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Introduction to the Special Section on Game-Based Learning: Design and Applications

Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) is a very broad and increasingly mature research field. It encompasses a variety of research topics, ranging from the study of different pedagogical approaches, teaching techniques, and strategies for online learning to the application of advanced technologies in educational settings (e.g., different kinds of mobile devices, sensors, and sensor networks that provide the technical foundation for context-aware, ubiquitous learning). One of the areas in TEL is game-based learning. Researchers have found that educational and/or computer-based games have real potential as learning tools (Amory, 2001; Chiong, 2010; Gros, 2007; Quinn, 2005; Squire, 2005). It has been shown, for example, that games can help players to improve their problem-solving and negotiation skills, narrative and communication skills, as well as non-linear thinking patterns. Game-based learning has already been successfully applied to both school and workplace settings and its adoption is continually increasing. In addition, there has recently been some increasing interest in "gamification" of education as a means to increase students' motivation for learning. Gamification refers to the use of game design elements, or the so-called game mechanics, in nongame contexts and applications with the aim of increasing users' engagement with those applications (Deterding, Sicart, Nacke, O'Hara, & Dixon, 2011; Zichermann & Cunningham, 2011). Game design elements are often very efficient in increasing motivation as they are grounded on research results of positive psychology (McGonigal, 2011). Although the term was originally coined with the focus of integrating social and/or reward aspects of games into software (Mangalindan, 2010), more recently its use has been extended to incorporating simulations as well. This special section on "Game-based Learning: Design and Applications" provides a glimpse of the design and applications of video and simulation games in teaching and learning. Three papers related to the theme of game-based learning have been included. Each of these papers was comprehensively reviewed by two to three reviewers over two rounds of rigorous review cycles and thoroughly checked by the editors. In the first paper of the special section, Life Skills Developed by Those Who Have Played in Video Game Tournaments, Thirunarayanan and Vilchez reported on an empirical study that was aimed at exploring whether the competitive nature of video game tournaments affects the development of some important life skills, including cognitive (memorization, decision making, and arithmetic skills) and social (leadership, communication, coordination of a group's activities, and team work) skills, as well as work performance. The study was based on a comparison of the effects that video games have on the aforementioned skills as perceived by the students who participated in video game tournaments and those who did not. The collected data demonstrated that statistically significant proportions of the participants who had played in video game tournaments reported positive influence of video game play on the development of their life skills, compared to those who had not played in such tournaments. These findings indicate that the use of video games tournaments could facilitate the acquisition of life skills, though the level of competitiveness in such tournaments should be adaptable to the characteristics of the given study group. The second paper by Simic, Constructive Simulation as a Collaborative Learning Tool in Education and Training of Crisis Staff, describes how a constructive simulation can be used to train members of a local community to react properly in situations of natural and man-made disasters. This paper has focused particularly on disasters caused by floods, and Simic proposed a combined use of a constructive simulation system and a flood simulator to present as reliably as possible the dynamics of the rising water level and its effects on the surrounding environment. …