Usability
Usability is important because if students do not know how to play a game, they won’t. Students often look for reasons to avoid completing their work, so if they meet a small error or confusing mechanic, they may same the game is “wrong” or “broken” and not continue trying to learn from it (Laitine, 2005).
Feedback to Teacher
Feedback to the teacher is important because I need to know what the game is measuring and how well my students are performing at it. This will allow me to re-teach what they have not learned. It can also be used to show data during parent meetings, or to justify a gaming lesson to an administrator (Lee and Cherner, 2015, p. 28).
Accommodation of Individual Differences
According to the ASSURE reading of module 8, there are many considerations one must perform when designing any kind of lesson. This is largely because students are all very different in the way they learn and the challenges they face. A game should be able to reach all students, meaning it may need multiple types of content delivery or varied content levels. Otherwise, not all students will learn from it (Lee and Cherner, 2015, p. 29).
Interest
Obviously, students need to be interested in a game if they are going to learn from it. Daphne Bavalier stated that it is difficult to make a game that is fun and educational, likening it to dipping broccoli in chocolate (Bavalier, 2017). However, it is one of the most important things we can do to support engagement (Lee and Cherner, 2015, p. 35)
Media Integration
Games should do more than test skills—they should also teach them. This should be done in a number of ways to reach the largest amount of students, which may require combinations of images, sounds, texts, and videos (Lee and Cherner, 2015, p. 32)
Ability to Save Progress
Learning occurs as students progress through content, so they should be able to progress through a game. They would find it discouraging to lose all of their progress and have to start over every time they play a game. But they may find it motivating to see how far they can get in a game (and therefore how much they can learn) if they are able to save (Lee and Cherner, 2015, p. 30)
References
Bavelier, D. (n.d.). Your brain on video games. Retrieved August 17, 2017, from https://www.ted.com/talks/daphne_bavelier_your_brain_on_video_games
Laitinen, S. (2005, Jun 6). Better Games Through Usability Evaluation and Testing. retrieved from
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2333/better_games_through_usability_.php
Lee, C-Y. & Cherner, T. S. (2015). A comprehensive evaluation rubric for assessing instructional apps. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, 14, 21-53. Retrieved January 22, 2015 from http://www.jite.org/documents/Vol14/JITEV14ResearchP021-053Yuan0700.pdf
Laitinen, S. (2005, Jun 6). Better Games Through Usability Evaluation and Testing. retrieved from
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2333/better_games_through_usability_.php
Lee, C-Y. & Cherner, T. S. (2015). A comprehensive evaluation rubric for assessing instructional apps. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, 14, 21-53. Retrieved January 22, 2015 from http://www.jite.org/documents/Vol14/JITEV14ResearchP021-053Yuan0700.pdf