Irish Games Based Learning Conference
On 29 June 2023, Dr. Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen (CEO of Serious Games Interactive) was invited to give a presentation on “Collaborative Dilemma Based Learning Games” at the Irish Conference on Game-Based Learning - this year’s theme being “Unlocking the Power of Game-Based Learning”. The abstract of the presentation is as follows:
This presentation aims to introduce a digital learning game format that is specifically designed to cater to the classroom’s unique strengths and weaknesses. It stands on the shoulders of well-known successes like Kahoot, Mentimeter, Slido, Wooclap and Quizlet – but with a richer and deeper focus on games. It embraces the teacher as a facilitator while harnessing the strength of the students as a community that together can explore, discuss and reflect different topics guided by the teacher. The teacher guides and enriches the journey but the students together decide how it unfolds – where will they go, and how will it end.
The approach grows out of research that highlights the importance of collaborative learning, active involvement, problem-based approach, and the strength of narratives for learning. It flips the normal approach to digital learning games upside-down by keeping the feedback and learning between students and teachers rather than trying to make the digital game create this feedback loop. As such it insists on the computer and screen as secondary vehicles for scaffolding and supporting the learning process between people in the classroom.
The approach uses the key building block in games, interesting choices as the glue, which can fundamentally be defined as dilemmas rather than decisions or choices. The approach has been baked into a new learning platform called DiBL, where you can make your own collaborative learning games, roleplaying games or simple branching simulations games. The very early results and thinking of dilemma-based learning games in the GREAT project will be shared with the audience.
The Conference Program can be found here.