Educational Video Games for Learning English Vocabulary

Researchers have been exploring the potential of educational video games for learning English vocabulary. The primary focus is on two questions: (1) Can educational video games motivate students to learn English vocabulary (which explores students' attitudes)? and (2) Are educational video games effective in acquiring English vocabulary (which explores learning outcomes)? Good quality empirical research on this is rare because of the shortage of games specific to educational purposes. In addition, although some researchers have contributed to answering these two questions, their methodology is not convincing. Therefore, this chapter aims to provide an overview of their methodologies by introducing participant groups, popular educational video games, pre-test, post-test, and data analysis. Finally, this chapter will inspire researchers to conduct more reliable empirical research, thereby making better-found contributions to the field.

Development of Teacher Digital Competence in the Area of E-Safety through Educational Video Games

There is a clear need to promote motivating and effective training actions for the development of teachers’ digital competence, especially in the area of e-safety. Although educational video game-based learning has proven effective to improve motivation and learning outcomes, the existing evidence about its effectiveness for the development of teachers’ digital competence is very limited. This study examines the use of educational video games in an online course in MOOC format with the aim of developing teachers’ digital competence in the e-safety area. A total of 179 teachers from nonuniversity schools in the region of Castilla y León (Spain) participated in this study. A pre‑test and a post-test were used to measure the knowledge acquired by the participants, and a questionnaire was used to measure their perceptions. The obtained results suggest that game-based learning using educational video games is an effective and viable approach to train teachers in the e-safety area of digital competence.

A Systematic Literature Review of Analytics for Adaptivity Within Educational Video Games

Research has shown that serious games, digital game-based learning, and educational video games can be powerful learning instruments. However, experimental and meta-research have revealed that several moderators and variables influence the resulting learning outcomes. Advances in the areas of learning and game analytics potentially allow for controlling and improving the underlying learning processes of games by adapting their mechanics to the individual needs of the learner, to properties of the learning material, and/or to environmental factors. However, the field is young and no clear-cut guidelines are yet available. To shed more light on this topic and to identify common ground for further research, we conducted a systematic and pre-registered analysis of the literature. Particular attention was paid to different modes of adaptivity, different adaptive mechanisms in various learning domains and populations, differing theoretical frameworks, research methods, and measured concepts, as well as divergent underlying measures and analytics. Only 10 relevant papers were identified through the systematic literature search, which confirms that the field is still in its very early phases. The studies on which these papers were based, however, show promise in terms of the efficacy of adaptive educational games. Moreover, we identified an increased interest in the field of adaptive educational games and in the use of analytics. Nevertheless, we also identified a clear lack of common theoretical foundations as well as the application of rather heterogenous methods for investigating the effects of adaptivity. Most problematic was the lack of sufficient information (e.g., descriptions of used games, adaptive mechanisms), which often made it difficult to draw clear conclusions. Future studies should therefore focus on strong theory building and adhere to reporting standards across disciplines. Researchers from different disciplines must act in concert to advance the current state of the field in order to maximize its potential.