I agree with Gregory that games offer a…

I agree with Gregory that games offer a fun and interactive way to engage with content and learn valuable skills. My initial foray into the use of games for education focused mostly on elements of gamification. I made use of Kahoot! quizzes (and still do) in my classes as well as 30 second games and a board game that incorporated content covered in class. My interests have since developed into exploring more game-based learning in a variety of new ways. I am interested in constructionist approaches (where students are in charge of designing a game or game elements themselves similar to Gregory’s example) and have a research project this year where I hope to use digital games to investigate their potential in developing acute spatial abilities in STEM students. I am also involved in a project focused on designing a game for tutor training in Higher education this year as a way to make simulations currently used more realistic in the sense of giving the tutors options in how and when they interact with different scenarios. In future, I might explore the prospect of in-game analytics as a way to measure student ability and performance with the idea being that the game itself could be the assessment of what has been learnt. In a nutshell, I believe game-based learning has a lot to offer education but there is a need to delve deeper into understanding how exactly we can take full advantage of games in our different contexts.