Videogames, Engagement, Empathy and Meaningful Learning in the College Classroom

Abstract

The use of videogames as an educational tool in higher education classroom is becoming increasingly common. Indeed, current research in this area has convincingly demonstrated that the use of educational videogames(i.e., serious videogames) do have the potential to lead to meaningful learning outcomes (Abrantes & Gouveia, 2012; Coller & Shernoff, 2009; Fassbender, Richards, Bilgin, Thompson & Heiden, 2012; Granic et al., 2014; Hamari, et al., 2016). However, while these results are promising, very little has been said about the use of entertainment-based videogames and whether they also lead to similar learning outcomes as serious videogames do. Additionally, even less research has focused on the use of these types of videogames in CEGEP or college level courses. this exploratory research attempts to shed additional light on these areas. Its two principal goals are as follows: (A) to determine whether meaningful learning occurs when using entertainment based videogames in college level courses; (B) to document our process of implementing videogames in a college classroom.

To reach these goals we set out to complete 4 distinct objectives which are as follows:

1. Determine whether meaningful learning, in the form of empathy, occurs when using an entertainment-based videogame, titled Never Alone (Kisima Inŋitchuŋa) (Upper One Games, 2015), in the “Interactions and Cultural Communities” (351-CC1-AS) course in the Special Care Counselling program.

2. Determine whether meaningful learning, in the form of critical thinking, occurs when using an entertainment-based videogame, titled Portal (2007), in the knowledge (345-101-MQ) course in Humanities.

3. Determine whether participants from Objective 1 and Objective 2 had similar experiences when playing their respective videogames.

4. Document the process of implementing videogames in our college classroom.

Although exploratory in nature, the results that we include in this report seem to indicate that entertainment based videogames present similar experiences to serious videogames and are therefore likely to lead to meaningful learning outcomes. Furthermore, our results also indicate that these learning outcomes can have practical applications in college level courses and can help attain specific learning objectives or course competencies. Specifically, we found a statistically significant increase in empathy levels in our participants enrolled in the Special Care Counselling course who played Never Alone (Kisima Inŋitchuŋa) (Upper One Games, 2015). We also found a statistically significant increase in critical thinking skills in our participants enrolled in the Humanities 101 course in General Education. Moreover, we note that, although we used different videogames in different courses from different disciplines, our participants’ experience was notably similar. This seems to suggest that the application of entertainment-based videogames in classroom settings is quite versatile and is not restrained to videogame genres or specific disciplines or programs. Finally, we included in this report a list of pedagogical recommendation to help teachers who wish to implement videogames in their curriculum.