To begin with, among the six reasons why the players had engaged with the game (Whitton, 2011), I personally can be easily motivated by ‘completion’, ‘narrative’ and ‘puzzle-solving’. I think these educational games are quite interesting and fun compared to the rest of learning methods and approaches, such as: lecture, group discussion…

However, in the ARGOSI project, there is huge amount of responses indicate the disengagement of the learners. As it is mentioned in the conclusion part, if it is formally assessed and arranged as part of the education content, the percentage of engagement may increase. (Whitton, 2011) What I am thinking here is, by doing so, the learners may engage not because of the game design or the attractive true natural of ARG gams but because it is one of the mandatory elements of their study. So, the form of learning may not matter at all, just like the post-graduate students are all engaging in their dissertation if they need to obtain their master degree.

I also realize that it is not easy to find out why people do not engage instead of engaging. My initial thought to this is quite straightforward. Maybe it is just because that this game is designed as education-oriented, not leisure-oriented. Therefore, students will not easily accept the new policy or new learning materials which purely come from school authority. In my own experience and opinion, they usually consider these interventions as another kind of bothering. Moreover, according to adult learning theory, the learners are likely to resist unless they can choose the learning objects as being relevant to their own needs. (Swanson, 2011) Further, I assume that the low response rate is due to the learners’ self-diagnose needs do not match with the outcomes which they assume this ARGOSI project will produce.

What if the aim of the ARG game is to assist students to practice job interview skills, will it benefit their engagement? This goal is so practical and in my opinion, it can attract students to a certain extent. To be honest, I would like to design a game with this topic, and maybe I can do some research accordingly to investigate further.

Referenes:

Knowles, M., Holton, E., & Swanson, R. (2011) The Adult Learner : The Definitive Classic In Adult Education And Human Resource Development, Amsterdam ; Boston : Elsevier.

Whitton, N. (2010) Encouraging Engagement in Game-Based Learning. International Journal of Game-Based Learning, 1(1), pp.75–84.