Scripted collaboration in serious gaming for complex learning: Effects of multiple perspectives when acquiring water management skills

Abstract

This article examines how learning outcomes from playing serious games can be enhanced by including scripted collaboration in the game play. We compared the quality of advisory reports, that students in the domain of water management had to draw up for an authentic case problem, both before and after collaborating on the problem with (virtual) peer students. Peers studied the case from either an ecological or governance perspective, and during collaboration both perspectives had to be confronted and reflected upon. This article argues why such type of workplace-based learning scenarios are important for professional development, describes how serious gaming scenarios can be designed to support such complex learning, and reports data on student satisfaction and learning effects of including scripted collaboration. Preliminary results from a pilot study with 12 students show that including scripted collaboration significantly enhances the quality of learning outcomes.