Shaping the Research Agenda with Cyber Research Assistants

Abstract

Games and simulations in online learning are energizing development in learning and teaching and therefore of great interest to the research community. This chapter reflects on a few of the innovative methods currently in use to capture and report user data for education assessment and sets out new ideas for shaping the research agenda as applications become more capable of effective high level analysis of qualitative simulation and game data. Three areas are briefly explored. Cyber research assistants are defined and their achievements explored. Issues such as longitudinal studies and transference and international collaboration are discussed. Finally, ethical considerations are raised. A case is outlined for students and teachers in various contexts to have access to the returned data in order to take ownership of subsequent learning and teaching actions. The chapter includes with a call for the integration of teachers, students, researchers, governments, granting bodies, and computer scientists as important players in the research conversation. The chapter aims to describe the shape of an education research agenda targeting students playing online games and simulations in classrooms from kindergarten through higher education levels.