Evaluation of educational games: a research plan towards the proposal of a digital application

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present a research plan on the field of digital educational games evaluation. The study is intended to present a contribution to deepen knowledge on the key dimensions that should be considered in the design of a proposal for a digital application, which will allow the teacher to evaluate and select an educational game according to three indicators: motivation, user experience and learning. Moreover, it’s also intended to understand how the proposal may contribute to change teachers’ attitudes by motivating them for further use of game-based solutions in teaching. For this purpose, two cases will be used: the UNLOVE game and the SANDIEGO INC game. The upcoming study will be of exploratory nature, framed in the socio-critical paradigm, presenting itself as a mixed investigation in which qualitative and quantitative methods are combined and reconciled. Fifty-one 11th grade students in high school level of vocational education will participate in the research. For each game, a session will be held with the students. Then, a questionnaire for evaluation of gaming educational resources will be filled in. An interview will also be applied to each teacher of the class, which had a gaming session. In addition to this, as proposed by the Educational Design Research approach, discussion group dynamics will be created with a focus group of eight experts/teachers that may assist in the design of the digital application. The achieved design of re-search plan allowed a better understanding of the importance of increasing the adoption of this type of teaching strategy by the education professionals, enabling the teacher to use educational games more easily and confidently.