Work in progress — An investigation of varied game-based learning systems in engineering education

This study developed and evaluated two varied game-based learning systems in a software engineering course. The first system adopted a role-playing gaming strategy for students to learn about the process of software development effort estimation in a team-based environment. The second system used a traditional drill-and-practice gaming strategy to guide design. An experimental study involving human subjects was conducted to compare the effects of both systems on students´ learning performance and attitude. Univariate analyses revealed that the game-based learning had a significant main effect on dependent variables in the knowledge test (F=5.166, p<;.05), but not in the intention and satisfaction measures (p>.05). The results showed that students in the drill-and-practice gaming group achieved significantly higher scores in the knowledge test (M=72.86) than the role-playing gaming group (M=61.90). The measures of students´ intention and satisfaction were in the range of a moderate to high level. However, no significant differences were found between the two groups in terms of their affective measures.