Student Learning-Game Designs: Emerging Learning Trajectories

This article presents how students implemented learning into digital learning games as a means of learning. It was investigated how students could learn by creating learning trajectories for specific learning goals inside digital games. Previous findings were that the students learned by building these games in the design process. But this article investigates what specific features in the two used game tools afforded creation of learning trajectories in various ways. The tools therefore also enabled deep learning processes for the players of the games with lesser or greater ease. Further research is needed concerning how to scaffold the students in the game design processes with the digital tools to support deep and motivating learning processes. The design-based research project used co-design processes and took place in workshops with teachers and adult students from full-time upper secondary general education at VUC Storstrøm through two iterations. The study used learning theory, learning design theory and theoretical concepts about educational technology to analyse the empirical data. The purpose of the study was to formulate empirical and user-driven theories relating to the students design of learning games. The study used qualitative methods; this included audio and videotaped utterances and observations of the teachers and students as well as analysis of the students’ paper prototype and digital learning games.