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Game-Based Learning Lesson Mini-Design Plan

Team Four: Katie Beberian, Scott Deimler, Jonathan Inge, Nichol Veles
Instructional Science and Technology, California State University, Monterey Bay

IST522: Instructional Design

Dr. Jeanne Farrington

October 27, 2020

Mini Design Plan for Game-Based Learning

For this project, Team Four has chosen to create a lesson about game-based learning to

deliver to Team One. Game-based learning is a growing trend in instructional design and is

influencing instruction both in educational and workplace settings. 

According to Plass et al. (2015), game-based learning can be defined as a “type of game

play with defined learning outcomes” (259). Game-based learning takes many forms, from

traditional drill or practice activities that are incentivized by rewards or badges, to sophisticated

games that are reminiscent of popular video or computer games (Otterbreit-Leftwich & Brush,

2018).

Research shows many benefits of games as a way to facilitate learning. Game-based

learning creates an environment where students can develop an emotional connection to learning

and the subject matter, which helps keep them motivated and engaged (Dadheech, 2018). Studies

also show that the knowledge created or learning acquired through playing a game is better

remembered than learning through other means (Gros, 2007). Furthermore, games can contribute

to students becoming better learners more broadly, since playing games leads to the development

of skills “extremely important for learning: problem-solving, sequence learning, deductive

reasoning, memorizing. In addition, group strategies such as cooperative work and task-based

learning can be introduced easily in the setting of a game” (Gros, 2007).

Educational games have been developed to support classroom learning for a variety of

subjects and grade levels. They have also been created to support workplaces and other

professional environments. Corporations have adopted serious games for a variety of training

needs, including to help train and onboard staff and clients (Pabón, 2016; Whittaker, 2015). The

military has also begun to incorporate games as a way to train (Peck, 2014). In fact, the military
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does not only use games for training purposes, but has even begun to use gaming equipment, like

Xbox controllers, in the operation of devices such as submarine periscopes, drones, and even

mortar shell launchers (Brown).

To deliver a lesson about game-based learning, Team Four has chosen to design a game

with branching choices so that learners can interact with a game-based learning instructional

design process by going through the process themselves. The game will start when learners are

presented with a scenario in which they play the role of a teacher who has decided to create a

game-based lesson. Much like a choose-your-own-adventure novel, learners will be presented

with a series of situations in which they must choose the best path. Those who take certain paths

will run into dead ends and will be sent back to start. Students who choose the correct path will

eventually succeed in “making a game,” while gaining transferable knowledge along the way. 

The correct path for the game is not random, but instead has a theoretical basis, as the

path follows The Learning Game-Design Process created by Boller and Kapp (2017): 

Figure 1

Boller & Kapp’s Learning Game-Design Process

Boller and Kapp’s design process is specific enough to support instructional designers as

they create a game yet broad enough to apply to many different circumstances, whether it be a
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teacher designing a simple game for their own class or a team of designers developing a game

for a large corporation. The team has also used Boller and Kapp’s (2017) model as a foundation

for their design process. 

Analysis

The course participants will be CSU Monterey Bay students in the MIST program who

are in Team One. Team One received a learner analysis survey that was created by Team Four to

assess their experiences with and feelings about game-based learning and gaming more generally

(Appendix A). Observations from office hours and class discussion boards, as well as MIST

portfolios, were also considered to identify Team One’s needs, goals, personalities, and interests.

Not only will the instruction cater to Team One’s needs, Team Four also plans to leave some

personalized Easter eggs for Team One to find within the game that reference their interests.

Overall, Team One is a diverse group of learners with different goals. However, we found a

couple of important commonalities, including, that they all teach in one form or another and all

have at least some experience with video games. 

Needs Assessment

A traditional needs assessment was not conducted since the directions for this project

asked teams to choose topics prior to being assigned learners. However, an understanding of

game-based learning is essential for any instructional designer, as it is a popular topic in the field

and therefore appropriate for all MIST students. Team One, in the learner analysis survey,

expressed some interest in the subject as well as a lack of knowledge. Team Four’s goal is that

after Team One completes the course they will have an understanding of a game-based learning

design process, so that if they have an opportunity to create a game someday they will have the

skills and knowledge to do so well. 

Learner Analysis

Most of the information about the students in Team One was collected from the learner

analysis sent to them in late September (Appendix A). The learner analysis survey was presented

to the learners as a Google Form. From this survey, useful data about Team One learners were

collected. Survey results can be found in Appendix B. The following is a summary of that data as

well as some commentary about how the data informed the eventual design: 

 All three learners are teachers in some form, though not all are classroom teachers or in

education. Because of this, it was decided that the game design should incorporate

different paths to relate to their interests, while also focusing on creating games for

educational purposes, rather than workplace settings. It also influenced the decision to

make the lesson a simple game, as we wanted to create something that wasn’t

intimidating and could be easily recreated by learners for their own students. 

