Thesis Hypothesis

Research Question: How to make an effective yet fun educational digital games that will help secondary school students or other students aged from 11 to 18 in learning key skills through the use of technology?

From studies I have looked at, I can deduce the ideal of how an education game could be:

The first thing to make clear, is that the game will work in collaboration with teachers and not replacing them. The game will be a support to the topic, and giving useful information on the students’ progress. Real time data for the teacher highlighting where the student is struggling and where they are succeeding, will allow a more customized approach towards individual students.

Addressing all player’s types so that no student is left behind. This will be analyzed further by questioning students to help me to understand what type of games the majority likes, while also adding features for other player types. My guess would be an RPG (Role playing game).

Collaboration, where students can help and encourage each other in studying while playing. It can incorporate a guild where student’s gather together to defeat a boss in the level or have guild competitions. Although guild competitions could be risky, since the best students might team up and bully other students.

Students in the game will also be able to skip levels if they already are fluent in a specific area of the subject. They will be challenged by a test in order to have access to the level. If their knowledge is not yet up to standard with the level, then they will have to master the previous one before. This way students won’t repeat things they already know, and others won’t be challenged by to hard tests.

Players will be able to train as long as they like in order to master the skills without ever failing. This should make students feel comfortable and eager to retry if they do not manage to beat a level. Answers will also be given so that there is a learning curve from every outcome.

The game will be accessible everywhere not only at school so if the student would like to continue their practice they could do so anytime they want. That’s why I am envisioning the game to be an app on a smartphone and on a computer. Students at school can log on their account on a computer to play, while at home they can log on form their computers or smartphones.