An Instructional Approach for Developing Serious Games

• Published in: Games and Learning Alliance pp. 337 - 348
• Main Authors: Buendía-García, Félix, García-Martínez, Sol, Navarrete-Ibañez, Eva Mª, Cervelló-Donderis, Mª Jesús
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing
• Series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science
• Subjects: Game Action; Game Design; Game Development; Generic Skill; Public Employee
• ISBN: 3319121561; 9783319121567
• ISSN: 0302-9743; 1611-3349
• DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-12157-4_27

Serious games are currently present in almost every educational context. The current work deals with the design and development of serious games based on an instructional approach to train transferable skills in public administration settings. This approach can be a valuable way of supporting instructors when they are designing games for public employees in lifelong learning processes by means of metaphors or similar mechanisms close to their working experience. Such design process is also based on modeling mechanisms in order to formally represent the game components. The proposed approach is complemented with the use of a development tool to elaborate this type of game by mixing traditional design steps with an instructional strategy to provide structured learning bites in training settings. Several game prototypes have been developed to test this approach in the context of courses for public employees. The obtained outcomes reveal the wider possibilities of serious games as educational resources, as well as the use of game achievements to evaluate the acquisition of transferable skills.