The Effective Integration of Digital Games and Learning Content
This thesis is concerned with how the coveted user-engagement of digital games can be usefully harnessed for educational goals. Educational software has traditionally used gaming elements as a separate reward for completing learning content. The early "edutainment" sector became synonymous...
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| Format: | Thesis (University of Nottingham only) |
| Language: | English |
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2007
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/10385/ |
| _version_ | 1848791072283557888 |
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| author | Habgood, Matthew Peter Jacob |
| author_facet | Habgood, Matthew Peter Jacob |
| author_sort | Habgood, Matthew Peter Jacob |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This thesis is concerned with how the coveted user-engagement of digital games can be usefully harnessed for educational goals. Educational software has traditionally used gaming elements as a separate reward for completing learning content. The early "edutainment" sector became synonymous with this cursory "chocolate-covered broccoli" approach (Bruckman, 1999): tagging games on to learning content in order to make it more palatable. However, such methods have often proved ineffective (Kerawalla & Crook, 2005; Trushell, Burrell, & Maitland, 2001) and have been criticised for combining the worst elements of both games and education (Papert, 1998) as well as for following extrinsically motivating design models (Lepper, 1985; Parker & Lepper, 1992).
This thesis provides a theoretical and empirical exploration of game designs that follow a more integrated approach. Five studies are described which detail the development and evaluation of a new theory for creating intrinsic integration based on integrating learning content with the game mechanics of a game. This includes the development of Zombie Division: a game that teaches mathematics to children through swordplay with skeletal opponents. Two experimental studies examine the motivational differences between integrated and non-integrated versions of Zombie Division by measuring time-on-task. Two more examine the educational effectiveness of integrated and non-integrated versions by measuring learning gains for a fixed amount of time-on-task. Statistically significant results are found which suggest that the integrated version is motivationally and educationally more effective than the extrinsic equivalent. Full results and implications are discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T18:22:41Z |
| format | Thesis (University of Nottingham only) |
| id | nottingham-10385 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T18:22:41Z |
| publishDate | 2007 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-103852025-02-28T11:08:04Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/10385/ The Effective Integration of Digital Games and Learning Content Habgood, Matthew Peter Jacob This thesis is concerned with how the coveted user-engagement of digital games can be usefully harnessed for educational goals. Educational software has traditionally used gaming elements as a separate reward for completing learning content. The early "edutainment" sector became synonymous with this cursory "chocolate-covered broccoli" approach (Bruckman, 1999): tagging games on to learning content in order to make it more palatable. However, such methods have often proved ineffective (Kerawalla & Crook, 2005; Trushell, Burrell, & Maitland, 2001) and have been criticised for combining the worst elements of both games and education (Papert, 1998) as well as for following extrinsically motivating design models (Lepper, 1985; Parker & Lepper, 1992). This thesis provides a theoretical and empirical exploration of game designs that follow a more integrated approach. Five studies are described which detail the development and evaluation of a new theory for creating intrinsic integration based on integrating learning content with the game mechanics of a game. This includes the development of Zombie Division: a game that teaches mathematics to children through swordplay with skeletal opponents. Two experimental studies examine the motivational differences between integrated and non-integrated versions of Zombie Division by measuring time-on-task. Two more examine the educational effectiveness of integrated and non-integrated versions by measuring learning gains for a fixed amount of time-on-task. Statistically significant results are found which suggest that the integrated version is motivationally and educationally more effective than the extrinsic equivalent. Full results and implications are discussed. 2007 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en arr https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/10385/1/Habgood_2007_Final.pdf Habgood, Matthew Peter Jacob (2007) The Effective Integration of Digital Games and Learning Content. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. Digital Games Computer Games Video Games Learning Games Serious Games Intrinsic Integration Intrinsic Fantasy Endogenous Fantasy |
| spellingShingle | Digital Games Computer Games Video Games Learning Games Serious Games Intrinsic Integration Intrinsic Fantasy Endogenous Fantasy Habgood, Matthew Peter Jacob The Effective Integration of Digital Games and Learning Content |
| title | The Effective Integration of Digital Games and Learning Content |
| title_full | The Effective Integration of Digital Games and Learning Content |
| title_fullStr | The Effective Integration of Digital Games and Learning Content |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Effective Integration of Digital Games and Learning Content |
| title_short | The Effective Integration of Digital Games and Learning Content |
| title_sort | effective integration of digital games and learning content |
| topic | Digital Games Computer Games Video Games Learning Games Serious Games Intrinsic Integration Intrinsic Fantasy Endogenous Fantasy |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/10385/ |