Games+Learning+Society 12 Conference

Commercial and educational game developers frequently draw upon the same principles of problem-based instruction to create cooperative, engaging, and “fun” gamespaces. Yet, there is little information about the way game mechanics, narrative structures, and peripheral tools (e.g., forums, cheat guides, mods) influence the skills needed to be a successful 21st century learner. In response, data collected from in-game interactions of 14 practicing educators were used to conduct a qualitative grounded theory analysis of a text-based alternate reality/roleplaying game developed under a situated cognition, Technology, Pedagogy, Content Knowledge, and Learning Theory (TPACK-L) framework. Findings suggest that TPACK-L, combined with the ADDIE instructional design model, may have multiple affordances for iterative design and the alignment of commercial and educational game developer goals.