Personalised Learning through Context-Based Adaptation in the Serious Games with Gating Mechanism

Education and Information Technologies https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-11695-8 Personalised Learning through Context‑Based Adaptation in the Serious Games with Gating Mechanism Lok Cheung Shum1 · Yasmine Rosunally1 · Simon Scarle1 · Kamran Munir1 Received: 27 August 2022 / Accepted: 23 February 2023 © The Author(s) 2023 Abstract When the traditional "one size fits all" approach is used in designing educational games, the game context is usually arranged in a fixed sequence. However, the designated content may not effectively support the diversity of players. The player’s ability and characteristics should be considered and supported with an appropriate learning context embedded in the game to facilitate personalised experiences. Adapting game scenarios to a player’s characteristics can boost motivation and ultimately improve learning outcomes. This research applies a context-aware design approach and the Learner-Centered Design approach to establish a personalised adaptation framework for designing educational serious games and enhancing personalised knowledge delivery. The proposed framework decouples the game logic implementation and adaptation mechanism. It dynamically adapts the designed game objects and activities to personal learning objectives, learning levels and learning progress to achieve a non-linear learning sequence. Through synchronous real-time xAPI message exchange mechanisms, system components and learning content adaptation are enabled. The adaptation aims to fit personal learning objectives and provide a non-linear learning sequence in a game environment. The framework provides students with personalised learning experiences. A game named GhostCoder is implemented and used to evaluate the framework. Based on the externalised adaptive mechanism, the game content is adapted to the player’s performance by adjusting the difficulty of the learning content within the game. Testing of the game in the lab environment has been performed. At the next stage, an evaluation will be conducted with the target groups of students. Keywords Games Based Learning · Educational Games · Serious Games · Personalised Learning · Context-Based Adaptation * Lok Cheung Shum Extended author information available on the last page of the article 13 Vol.:(0123456789) Education and Information Technologies 1 Introduction Games, in general, are designed for entertainment purposes. Serious games provide an engaging environment for knowledge acquisition, improvement in interest, motivation, and the enhancement of the student’s learning achievements (Arias-Calderón et al., 2022; Dörner et al., 2016). Serious games focus on the problem-solving aspect and learning components (Govender & ArnedoMoreno, 2021) and are designed for students to learn and practice various skills through playing games (Priyaadharshini et al., 2020), leading players to achieve the planned educational goal through different interactive challenges (Sørensen, 2011) and endeavouring to transform the learner from a passive receptor of information to a collaborator in the educational process (Darwesh, 2016b). Players usually assimilate the learning content and construct their knowledge through conscious decision-making (Govender & Arnedo-Moreno, 2021), by finding solutions and organising concepts (Rajeh, 2020). Serious games can be an alternative method for assessing student learning, revalidating concepts, and reinforcing learning by presenting personalised scenarios adaptive to the need of students (Arias-Calderón et al., 2022). Serious games integrate a broad range of game mechanics with game objects to facilitate the learning process (Altay, 2014) and deliver interactive learning content in a fun and interactive way. Game mechanics should align with learning objectives (Kalmpourtzis & Romero, 2020). Dynamic game mechanics and the interactivity of game objects create not only engaging gameplay but also immersive learning opportunities. Game scenarios, learning, interactivity, user trace, and player engagement are the core elements in designing meaningful learning activities in serious games (Darwesh, 2016a). Game elements can be designed and customised to support personalised learning objectives through dynamic player modelling (Paraschos & Koulouriotis, 2023). Interactive user traces are the keys to emulating cognitive behaviour, motivation, identifying the type of Learners (Priyaadharshini et al., 2020), and evaluating player experiences and engagement levels (Arias-Calderón et al., 2022). Personalised game activities can enhance motivation and learning performance through adaptive learning technologies (Taylor et al., 2021), tailoring game scenarios to individual goals. Game Learning Analytics (GLA) framework collects, processes and analyse game interaction data in order to provide an overview of the user learning experience, from an individualised assessment to a collective perspective (Cano et al., 2017; Freire et al., 2016), supporting personal and contextualising personalise learning activities in the game world context. Learning begins with the acquisition of declarative knowledge. With the help of repeated practices of declarative knowledge in different tasks, learners will enable them to achieve procedural knowledge. (Tavakoli et al., 2016). Designing gameplay as a set of activities containing different learning patterns with scaffolding makes the games exciting and challenging (Oliver, 2018). Aligning tasks to performance engages learners’ natural abilities for acquiring knowledge (Robinson, 2011). Personalising and adaptively changing the player’s learning 13 Education and Information Technologies content in the same game scenario is a possible training strategy that sustains and enhances players’ motivation through gameplay. i.e. repeating or substituting various scenarios composed of similar learning concepts. Learning, gaming, and learner aspects are three interrelated constraints in combining meaningful learning activities within a video game (Dorça et al., 2016). Educationalists and game designers have different focuses and concerns during the development of serious games. Educationalists are primarily concerned with what learning contexts have been embedded in the game scenarios. The learning aspect should be composed of different learner parameters, including specific characteristics of the learning audience, specific learning objectives, sequence of activities and the evaluation approach. These elements can be used to evaluate both pedagogical purposes and learning effectiveness. Meanwhile, game designers are focused on creating fun and engaging gameplay mechanisms. Players can learn hidden concepts through game interactions while having fun. However, their learning objectives and game goals may be aligned or conflict. This research extends the Game Learning Analytic framework (GLA) with a decoupling game design approach (Bellotti et al., 2009) to enhance the design of serious (...truncated)