system called Explore [1] to
University of Wisconsin-Madison, 544b Teacher Education, 225 N. Mills teach middle school students history in an archaeological
St., Madison, WI 53706. E-mail: kdsquire@education.wisc.edu.
. R.W.H. Lau is with the Department of Computer Science, City University
park. Cellular phones are equipped with GPS devices to
of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. E-mail: rynson@cs.cityu.edu.hk. compute location information. Students also carry back-
For information on obtaining reprints of this article, please send e-mail to: packs with speakers, which play location-aware sounds.
lt@computer.org. Upon receiving guidance, students are able to check the
1939-1382/10/$26.00 ß 2010 IEEE Published by the IEEE CS & ES
SHIH ET AL.: GUEST EDITORIAL: SPECIAL SECTION ON GAME-BASED LEARNING 279

location on a paper map and to compare preconstructed 3D In summary, the first two papers focus on design methods,
virtual objects with the real scene. frameworks, and models.
The third paper, entitled “An Evaluative Study on
2.3 Collaborative GBL VISOLE—Virtual Interactive Student-Oriented Learning
Multiplayer online games can be used as a platform to Environment,” studies a creative constructivist approach
encourage collaborative learning. As a practical experiment, to teaching generic problem-solving skills within a multi-
a 3D scripted game environment [4] was developed to disciplinary context. Contributions include the discovery of
support students’ interactions while they are divided into impediments to students’ learning processes as they use
groups to solve problems. The results suggest that colla- VISOLE and Farmtasia, and how these impediments will
boration on practical problems is easy. However, a higher influence future refinements of VISOLE. The qualitative
level of collaboration under such a game environment is findings in this study, in particular, help advance the field
difficult, since how to effectively encourage collaboration by providing shemes that other researchers could include as
under such a 3D environment is critical. It is important to predictors of learning and engagement outcomes for GBL
identify the type of collaboration that can successfully implementations. As another practical usage of GBL
support learning. technology, the fourth paper, entitled “Teaching Boolean
Logic through Game Rule Tuning,” proposes using game
2.4 Social Networking and GBL
rule tuning activities of the Pac-Man game for teaching
Games can be built on Online Social Networks (OSNs). Boolean Logic. The authors design an interface of a scratch
Although [2] does not address GBL in general, it points out programming tool to allow students to change the game
an interesting conclusion that games developed based on a rules easily and play the game after changes. The realization
social graph (such as Facebook) inherit similar social from Boolean Logic expressions to a real world case is
properties. The distribution of player interaction follows usually difficult for students to imagine. Accordingly, the
the Power Law decade of cumulative distribution, similar to idea of teaching Boolean Logic through appropriate game
the scale-free networks. However, the limitation of platform rule tuning may solve the difficulty. The above two papers
capacity may result in a clear cut-off in distribution. Online demonstrate the practical usage of GBL technologies.
video games create social networks. With the development The fifth paper, entitled “Annie: Automated Generation
of GBL technologies, social networks may realize another of Adaptive Learner Guidance for Fun Serious Games,”
perspective of successfulness in education. builds on a guidance model to integrate pedagogy with core
2.5 Personalization and Adaptive GBL gameplay components. Knowledge-representation and
planning in Artificial Intelligence are used. The outcome
The behavior of players in adaptive games can be described
includes a generative model that is able to automatically
as schemas [3], which could be used actively as cognitive
generate adaptive learner guidance in GBL. Another
models within a game engine. Predesigned schema models
contribution of the paper is in the introduction of remedia-
can be regarded as knowledge representations to control
tion in the execution cycle using measures such as MGPR to
and achieve specific effects while interacting with players.
statistically determine how remediation should be exe-
For instance, if schemas are properly integrated with
cuted. The last paper, entitled “Guided Game-Based
instructional design strategies, adaptive games can assist
Learning Using Fuzzy Cognitive Maps” presents a game-
students in learning.
based learning framework based on Fuzzy Cognitive Maps
(FCMs). It utilizes FCMs to allow a teacher’s knowledge to
3 SUMMARY OF PAPERS IN THIS SPECIAL ISSUE be modeled. The authors also use FCMs to formulate a
student’s knowledge and show how it can be built up to
This special issue received a total of 39 submissions.
match the teacher’s knowledge. To demonstrate the feasi-
Although many articles contained solid research contribu-
bility, a driving training system is implemented. The last
tions, we accepted only six papers to ensure a very high
two papers present adaptive techniques in GBL.
