Students who are learning to program often have difficulties understanding cognitively complex concepts. Teaching programming is mainly focused on the syntax and features of programs, rather than to a deeper understanding of programming constructs and abstract concepts. Computer game stimulates active learning and presentation of learning content in a variety of contexts that are funny and engaging for students. This has a positive impact on the motivation to learn. This paper deals mainly with defining the programming knowledge and common problems with teaching programming, comparing the properties of novice and experts programmers and introducing the semantic method of teaching programming where one would teach only the semantics of programming constructs unbound to specific programming language in an interactive motivating setting of educational computer game. In this paper we discuss the main characteristics of computer games and specific features which makes them useful in the educational setting. As an example of presented method we introduce a game on the presentation of variables in programming. The game is based on visualizations of different types of variables and on the interpretation of the assignment sentence. The game actively encourages interactivity and deeper learning.

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The chapter presents a case study on the implementation of the SADDIE method, combined with the utilization of a project management tool, in the collaborative learning process of developing an educational computer game to enhance educator-specific digital competences defined in DigCompEdu. The activities in each phase of the method are presented throught the work result of three groups of students each developing their own educational game on a selected topic from computer science. Authors also provide a detailed insight into how students utilized the selected project managament tool to improve the game development process. Furthermore, an analysis is conducted to determine how the selected project management tool enhances the acquisition of specific digital competences within each of the six competence areas defined in DigCompEdu. The results demonstrate that the project management tool significantly improves the learning process in each phase of the SADDIE method and effectively supports the acquisition of educator-specific digital competencies.

In today's fast-paced digital world, equipping pre-service teachers with educator-specific digital literacy competencies is crucial to their ability to adapt to changes and effectively teach and guide their students. This chapter presents an innovative approach to teaching digital competencies to pre-service teachers, utilizing game design-based learning, trialogical learning, and problem-based learning principles. In this approach, students collaborate in groups to develop an educational computer game and work with their colleagues from other faculty. Authors describe each phase of game development and frame it in the broader context of the acquisition of digital competences defined in the DigCompEdu competences framework for teacher education students. Since creating an educational computer game is a complex process, the authors propose the use of a project management tool to manage the different project work phases, describe the selection process and provide an overview of its utilization.