 Two of the three members in Team One have used game-based learning in the past as an

instructional tool, and one has created game-based learning in the past. Though none of

them were experts, their different levels of experience led to the decision to differentiate

the learning whenever possible. Because of this, in the demo, there is a “Research

Options” button on many screens. If students need something defined, they can get more

information. If they already have the knowledge necessary to make a choice, they can

continue 

 All were concerned with how to use game-based learning effectively for teaching

purposes. The evaluation that is built into the Learning Game-Design Process would

provide the tools necessary to evaluate a game and make sure it was effective. 
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 All were unclear about the difference between gamification and game-based learning.

This will be clarified in the lesson as well. 

 Though not everyone in Team One currently plays video games, all have at least some

experience. 

 Team One seems overall uncertain about the benefits of games. They are not all sure they

can be used for learning, and are uncertain whether games, overall, have made the world

a better place. While changing someone’s attitude towards games might be difficult,

Team Four hopes to provide learners with an example of games done right, that might

influence these opinions. 

Context

Students will start the course on iLearn, where introductory material and information will

be presented. This is where the objective and rationale for the lesson will be discussed. Then,

there will be a link in iLearn to a Google Slides presentation, which will be where the game-

based learning lesson will be hosted. 

After finishing the game, students will be directed back to iLearn, where there will be a

quick assessment of their learning, or “The Boss Fight.” After this,  there will be a section with

references for further study, links to example open-access games, as well as a downloadable

handout of Boller and Kapp’s (2017) Learning-Game Design Process and other key points from

the lesson.

The choice to use Google Slides as the main vehicle to deliver content has not been

without discussion. Team Four admits Google Slides has some limited functionality. It does not

allow for a wider range of branching or parallel options. It does not track player performance,

which would be helpful for learning assessment and making the game more interactive. Also,
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though this is not expected from graduate students, players can easily “hack” the game by simply

skipping slides. Team Four explored the branching options within iLearn, but were not happy

with this as an alternative. Team Four may consider adopting another system or platform that

allows the players to interface with the game via a web browser or executable file (software

application).

However, there are some clear benefits of Google Slides that have led Team Four to build

the prototype on the platform. Google Slides is accessible for students utilizing screen readers. It

is also relatively easy to build a game using Google Slides, as specialized technical skills are not

necessary. This will give students a workable example of the sort of game they could build for

their own students. 

Content

The structure of the lesson is a game itself, a simple branching choice game, where

learners make decisions about the process they would go through to create a game. The learners

will not actually be creating a game in 20 minutes, but rather engaging with the process of game

development. While there are many dead ends and loops in gameplay, our game generally

follows the instructional design process for educational game creation developed by Boller and

Kapp (2017). The following list includes the steps of their design process, as well as an

explanation of what learners will do during each step on the correct path:

1. Play games and evaluate as you play. While the players don’t have time to go play

games, players will learn about commercial games and why they are effective, as well as

explain the benefits of engagement factors and their overall implications for learning. 

2. Explore learning games. In this step, a game developer would play and learn about

learning games. While the players don’t have time to go play games (other than the one
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they will be playing to complete this lesson), they will be introduced to educational video

games specifically in order to see both how they function as learning tools and how they

are distributed.

3. Set the learning foundation.  Players will learn how to ensure their games fulfill needs,

measure progress, and contain both learning objectives and goals. Constraints such as

time, technology, and resources will be addressed.

4. Link learning with game design. Players will learn about various game elements (i.e.

story, aesthetics, challenges, strategies, etc.) and how those elements support the learning

objectives and goals in their games.

5. Consider scoring and reward systems. Players will learn about scoring and reward

systems. While scoring and rewards are used to incentivize desired skills or behaviors in

players, they should not mark game progress, but rather be an indication of learning.

Players of our game will learn how it is best to keep scoring and rewards as simple as

possible.

6. Build an initial prototype. Players will consider the role of making characters, writing

story goals, and devising obstacles and challenges for intended players as steps in

creating an initial prototype of an educational game.

7. Play-test and iterate. The players will learn how to test iterations of their game with a

broad audience to gather a wide scope of feedback. They will discover that feedback can

then be used to ascertain gameplay problems, gaps in the game’s story, or failures to meet

learning objectives and goals.

8. Develop and iterate. After initial playtesting, learners weigh available resources in a shift

towards development of the actual game. The use of an experienced and knowledgeable
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team of SMEs or other outside resources might be necessary to aid in development and

continued testing.

9. Deploy. Learners will be able to deploy their game to their intended audience once they

have fully developed it. 

Design

For the basis of the design, Team Four is leaning on Boller and Kapp’s Learning-Game

Design Process as a model for students to utilize when designing games in the future. As Plass et

al. (2015) comment about the design process for games, “the design process of games for

learning involves balancing the need to cover the subject matter with the desire to prioritize

game play” (p. 259).  Team Four has worked to achieve this balance to create a game with clear

objectives that makes learning enjoyable. 

