As defined by, Ed Tech Review, learning games or "game-based learning" is a "type of game play that has defined learning outcomes." An important distinction can be made between "game-based learning" or "learning games" on the one hand and "gamification" on the other: where gamification incorporates attributes and structures of games into a non-game learning environment, a "learning game" is ultimately a game. It’s useful, then, to also define “game.” I like James Gee’s definition in this video (also embedded below): a video game, he says, is simply “a set of problems that you must solve in order to win.”

A game, Gee ultimately argues, is, then, an assessment of learning in itself. He makes the point that he is pushing “situated and embodied learning,” rather than digital media or games in and of themselves. The game design, then, creates learning through students’ active engagement and then assesses that learning through the game design (in other words, students must win to succeed).

Put another way, “Games are architectures for engagement,” as Constance Steinkuehler, an associate professor of digital media at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and co-director of the Games+Learning+Society (GLS) center, said in a 2013 panel discussion.

Further, Steinkuehler discussed her research, which explored why boys who “read [at] a couple of grades below level in school” nonetheless “read texts way above their grade level if the texts are part of online games.” Her research, which involved a series of tests with that key motivator, pizza, showed that motivation and engagement affected performance.

Given that games are a means to promote “situated and embodied learning, then, it’s easy to conclude that classrooms should be utilizing learning games or game-based learning. But creating or finding effective and engaging learning games can be difficult for teachers. Games are expensive and challenging to create, regardless of whether they entail expensive graphics (video games) or simply a set of rules and some basic materials (like a board game). David Schaller, Principal of Education Web Adventures, explores what makes a learning game and evaluates a couple of so-called learning games. Schaller uses the characteristics identified by Malone and Lepper (1987), which include Challenge, Curiosity, Control, and Fantasy before evaluating an early learner game called Pest Detective. Schaller’s finding here is that this interactive does not provide players with enough control to qualify as a game--there is only one possible outcome.

We can similarly evaluate a college-level set of analogue “immersive role-playing” games called Reacting to the Past against this framework. Reacting to the Past is a series of scenarios that instructors can use in their classrooms. Students are given a scenario and asked to take on a character. They then engage with a variety of sources and media and engage in debate with other students to argue for a particular outcome. These games are an interesting example because the materials are entirely static consisting of “old media,” but the concept includes the four characteristics of games identified by Malone and Lepper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNfPdaKYOPI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnEN2Sm4IIQ

https://news.stanford.edu/2013/03/01/games-education-tool-030113/

http://edtechreview.in/dictionary/298-what-is-game-based-leaming

https://www.eduweb.com/schaller-games.pdf

http://books.wwnorton.com/books/reactingpast.aspx