As a nurse educator, one of the challenges we face is keeping the teaching/learning process interesting. Nursing students have a huge amount of information that they have to learn in a short amount of time. Traditional methods of teaching are often used by nurse educators to deliver content. These lectures are often found to be boring. I want to find innovative teaching methods that can be utilized to enliven the classroom experience of the students and strengthen learning outcomes. Gaming is one strategy that can be used to keep students from becoming bored and can get them actively involved in their learning.
Games are typically associated with play. Games have been used to help us learn throughout our entire life. Many children learned their colors playing Candyland, how to count money by paying rent in Monopoly, problem solving playing checkers, and social skills playing with their peers. The use of games for educational purposes was first recorded 3,000 years ago in China. (Bradshaw and Lowenstein, 2007) Serious games is a term first coined by the Department of Defense to explain war games to members of congress. (Skiba, 2008) Serious games have educational goals. Gaming was brought to the business world by ex-military officers to solve problems. In a Business Week Special Report, the video game market is one of the fastest growing industries, increasing from $31 billion in 2006 to over $48 billion in 2011. (Skiba, 2008) Many corporations are using games for recruitment and training of employees. Using games as a teaching strategy developed in the 1960s and quickly became popular. Interest died down in the 1980s. Many nursing games were first produced in the 1990s. Gaming is not a new idea, but it may be a new strategy to add spark to your class.
Games can take many forms, but in the classroom, any activity that involves a competition, social interaction, and some form of prize or award would be considered a game. Ideally all students should participate either by contributing to the team or individually. Even losers should feel that they won by enjoying the activity or gaining knowledge. Games do not necessarily require two or more students to be competitive. It is possible to compete against self by increasing their score over time.
LeCroy (2006) states that it is well documented in the literature that adult learners prefer active involvement in their learning and have a self motivation to learn practical and useful information. Royce and Newton (2007) state that adults learn best by active learning and value gaming as a teaching strategy that demands their participation. We have all heard the statistics that Dale in 1969 documented .”People learn 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what is demonstrated, and 90% when what is said and done is combined.” (Kennedy, 2006) The literature supports gaming as teaching technique to improve student outcomes. I will talk about some research studies later in my presentation.
Adult learners have a preferred learning style. Learning can occur through visual, auditory, and/or kinesthetic approaches. Learning and retention of information may be increased by up to 90% when all the learning styles are incorporated into a teaching strategy. (LeCroy, 2006) Gaming has the potential to combine all of these. Visual learners will benefit from the visual effects or having questions written out to read, auditory learners can benefit from having the question read out loud or electronic voice, kinesthetic learners benefit by becoming actively involved by clicking on the right answer, moving a game piece, or doing a skill. Some students do not enjoy competition and there is the potential for student outcomes to be compromised. The literature supports that adult learners benefit from an assortment of delivery modes, and gaming meets the needs of adult learners who prefer to assume responsibility for their own learning. However, students may not view gaming as valuable if they prefer to take a more passive role in regards to their education. (Royse and Newton, 2007)
In a study conducted by Sward et.al (2008), interactivity with colleagues was seen by students as the most helpful aspect of the game. Although interacting with the instructor was important, students learned from each other. The discussion of why an answer was the way it was proved to be viewed as the most valuable. Students also enjoyed the fun way to learn. A student stated, “The fact that it was a game and I really wanted to get the answers right helped things to stick. It was fun to be competitive. It helped me to remember the content.” (Sward, et al., 2008) When students can see the application to real life, games are most effective. Playing a game can require critical thinking and problem solving skills. Therefore, they can be an excellent learning strategy that is appropriate for nursing education. Evidence shows that people learn best in an environment where they are having fun. (Kennedy, 2006)
There are also disadvantages to using games. One disadvantage is the creation of stress and embarrassment for students when wrong answers are given. Competition can be threatening to some. It is difficult to evaluate individual learning when teams play. There may be cost involved, both monetary and time to prepare and/or buy the game and supplies. It will also take time to play and discuss. There are many “free” templates and games out there that can be used. This would greatly reduce the time of creating a game from scratch, but you will need to evaluate the game to be sure that it meets the objectives for learning.
I have a list of web resources for on-line games and templates in my portfolio. They are hundreds available on-line, but they may or may not meet your needs. It takes time to evaluate whether a game is appropriate for your teaching needs. Students with disabilities or ESL students may have difficulty with the game format. This would have to be evaluated on an individual basis.
Plan to collect evaluative feedback from your students to determine if this is an effective means of learning. Evaluation can be accomplished by having students fill out a survey with questions that they can rank on a scale of 1-10. Quantitative questions could include: This game was beneficial to my learning, provided a fun way to learn, was easy to use, questions were appropriate and motivated me to learn. Ask qualitative such as asking how the game experience could be improved and ask for any additional comments. The method most often used to evaluate cognitive learning is the pretest and posttest. ((Royse and Newton, 2007) Royse and Newton (2007) reference Oermann and Bagerson stating that gaming is only suitable for formative, not summative evaluation. With formative evaluation, immediate feedback is given to the student. Summative evaluation assesses whether the student has achieved the objectives at the end of the learning experience. Debriefing at the end of the session helps to analyze the data presented during the game and what conclusions were made. It helps the students relate the game to their work. (Royse and Newton, 2007) Remember that games are only tools for learning. It is essential that the knowledge gained is accurate and relevant for real world practice. Teachers should assess validity, reliability, and utility. Does it do what it claims to do (validity), does it produce predictable results (reliability), and is it cost effective (utility)?
There is no one learning strategy that will be preferred by all the students. By introducing a variety of teaching strategies, you can challenge students and help them to develop their problem solving abilities. Think about how you can emphasize the advantages and minimize the disadvantages. Decrease stress for those students that view competition with anxiety by providing incentives for playing and letting students know that they will not be teased for wrong answers. Facilitate learning by providing rationale for correct and incorrect answers. Set guidelines, so the game does not get out of control. Before using a game, evaluate it for real-world relevance, flexible format, clear instructions, involves students, is stimulating, and easy to use. Consider doing a research study on its relevance as a teaching strategy.
![The History of Games ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)