McGill EdTech researchers Robin Sharma, Chengyi Tan, Daniel Gomez, Chu Xu and Adam Dubé were asked to share their recent work on teachers’ experiences using curriculum guides for Ubisoft’s educational game, Assassin’s Creed Discovery Tour Ancient Egypt.
Q: What is your research about?
A: Educational games are becoming a popular tool for learning, but there are many barriers to their adoption and acceptance by teachers. The quality, relevance, and user experience of accompanying curricular materials for games can greatly impact how they are accepted by teachers. Factors that can influence acceptance of a game for learning by teachers include:
- Teachers’ knowledge of game-based learning.
- Availability, access, and user experience of relevant and complementary curricular material.
- Teachers’ confidence and self-efficacy in using game-based learning.
In this study, we wanted to find out how user experience with curriculum guides for educational games impacts their acceptance by teachers.
Q: What did you do?
A: We asked 100 teachers about their knowledge of game-based learning. Then we asked them to look at the gameplay of Discovery Tour Ancient Egypt of the Assassin’s Creed franchise by Ubisoft. Next, they interacted with the theory-based, digital curriculum guide specifically created to support the use of game.
We asked the teachers to rate their user experience of the guide on 26 factors such as clarity, value, practicality, among other facets. To understand the impact of the guides on their self-efficacy and acceptance of the game, we asked them questions regarding their confidence that they could maximize use of the game in their classroom (self-efficacy), and whether they believe the game can offer opportunities to motivate students and help them learn (acceptance).
Q: What did you find?
A: Teachers rated the user experience offered by the theory-based curriculum guide highly. A positive user experience promoted teachers’ self-efficacy, which further enhanced their acceptance of the game for learning.
We found that teachers prioritized and valued the practical aspects of the user experience, like the efficiency and dependability of the guide, more than the enjoyment aspects, like novelty and stimulation.
Q: What can we learn from these findings?
A: Teachers value theory-based curriculum guides that offer a positive user experience. Interaction with such guides can enhance their acceptance and use of digital games for learning. As such, researchers and developers of curricular materials should focus on creating guides that optimize the user experience for teachers prioritizing the practical qualities of the guides over the hedonic aspects. Further, educational game developers should be creating complementary curricular resources for teachers to increase adoption of their learning games.
About the researchers
Robin Sharma, Chengyi Tan, and Chu Xu are PhD candidates in Learning Sciences in the McGill Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology.
Daniel Gomez is a recent graduate of the M.Ed. program in Learning Sciences in the McGill Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology.
Dr. Adam Dubé is an Associate Professor of Learning Science in the McGill Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology. Dr. Dubé is the Director of the McGill Office of EdTech as well as Director of the Technology, Learning, and Cognition (TLC) Lab.
The researchers are all members of Dr. Dubé’s Technology, Learning, and Cognition (TLC) Lab at McGill University.
Citation
Sharma, R., Tan, C., Gomez, D. Xu, C., & Dubé, A. K. (2024). How teachers’ user experience of digital curriculum resources impacts acceptance of game-based learning and teaching. 2024 AERA Annual Meeting.