Learning analytics design in serious games

Learning analytics design in serious games

Thursday 08/06 14:00-15:30h

Workshop Space A

Abstract

Digital games are an integral part of the younger generations and they spend a lot of time playing games in- and out-of-school. These systems can generate rich data which can be used to make inferences about what and how students are learning. Many of the constructs that can be measured in games are potentially very hard to grasp by teachers using traditional assessment methods. Therefore, learning analytics holds the potential to unlock valuable information of numerous student’s abilities connected to lifelong learning, such as creativity, productive struggle, persistence, and experimentation. However, the intrinsic multidisciplinary nature of learning games, together their frequent open-ended environments, can make very challenging to design games that can actually be used to make valid and actionable inferences through learning analytics. In this workshop we will provide an overview of the topic and of our design process, and then we will have participants practice how to design learning games and data infrastructure that can be aligned to conduct learning analytics research.

Needs Analysis

Digital games in education are becoming increasingly popular. Because of the open-ended nature of learning games, analytics is more challenging than in other closed environments such as MOOCs or ITSs. This workshop will provide an overview and some basic design tools on how researchers can approach this topic.

Learning Objectives

After this workshop, attendants are expected to learn:

1. What is game-based learning and why it’s important for measurement point of view.
2. Some examples of learning analytics in games for learning and what are the challenges.
3. How to apply a design process to align game design, data infrastructure and analytics in order to conduct learning analytics in game-based learning.

Pre-activities

None.

Session Description

First, an introduction to games for learning and assessment to show how is the current state of the field. Then, the facilitator will give 4-6 games and have each group to play one game. They discuss what kinds of constructs could be measured and what they see as evidence for those constructs. Also, they will discuss how they would differently for certain constructs and why. Finally, share out by each group about the learning game and report on how the evidence from the game can be linked to constructs.