Development of a Game-Based Motivation Strategy for a College Course

ABSTRACT DEVELOPMENT OF A GAME-BASED MOTIVATION STRATEGY FOR A COLLEGE COURSE by © Andreina McPherson-Shelton 2010 Masters of Science in Instructional Design and Technology California State University, Chico Spring 2010 The main goal of this project was to improve the online learning experience of adult learners enrolled in the Women in American History hybrid course at Butte College. A Game-based Motivation Strategy was created to address the lack of motivation expressed by students while working in the online component of the course. It consisted of two major parts: 1) Game playing, and 2) Game content development. The Strategy was designed to be delivered over one academic semester and integrated with the instructor’s delivery of WIAH course curricula. Given the motivation problem, the affective domain of learning was addressed using Main’s (1992) Integrated Motivation Instructional Design (IMID) model. Assessment instruments and a formative evaluation plan were developed to aid in the delivery of the Strategy. For the first several weeks eighteen students were introduced to and played games online that featured women from the WIAH course subject matter. During the ninth week, the students ix participated in the game content development activity, which allowed them to research women assigned by the instructor and develop questions and answers for new games. Using Kirkpatrick’s (1975) approach, the overall focus of the evaluation was on learners’ reaction to components of the Game-based Motivation Strategy. The designer aimed to evaluate at Level 1 the achievement of seven affective domain objectives. Additionally, there was an attempt to evaluate the perceived learning (Level 1) and actual learning (Level 2) from one cognitive domain objective centered on course subject material. The evaluation did not check for learning outcomes beyond what learners perceived or actually achieved in the short time engaged with the Strategy’s components. The evaluation consisted of usability tests of the games’ design, function, and navigation; and focus groups and surveys to assess learners’ attitudes about game playing, game content development tasks, and the use of games’ as course assessment tools. Evaluation of the Game-based Motivation Strategy revealed some successes and some ineffective aspects. Weaknesses were shown in design of the games in terms of aesthetics and capacity to allow the user more freedom with the game structure and content. Nevertheless, students agreed their online learning experience was made more interesting by playing the games; over half were motivated to read more about women in American history after playing the games, which was rated as a favorable activity; students indicated developing content for the games helped them reflect on experiences of the women they were researching; and that their recall of information in the course was better having participated.