What makes an educational game good? This paper describes three research directions that could provide insight in the underlying principles of effective educational games. These aspects are 1) The importance of distinguishing between types of to-be-learned knowledge, 2) the need to understand the relationship …

An important step in the design of an effective educational game is the formulation of the to-be-achieved learning goals. The learning goals help shape the content and the flow of the entire game, i.e. they provide the basis for choosing the game’s core (learning) mechanics. A mistake in the formulation …

Adaptive systems – fun for everyone! Presentation for honors students of CMI on the use of adaptive systems in the design of interactive media for social problems.

Een (korte) introductie op educatieve spellen. Presentatie voor de Stad en Toga bijeenkomst over serious games (in het onderwijs), 7 oktober 2015.

Educatieve games: leermiddel of lapmiddel? In sommige wetenschappelijke studies worden succesvolle resultaten gerapporteerd over het effect van educatieve games. Andere studies geven, in vergelijking met traditionelere methoden, geen of zelfs een negatief resultaat.

The role of “mechanics” in the serious game design process. Presentation held during the Sino-Dutch conference, March 2015. In the last few years, there have been many developments in the design and application of serious games, particularly in the field of ‘games for health’. This is possible due …

Presentation for Intercultural Communication master students of Wageningen University about the design of educational games for teaching about cultural differences.

For over thirty years, there has been a discussion about the effectiveness of educational games in comparison to traditional learning materials. To help further this discussion, we aim to understand ‘how educational games work’ by formalising (and visualising) the educational and motivational aspects …

Designing games for health.A presentation for the yearly conference of movement sciences focusing on the design of games for health purposes.