Chris Humphreys

May 26, 2014

EDET 780

Critique 2

Hwang, G., Sung, H., Hung, C., Huang, I., & Tsai, C. (2012). Development of a Personalized
Educational Computer Game Based on Students' Learning Styles. Educational Technology
Research And Development, 60(4), 623-638.

Introduction

The development of a personalized educational computer games has played a major role in the
area related to 21
st
Century learning. Many educational computer games work to help learners
develop their own knowledge and gain new abilities in different content areas. The purpose of
this particular study was to attempt to develop a personalized educational computer game based
on the learning style theory.

The study was conducted by using a personalized role playing game that was developed by
Enterbrain Incorporation. The games were designed using the sequential-global dimension of the
Felder-Silverman learning style. This learning style takes in to account the interaction and the
presentation features of computerized learning such as role playing games. The game is
designed around an ancient kingdom where the people are infected with poison through the river
water. Students play the role of the king as they set out to find plants that can cure his kingdom.
The students are given formative assessments disguised as tests the king must pass during his
quest.

Each class used the identical learning materials in the two versions of the role playing game. The
difference between the two versions is how they were given the material. The control class was
given the role playing game to use. However, their individual learning styles were not taken into
account. While the experimental group was given the same role playing game, only this group
was given the role playing game that matched their individualized learning styles. The two styles
of learners that were taken into consideration were the sequential style learners who think
linearly and work in small steps and the global style learners who think holistically about
problems and information.

The sequential style students have to work step by step through the learning missions. They have
to finish one before moving on to another. The global style gives this type of learner more
control with a mission map. This type of interface allows the students to decide for themselves
where they want to go and in which order they wish to complete the missions in. Both classes
participating in the study were given the same learning content and equal amounts of information
about content and tasks. The challenges for each class were created equally without
consideration of learning style.

The students were part of two separate classes of fifth graders in an elementary school in
Taiwan. There were forty-six students total who participated in the study. One class was
designated as the experimental group and the other as the control group. The experimental class
had twenty-four students and used the personalized educational computer game that was
designed for with each of their learning styles taken into consideration. The control group has
twenty-two students who were given the identical role playing game that did not meet their
learning styles.

There was several research tools used to assist in keeping the test from being compromised by
outside factors. Those tools were the Index of Learning Styles (ILS) Questionnaire, a pre-test, a
post-test, the KR20 analysis, the Questionnaire of Learning Motivation, and the Technology
Acceptance Questionnaire.

The ILS was developed by Soloman and Delder and was based of the learning styles from
researchers Felder and Silverman. The students responded to several statements in 11 items
during the course of the questionnaire. Then, each class took the pre-test that related to prior
knowledge of the subject. Next, the two classes took the learning motivation questionnaire. It
was used because it measured motivational and self-regulated learning and academic
performance components. This was followed by the technology acceptance questionnaire which
was used to measure the technology acceptance levels of subjects with similar geographic and
academic backgrounds.

For this study all of the items were reviewed by two experienced teachers and three similar
elementary school students to make sure that what was on the game was understandable for those
students participating in the study.

The experiment procedures were that both classes took a two-week course about the topic of
plants. At the beginning of the activity, they took the learning style measure, pre-test, and the
learning motivation questionnaire. During the activity, the students in the experimental group
using the role playing game designed with their learning style taken into consideration, while the
control group used the same set learning style. After the activity the students took the post-test,
and the learning motivation and technology acceptance questionnaire. The each class of students
had a total of 60 minutes to complete the learning mission. At which time the test was complete.

The findings of the pre-test showed that no significant difference between the two groups existed
and they were equal prior to the study. The primary finding though was that students with the
personalized educational role playing game had significant learning than the control group. The
results of the study also found that the students who had used the personalized game showed that
it had the most significant impact on improving the students learning motivation. The results of
this study also showed that students learning motivation when learning using computer games
can be significantly increased when taking into consideration the students learning style.

