Tölvumál - 01.10.2012, Page 16

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Games have been played since the earliest stages of civilization.
Games are not only an interaction activity but also a learning
activity both for children and adults. The study of the effectiveness
and game dynamics when using games for learning purposes has
led to the development of the Game Based Learning (GBL)
research. In the last decades we have experienced a digital
revolution that has transformed not only the way we communicate
but also the context of our games. Because of the current diversity
of game contexts, we analyse the games according to their
modality as face-to-face games, compared to digital or computer-
based games. The studies related to GBL have been developed
both in face-to-face contexts (Carlson, 1969) and computer-
based contexts (Prensky, 2001). In the context of GBL, we
consider the relevance of analysing the differences in the students’
performance when playing in a face-to-face context and their
performance in the computer-based scenario, in order to study
how the game modality is affecting the learners’ performance.
This analysis could contribute to identify the participants’
performance differences whether the interaction among peers
playing collaboratively takes place face-to-face or through online
via chat. Moreover, the learning experience in both modalities is
analysed considering the relevance of the easy-of-use,
acceptability and utility perceived by the learners’ after their
performance, together with the future uses of the games.
In this study we analyse a finance game initially designed as a
face-to-face activity that has been developed as a computer-
based game. This process aimed to facilitate the use of the game
in virtual contexts beyond the time and space constraints of a
physical classroom. Furthermore, designers aimed to take
advantage of the Serious Games (SG) approaches to enhance
both the learning experience and performance, through active
learning methodologies such problem solving and decisions’
making theories (Foreman, 2003). In the context of management
education, GBL may be considered as a learning environment
contributing to enhance the fulfilment of educational objectives
through game play (Kim, Park, & Baek, 2009).
One of the main concerns when transposing the face-to-face
activity into a computer-based environment was to enhance, or at
least maintain, learners’ performance and their learning
experience. Likewise well-designed computer-based learning
environments have an effect on the learning performance poorly
designed ones could lead to negative outcomes. In this line,
Computer Learning Environments (CLE) ought to be designed
aiming to achieve a correct level of usability, utility and acceptability
in order to enhance the learning objectives (Fuentes, Romero, &
Serrano, 2011) while supporting the instructional design. Usability
is achieved by “making systems easy to learn and easy to use”
(Preece et al., 1994, p.14), utility is the relevance or efficiency of
the CLE (Tricot, 2007) and practical acceptability is related to the
robustness and reliability of CLE. With these objectives in mind,
the face-to-face game was redesigned as a computer-based
game in a 2 stage process. In the very first stage, the game was
designed as a table game, in order to test and validate it with real
students (n=18) interacting in a face-to-face context. Next, it was
Padrós, A., Romero, M., Usart, M.
Educational Innovation Academic Quality Unit (DIPQA)
ESADE Business & Law School – Universitat Ramon Llull, Barcelona,
Catalonia, Spain
CompaRing leaRneRs’
peRFoRmanCe in a FaCe­to­FaCe
Context and a ComputeR based
seRious game in FinanCe