Objectives

After completing the game-based learning module, it is hoped that learners will be able to

achieve the following terminal objective: 

 Given a sample scenario, Team One should be able to explain the process for creating a

game-based learning solution utilizing the Learning-Game Design Process with 100%

accuracy. 

To achieve this terminal objective, Team Four has created several smaller enabling

objectives. These are: 

 Given a list of the steps of Boller and Kapp’s Learning-Game Design Process listed in a

random order, Team One will be able to organize the steps to the correct order with 100%

accuracy. 
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 Given a case study about a game-design process, Team One will be able to describe how

the case-study subject did or did not follow Boller and Kapp’s Learning-Game Design

Process with 100% accuracy

Rational

Understanding the fundamentals of game-based learning is essential in the field of

instructional design, especially as education continues to become more virtual. By accomplishing

these objectives through the course, learners will understand the importance of game-based

learning, as well as have a framework to construct their own games in the future, which should

be helpful in their careers.

Agenda and Presentation

Since the course is in a choose-your-own-adventure game format, it is impossible to have

a single agenda. As students will choose their own paths; the agenda will vary for each learner.

See Appendix C for the demo game map which lays out possible paths. However, the following

agenda explains the “correct” path through the game. 

Students will start the module in iLearn, where they will be greeted with a short

welcome, as well as the objectives and rationale for the course. They will then be presented with

a link to enter the actual instruction, the Google Slides game where there will first be directions

and an introduction to the scenario. The game opens with a short video providing a short

explanation of game-based learning and the multiple benefits it provides when used in an

educational setting.

After watching the initial video, the student advances to Level One. At each level, the

student is presented with a scenario situation regarding game-based learning, coupled with
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multiple courses of action to choose from. Each scenario has one correct answer, with the

remaining choices leading to alternate dead-end paths. These traps eventually allow the student

to cycle back and choose a different option, although they could still end up choosing another

trap. While the students are free to choose their own path throughout the lesson, they must

ultimately choose the correct answer to the given scenario in order to advance to the next level in

the game. Students will have the goal of getting through the game’s nine levels, with each level

representing a step from Boller and Kapp’s (2017) instructional design process for educational

games. 

 Students will not be left to just guess at the correct choices, they will be offered

scaffolding and support to help them make the correct decisions. Each level includes a set of

“Research Options” providing descriptions or examples relating to the various “choices” on the

level’s scenario. As this information is considered a tool, students can open the Research Options

at any point during the levels without any repercussions. As they progress through the game,

students will be able to use the skills obtained in previous levels to make informed decisions,

thus allowing them to progress through the game. At the end of the game, the students will be

linked back to iLearn and presented with a “boss fight” in the form of a short assessment. This

boss fight will test the students’ overall retention of the material. 

Feedback

The ability to give immediate feedback on a learner’s performance and tips for how one

might improve is a key feature of game-based learning (Dadheech, 2018). Therefore, feedback is

integrated into the design of the game. When learners make the wrong choice in a given scenario,

their mistake is explained to them and they are given the opportunity to try again and make the

correct choice. The game also will give feedback and explain why correct choices are correct. 
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The game also draws on traditional feedback methods found in mainstream games. For

example, there is also a copy of the Boller and Kapp (2017) Learning Game-Design Process on

the top right of the screen that fills out as students go along, much like a map in a game that fills

out as you discover new places in a world. Students can see their progress on the map, like a

form of leveling up. The game will also have a built-in reward system in which achievements are

“unlocked” as they go along.

References

Boller, S. & Kapp, K. (2017). Play to learn: Everything you need to know about designing

effective learning games. ATD Press. 

Brown, J. (2017, September 18). Why the navy plans to use 12-year-old Xbox 360 controllers on

its most advanced subs. Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/why-the-navy-plans-to-use-12-

year-old-xbox-360-controll-1818511278

Dadheech, A. (2018, July 23). The importance of game based learning in modern education. The

Knowledge Review. https://theknowledgereview.com/importance-game-based-learning-

modern-education/

Gros, B. (2007). Digital Games in Education. Journal of Research on Technology in Education,

40(1), 23-38. https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2007.10782494

Otterbreit-Leftwich A. & Brush T. (2018). Integrating technology into K-12 education. In R. A.

Reiser & J. V. Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology

(4th ed., pp. 185-191). Pearson. 

Pabón, L. C. (2016). Training through serious games: The relationship between travel agent

engagement, knowledge of cruise products and cruise sales. [Doctoral dissertation,

Florida International University]. FIU Digital Commons.

Peck, M. (2014). Training games: the military way: Military games offer lessons for the

corporate training sector. Training, 51(5), 42-40.

Plass, J. L., Homer, B. D., & Kinzer, C. K. (2015). Foundations of Game-Based Learning.

Educational Psychologist, 50(4), 258–283. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2015.

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Whittaker, C. J. (2015). The Gamification of Corporate Responsibility [Doctoral dissertation,

University of Southern California]. ProQuest.

Appendix A

Learner Analysis Survey

Appendix B

Learner Analysis Survey

Appendix C
Game Map