Transfer of Gaming: Transfer of training in serious gaming

Serious gaming for learning purposes exploits characteristics of play to help people learn by using computer games. The combination of play, learning and simulation may explain the popularity of the concept of serious gaming. Furthermore, PC based games may have great learning value because they offer the opportunity to create dynamic an elaborate learning environments where learners can actively work on authentic problems. Following the introduction, Chapter 2 to 6 cover the most crucial aspects of serious gaming, i.e.: play, motivation, learning, and transfer. Central to Chapter 2 will be the questions ‘what constitutes play’ and ‘why do we like to engage in games’. These topics are discussed from a developmental, psychological and evolutionary perspective. We conclude that play has a firm foundation in evolution and individual development. It not only drives the physical, social and cognitive development of animals and man, but also functions as a behaviour generator that stimulates the development of new types of behaviour and skills. In Chapter 3, motivational aspects and individual differences with respect to gaming are discussed. In this chapter we identify three major influences on the internal motivation of people to undertake or like an activity, i.e.: competence, autonomy and self-realization. In addition, we describe external conditions that may affect a person’s feeling of autonomy and competence such as rewards, feedback, meaningful goals and rules. Furthermore, in this chapter we present the results of an empirical study that we have carried out investigating whether or not individual learning characteristics may be a good predictor of gaming as preferred learning tool for individuals. Subsequently, Chapter 4 describes the benefits of gaming from a didactical viewpoint and offers a new educational approach that is relevant for serious gaming. This so-called JOT approach is based on constructionist theories of education and discovery learning. Chapter 5 explores the topics of effectiveness and efficiency of learning in games (Transfer of Gaming, ToG) borrowing from knowledge built up in the areas of modeling and simulation and didactics. An overview is provided of the different transfer measures and some positive aspects of serious games that are not considered in these measures are discussed. These positive aspects relate to motivation, engagement, explorative behaviour, and the fact that the “cost” of serious gaming for professionals may become very low when it is done in leisure time. In addition, a task-taxonomy is invoked showing that, serious gaming may allow people to learn many kinds of relevant skills, despite large differences between playing PC games and real tasks. The taxonomy can be useful as a grip to predict ToG, to design games and to evaluate games. In Chapter 6 we present a stepwise reference framework that can be used by game designers to develop serious games from an instructional and cost-effectiveness point of view. In the final chapter, we discuss our findings of the previous chapters. We conclude that serious games should resemble the operational environment on the key (critical) aspects of the task to be learned. This resemblance not only concerns the physical and synthetic environment, but also the information processing operations, which are determined by the underlying (mathematical) models, scenarios, objects, characters, and storylines. If there is sufficient validity in the physical, synthetical, and informational world that carries the game, games may teach relevant skills and enrich existing training curricula making learners more inspired, motivated and engaged.