quality special issue. These six papers cover methodology,
GBL technologies in practical usages, and adaptive techni-
ques. The first paper, entitled “Games Methodologies and 4 SUGGESTED RESEARCH DIRECTIONS
Immersive Environments for Virtual Fieldwork,” discusses
GBL does not only mean using video games in education. It
a virtual environment to support exploratory learning is necessary for game designers, game engineers, and
through excavation scenarios. The approach is confirmed educational professionals to work together to build high
by positive user evaluation in archaeological education. In quality GBL systems and content. Although this special
addition, the paper proposes a framework to integrate section does not cover all important technologies, a few
games methods with learning management systems and additional issues can be considered as future research
virtual worlds. The second paper, entitled “Critical Factors directions:
for Technology Integration in Game-Based Pervasive
Learning Spaces,” provides a detailed account of the design, . Practical guidelines for linking content to games.
usage, and experiences of seven mobile learning games for Although there are models for GBL development, it
assisting participants in gaining in-depth knowledge. The is still a difficult but critical issue to properly link
paper also proposes a model to integrate context, pedagogy, content and flow of experience into video games.
and game-design requirements. The model allows the . Taxonomy of games for education. Different aca-
designers and developers to select suitable requirements. demic subjects might need different types of video
280 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES, VOL. 3, NO. 4, OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2010

games. Although there are taxonomies for games, an Timothy K. Shih is a professor at the National
Central University, Taiwan. He was the dean of
analysis strategy of game taxonomy for education is the College of Computer Science, Asia Univer-
helpful. sity, Taiwan, and the department chair of the
. Quantitative metrics for the evaluation of GBL. Computer Science and Information Engineering
GBL increases the motivation of studying. However, Department at Tamkang University, Taiwan.
Dr. Shih was the founder and co-editor-in-chief
a quantitative metric of the improvement could be of the International Journal of Distance Educa-
useful. In addition, the assessment of student tion Technologies, published by the Idea Group
performance needs to distinguish whether a student Publishing, United States. He is an associate
editor of the ACM Transactions on Internet Technology and an associate
successfully plays a game or in fact learns the editor of the IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies. He was also
material. an associate editor of the IEEE Transactions on Multimedia. Dr. Shih
. Social games for collaborative learning. With the has been invited to give more than 30 keynote speeches and plenary
recent development of social computing, social talks in international conferences, as well as tutorials at IEEE ICME
2001 and 2006, and ACM Multimedia 2002 and 2007. He is a fellow of
games will further play an important role in GBL. the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), a senior member of
The development of collaborative learning can take ACM, and a senior member of IEEE.
game technologies into consideration.
. Adaptive technologies in GBL. The study of Kurt Squire is an associate professor at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Depart-
individual differences in social networks and game- ment of Curriculum and Instruction and the
play is important. Adaptive technologies to support associate director for educational research and
different types of students while they are playing development at the Wisconsin Institutes for
social games are interesting issues to be investigated. Discovery. His research focuses on the impact
of contemporary gaming practices on learning,
. Advanced ICT. The use of advanced ICT is schooling, and society, and the design of game-
important. With the recent development in Hu- based learning environments from a socio-
man-Computer Interaction technologies, super-rea- cultural perspective. His early work focused on
using civilization as a way to teach history (his was the first videogames-
listic and high resolution graphics, and 3D video based dissertation written). Since that time, he has transitioned to
technologies, there are technical challenges ahead, studies of mobile games and scientific citizenship and the design of
from both engineering and sociological perspectives. games to make science discoveries visible. He is the author of more
than 75 scholarly works and his work has been funded by the MacArthur
Foundation, the Department of Education, and the US National Science
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Foundation. His upcoming book, entitled Video Games & Education:
Possible Worlds, Personalized Learning, provides an in-depth discus-
The guest editors of this special section would like to thank sion and synthesis of this line of inquiry and design.
Peter Brusilovsky for his valuable suggestions through the
writing of this preface, as well as his help with the Rynson W.H. Lau received the PhD degree from
the University of Cambridge. He has been on the
organization of this special section. The guest editors also
faculty of Durham University, City University of
want to thank all the reviewers for their valuable comments Hong Kong, and The Hong Kong Polytechnic
through the paper review process. University. He serves on the editorial boards of
Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds, the
International Journal of Virtual Reality, and the
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