Developing Educational Games for Engineering Education: A Case Study

Introduction

In this chapter we present our experience with the development of an educational game for electrical engineering students in a formal educational setting at the undergraduate level. The subject matter for the game is digital systems design, which addresses several complex concepts that students find difficult to grasp. Our goal was to develop a game that could be used to supplement the laboratory portion of courses that deal with this topic. Preliminary testing indicates that our approach has the potential to produce positive results, both in terms of student learning as well as motivation for the subject matter. We present an overview of the academic issues pertaining to engineering education and game-based learning, followed by a detailed look at the project, starting from obtaining funding to the design, development, implementation and assessment of the game itself. Given that our project is still in the formative stage and a comprehensive evaluation of its impact has not yet been conducted, our objective in this chapter is to document the challenges we faced and the lessons we learned in this ongoing project. The challenges are likely to be common to other similar projects. This chapter will provide guidelines to other researchers and educators engaged in similar endeavors.