School of Simulation & Visualisation, The Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, UK.
School of Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2019;1138:29-46. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-14227-8_3.
In recent years student exposure to computer applications has increased at an unprecedented rate. Yet the use of these promising technologies in education remains in its infancy. The growing practice of 'gamification' offers today's educators the means of conveying their lessons in a more engaging way, by utilising computer game mechanics. However, many of these learning tools have not been empirically evaluated. This research investigated the development of a desktop computer application, to replace an existing learning resource, a video, currently used by over 700 life sciences students a year in one of the top 100 universities of the world. The interactive game presents the same essential information as the video, on key anatomical features of mammalian skulls, and provides student self-testing. Results from a two-treatment, pre- and post-intervention experimental design suggest the new product is better for providing both knowledge acquisition and a positive learning experience. Nevertheless, the results are unlikely to be statistically significant. Insights from the findings are discussed and directions for future research are given.
近年来，学生接触计算机应用的速度达到了前所未有的水平。然而，这些有前途的技术在教育中的应用仍处于起步阶段。“游戏化”的日益普及为今天的教育工作者提供了一种更具吸引力的方式来传授课程，即利用电脑游戏机制。然而，许多这样的学习工具并没有经过实证评估。这项研究开发了一种桌面计算机应用程序，以取代现有的学习资源，即一个视频，目前全球排名前 100 的大学之一的 700 多名生命科学专业的学生每年都在使用这个视频。这个互动游戏呈现了与视频相同的关键解剖特征的基本信息，并且提供学生自我测试。采用两种处理方式（干预前和干预后）的实验设计的结果表明，新产品在提供知识获取和积极的学习体验方面效果更好。然而，结果不太可能具有统计学意义。讨论了研究结果的启示，并给出了未来研究的方向。