This study also identified some limitations were more experimentation will be useful to use these
findings in other content areas. There are other environmental conditions that effect students that
will need to be taken in consideration during further studies. Some of these conditions include
prior knowledge, online learning behaviors and beliefs.

If I were going to conduct a follow on study related to this type of educational computer game
based learning I would look to make the study broader in content areas, as well as, length of time
the study would cover; possibly a larger piece of the school year. The current study was
competed during a 60 minute window on one subject.

Critique

In this study, the researchers attempted to use game-based learning that was personalized to an
individuals learning style using Felder-Silvermans sequential and global learning styles to
show that it would improve the learning achievement of the students. There were three research
questions proposed at the onset of the study. The first question was based on the students having
personalized game-based learning having better learning achievements than those who didnt.
The second questions given the same personalized game-based learning having students who
showed higher learning motivation toward science learning that those who didnt. The last
question was what students feel about using the personalized game-based learning based on ease
of use and perceived usefulness. Each question had a research tool to support them during the
study. I found that each question was answered accurately and with substantial data supporting
their findings.

The literature that accompanied the study was extensive and diverse. The researchers included
studies that covered a broad range of the use of educational games. Everything from business
simulation games to studies on the importance of the development of childrens cognition and
social processes. It has research that supported the effects of educational computer games in
mathematics skills, as well as, multiplayer games based on the activity theory.

The five researches contributed a great deal of time and energy into this study as evident through
the use of so many experimental tools that supported every step of the process. The study was
well organized with enough information given about the important details without becoming too
wordy on the subject. The study in my opinion was well written and a model for researchers to
follow in follow on studies similar to this one. I believe anyone interested in game-based
learning even though it was conducted in Taiwan could easily understand the intended use and
the overall outcomes of the study.

After working with this study I will be able to seamlessly apply it to our group research project
because it directly relates to the topic at hand. It has given me numerous ideas about game-based
learning approaches to educational environments. This study clearly shows that game-based
learning given the right parameters can help students achieve individual goals based on their
needs. The methods that were used to test the students and the design of the study is what I found
to help me the most.

At the end of the report, the researchers used the post-test, learning motivation post-
questionnaire, and gathered the students feedback on the perceived usefulness and ease of use
while using the educational learning game. All three of these tools were used to show that the
study was successful and that what the researchers had set out to prove was correct. The study
described the findings both with data from the reports and through a discussion about their
finding and conclusions as to why it worked and where they would go from for future studies.
The researchers used an explicit theory to test how the development of a personalized
educational computer game based on students learning styles could benefit educators in science.
The research questions were simple and straight forward and easily understood when read. They
supported the questions with facts and reported on the finding of those experiment tools used
during the research.

Conclusion

Given that I am an educator in an elementary school. I see the value of game-based learning in
the classroom both for individual gains of my students and as a whole such as the research
conducted in this study. Our students are coming to us with more and more basic understanding
of computer concepts than ever before. Although, that base of students still has a broad range of
these 21
st
Century skills that the ICT spoke to in my last critique, for the most part many can log
in to a computer using a user name and password given to them by me. They can navigate to the
search bar and find generally what they are looking for from memory. They really just need to
see it once or twice and they have it. I think with this type of learning environments students can
be even more engaged into their own learning based on their learning styles.

Although, I read an article that dealt with technology and the expense that comes with
developing good educational games such as the one use in this research. I personally feel the
pinch when programs get cut or the district decides not to renew a game-based software program.
So, as good as this study was conducted we as educators still face new challenges of budgetary
constraints. The study was very useful to me because it showed me some hard evidence and data
that supported what I had thought it would show before reading the research. I would like to set
up my own research in my classroom and see where it takes me.

Some of the new information that this research study showed me was the different types of
questionnaires that could be used in the classroom while conducting research. I would like to
know more about these questionnaires and what grade levels they are typically used for and if
they are applicable in the United States as the research was conducted in Taiwan.