From Behavioral Indicators to Contextualized Competence Assessment

Serious games offer new challenges and opportunities for the development of competences. This potential implies complex research questions such as how to assess competences without disturbing the learner`s game play as well as how to design the game so that competences can be developed by the learners. In order to assess competences, it is useful to describe them in terms the behavior that can be observed and interpreted while a learner is engaged in the game. However, the interpretation of such behavioral indicators in terms of competences, in particular of social skills, is mediated by contextual factors. We describe the identification of relevant contextual factors for an appropriate assessment of a competence and how this can deliver valuable input for serious games design decisions to provide real-life-like learning experiences.