Zhi-Hong Chen
Abstract
Competition is useful in game-based learning, although it can also generate negative influences. To expand the potential for competition models in game-based learning, this study proposes the notion of surrogate competition, which eliminates direct competition between students. Such surrogates could be employed as buffers so that the competition between students is more relaxed. To explore the possible benefits of a surrogate approach to competition, the My-Pet-My-Arena system has been developed and evaluated. Two empirical studies were conducted to examine the effects of the surrogate competition. The results revealed that surrogate competition enhanced students’ learning achievement as well as increased their motivation. Furthermore, the surrogate competition might also assist students in attributing competitive failures to a lack of effort. Working from the results obtained in these two studies, a general model of surrogate competition is proposed to help designers implement forms of surrogate competition in other systems for game-based learning.
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Index Terms
- A surrogate competition approach to enhancing game-based learning
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Reviews
Symeon D. Retalis
This interesting paper clearly describes how the surrogate competition model in game-based learning can lead to a more relaxed and effective student interaction. Using the My-Pet-My-Arena game for learning Chinese, the authors examine and show the positive effects of the surrogate competition. Using a well-structured experiment, the authors show that surrogate competition in a game-based learning environment influences student learning in terms of motivation, achievement, and belief. The experiment was divided into three steps. At each step, a slightly different variation of the game was given to students to learn Chinese idioms. The proposed game is based on the concept of pet care, which was incorporated into the game storyline. This type of game is very attractive to children. One typical example is JumpStart Pet Rescue for the Wii [1]. To the best of my knowledge, there are no recent similar research studies published in the literature. This clearly indicates that there is room for research and development of character-mediated competition mechanisms in learning games [2]. Online Computing Reviews Service
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