Time Factor in the Curriculum Integration of Game-Based Learning

Time Factor in the Curriculum Integration of Game-Based Learning

Margarida Romero, Mireia Usart
Copyright: © 2013 |Pages: 19
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-3950-8.ch013
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Abstract

From primary and secondary educational levels to higher education and lifelong learning, the use of games for educational purposes has become a focus of increasing interest for instructional designers, teachers, and researchers. To ensure the achievement of learning objectives and competency in the use of games for educational purposes, the use of Game-Based Learning (GBL) in the curriculum should be considered in terms of its learner-centred characteristics, game dynamics, and interactional requirements. A dimension that involves all these characteristics is the time factor. Time is considered in this chapter from three different points of view: learner’s psychological time; temporal gameplay; and the “interaction tempo” required for successfully including games in the curriculum. This chapter describes four typologies of the time factor: time-on-task; temporal perspectives of learners; temporal gameplay; and interaction tempo. Finally, the chapter proposes practical ideas for game designers and teachers when using GBL in face-to-face and online contexts.
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The Time Factor In Education

Time is one of the most polysemic words in every language. From objective time to the subjective perception of time at individual and collaborative levels, the concept of time may be defined and perceived in many forms. In educational contexts, the time factor is an implicit transversal perspective that some approaches have tried to make explicit by defining different typologies of academic time. The time factor and time quality are important aspects in the understanding of learning activities (Gros, Barberà & Kirschner, 2010; Romero, 2010). This is especially true in active learning methodologies such as Game Based Learning (GBL), where students have a central role – and time represents an important factor when including games in the curriculum.

In this chapter, we aim to characterise the time factor from a variety of perspectives: the learner’s perspective; the game based learning task as proposed to the learner; the tempo of the interaction of the learner with other learners; and the learner with the game. Figure 1 shows an overview of the typologies of time that will be addressed in this chapter and the relationships between these different concepts of time.

Figure 1.

The time factor in game based learning

978-1-4666-3950-8.ch013.f01

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