The concept of flow in collaborative game-based learning

TL;DR: Frequency 1550, a game about medieval Amsterdam merging digital and urban play spaces, has been examined as an exemplar of game-based learning and flow was shown to have an effect on their game performance, but not on their learning outcome.

About: This article is published in Computers in Human Behavior.The article was published on 2011-05-01 and is currently open access. It has received 307 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Game design & Game Developer.

Summary

Introduction

• Congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) are a family of heterogeneous multisystem inherited disorders caused by defects in the biosynthesis of glycoconjugates, affecting N- or O-glycosylation.
• Defects in the remodelling of protein-bound glycans in the Golgi are called CDG type II (Marquardt and Denecke 2003).
• Even within each group, most subtypes are characterized by a multisystem involvement with abnormalities in several biological markers.
• N-Glycosylation is abnormal owing to the transfer of truncated LLOs and to the incomplete utilization of N-glycosylation sites.
• Constant clinical features are severe epilepsy, microcephaly, visual impairment due to optic atrophy, and severely delayed psychomotor development.

Case report

• The authors patient is the third child of healthy nonconsanguineous parents of Swiss and Italian origin.
• He did not present inverted nipples, abnormal subcutaneous fat tissue distribution, heart anomalies or hepatic dysfunction as seen in other patients with CDG syndromes.
• Visual contact was poor and developmental age was estimated at a level of 4 months.
• His movement pattern is abnormal, with continuous involuntary movements of the head and the upper limbs.

Discussion

• On the basis of the clinical features of their patient and of the published data of the six known patients with CDG.
• Id, some features of the syndrome seem to be common (Table 1).
• Id are probably needed to distinguish between primary and secondary signs of the disease.
• The first mutation, p.P39L, has not been described so far.
• Recent reports mention the existence of organ-specific CDG syndromes (Jaeken and Matthijs 2007).

Figures

Table 1 Data and measurements.

Table 2 Measurement of team game activities.

Fig. 1. Model of flow (adapted from Csikszentmihalyi (1990, 1997).

Table 4 Stepwise regression analyses with group game performance.

Table 3 Team game activities during the three types of assignments in each area (means with standard deviations between brackets).

Fig. 2. Map of medieval Amsterdam w

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What have the authors contributed in "The concept of flow in collaborative game-based learning" ?

Huizentmihalyi et al. this paper found that the higher the educational level of students, the more flow their teams showed and the more student learned about the medieval history of Amsterdam. 

Q2. What are the future works mentioned in the paper "The concept of flow in collaborative game-based learning" ?

Future research might focus on how secondary school students with different abilities and capacities can be effectively and efficiently supported in game-based learning. For future research, the authors would suggest to study the effects of game-based learning when students not only play the game but are also involved in the creation of the game, which allows more space for individual story construction and the addition of elements of own interest. Promising new directions for future research might focus on flow with game play as an important explanatory variable of student learning. The potential of game creation for educational purposes has to be addressed more often, thus, while it is just this which has taken the newly developed Games Atelier – which allows students to create and play their own games in their own urban space via mobile phones, GPS and the Internet – one step further. 

Q3. How many days could a game trigger experiences of flow?

Playing Frequency 1550 more than 1 day – in more areas of the city or with more sets of assignments that increase in complexity – could trigger experiences of flow more frequent. 

Q4. What is the way to engage students?

Issuing appropriate challenges and providing opportunities to enhance skills (e.g., providing immediate feedback, incrementally teaching more complex skills that build upon previously learned skills and scaffolding the learning process, see van der Pol, Volman, and Beishuizen (in press)) may be one of the most ideal ways of engaging students. 

Q5. What are some of the more persistent educational problems facing students today?

Some of the more persistent educational problems facing students today include underachievement as well as learning, behavioral, and emotional difficulties that eventually lead to school dropout for many students (Battin-Pearson et al., 2000; Jonassen & Blondal, 2005). 

Q6. What is the effect of players as producers on learning?

Players-as-producers obviously emphasizes the more creative and constructive role of the learner and may therefore trigger more flow with game play and enhance learning effects compared the Frequency 1550 game. 

Q7. Why is the HQT able to see each player walk through the city in real time?

Because the HQT is able to see each player walk through the city in real time – on the medieval map as well as on a current map of Amsterdam – they can work out the team’s strategy and use their phones to guide their team toward the locations where the assignments are hidden. 

Q8. What are the results of the variance components model?

Six models have been examined: a variance components model (model 0) to examine the variance components on student and group level, four models including a subset of independent variables, and a final model only including the independent variables that showed significant effects in an earlier model. 

Q9. What is the relationship between flow and ability?

Due to the relationship between challenge and ability, the concept of flow has been used by designers, teachers, and coaches in such wide-ranging fields as sports, tutoring, and increasingly information technology in education (see for some examples, Hsu & Lu, 2004). 

Q10. What are the main variables that have been examined?

Four models have been examined: the first three models including a subset of independent variables, and the final model only including the independent variables that showed significant effects in an earlier model. 

Q11. What is the purpose of the diary?

This diary invites students to sympathize with a medieval character by describing intentions (e.g., need to buy a yarn), actions, and sensed reality (e.g., smells, sense of safety, weather experience). 

Q12. How much of the variance in team performance is explained by team flow?

The analyses of model 1 show that team flow in game-play has a significant effect on group game performance, explaining 24% of the variance in team performance. 

Q13. What is the relationship between the flow of the game and the learning outcome?

other game activities that are related to flow show relationships with student learning outcome: the less groups of student were distracted from game play by solving technology problems and the more they were engaged with competition with other student groups, the more students appeared to learn about the medieval history of Amsterdam. 

Q14. What was the main reason for the decrease in student engagement?

Although many observations of decreased student engagement were related to technology difficulties, most students appeared to like the game and to be engaged in their game activities.