Zea, Sanchez, Gutierrez, Cabrera, & Paderewski (2009) Design of educational multiplayer videogames: A vision from collaborative learning



The purpose of this article was to make collaborative learning techniques simpler with the introduction of educational video games. The researchers also worked to find how the academic guidelines impacted how the video game was developed.

The author started through analyzing the use of video games in education and how games can enhance the learning process. It was then stated how this new technology of educational games could become more beneficial through developing games with the purpose of incorporating collaborative learning. There were guidelines for the designs in order to guide this project as it was meant to enhance collaboration in the classroom. These guidelines were about how the games should be designed and used. Through these guidelines the collaborative process was incorporated into the process of developing video games. The effects of these guidelines on the architecture of the video games were then analyzed. In order to test the effectiveness of this technique the authors designed an educational video game with the intention of teaching vowels which incorporated group activities. In having students play this game the level of collaboration was observed.

This compares to the article It’s All Fun and Games until Someone Learns Something: Assessing the Learning Outcomes of Two Educational Games as both of these focused on the design of games with a specific aspect of learning in mind.

The keywords for this article are: video game design, educational video games, CSCL, e-learning, collaborative systems, adaptive systems
Some useful articles were:

McFarlane A. Sparrowhawk A, Heald Y. Report on the educational use of games; 2002. Available from https://www.teem.org.uk/publicationa/teem_gamesined_full.pdf

Rosas R, Nussbaum M, Cumsille P, Marianov V, Correa M, Flores P, et al. Beyond nintendo: design and assessment of educational video games for 1st and 2nd grade students. Comput Educ 2003; 40:1.

Mooney C. Theories of childhood: an introduction to Dewey. Montessori, Erikson, Piaget & Vygotsky. Minnesota: Redleaf Press; 2000.

Johnson DW, Johnson RT. Learning together. In: Sharan S. editor. Handbook of cooperative learning methods. Connecticut: Greenwood Press; 1994.

Rollings A, Morris D. Game architecture and design. Indianapolis: New Riders; 2003.

Salen K, Zimmerman E. Rules of play: game design fundamentals. Boston: The MIT Press; 2003.

Crawford C. Chris Crawford on game design. Indianapolis: New Riders; 2003.

Some questions I have after reading this article are:
Is collaborative learning more effective when done with a game?
Can other activities enhance collaborative learning more effectively?

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