Content creation challenges and flow experience in educational games: The IT-Emperor case

Do Students Experience Flow Conditions Online?

“…While flow conditions also did occur while students were gaming or surfing online, in no case were the means for frequency of occurrence between the two settings (in class, out of class) significantly different. This finding confirms earlier research that focused on flow in both work and leisure situations and found that flow occurred during both types of activities [10]. This finding raises two additional questions: Are the experiences of flow in the two settings different from each other in some fashion, and do flow experiences in non-class-related settings influence student expectations for finding flow in their online courses?…”

“…Another study [8] looked at flow for two high school students and proposed flow as occurring within Vygotsky's "zone of proximal development" [9], in which the individual is ready for learning, and that "futility" was the opposite condition of flow. In a study of flow among students creating an educational game, it was found that content construction was the optimal flow-producing stage [10]. If one issue predominates in this research, it is the focus on the type of activity producing flow (i.e., work or leisure; task or experiential) and specific activities (e.g., content construction) or personal conditions (readiness for learning) that produce flow.…”

“…In order to assess whether students had experienced the nine flow conditions online and the extent to which flow conditions occurred, students were asked to answer based on two settings: (1) participating in an online class, (2) or surfing or gaming online. Inclusion of the surfing or gaming experience was an attempt to compare an intentional educational setting (the online class) with a more playful setting, which was the focus of prior research [6,10]. These settings were chosen in an attempt to explore differences (if any) between flow conditions occurring when individuals were online for a class or for out-of-class activities; these two settings are comparable to the work-versus-leisure settings of the previously mentioned research [5].…”

Evaluations of an Experiential Gaming Model

“…The flow theory is emphasized as a design principle because it provides a universal model of enjoyment, detailing the common aspects of the process that takes place when anyone experiences enjoyment. Kiili (2005b) evaluated the experiential gaming model through the IT-Emperor game, which was employed in a usability course. Kiili (2005c) revised the experiential gaming model to better address the needs of educational game designers.…”

“…The model emphasizes the importance of considering several flow antecedents in educational game design: challenges matched to the skill level of a player, clear goals, unambiguous feedback, a sense of control, playability, gamefulness, focused attention, and a frame story. The ambition of designing the sort of games that enhance experiencing flow is justifiable because previous research indicates that flow has a positive impact on learning, exploratory behavior, and the attitudes of players (Ghani, 1991;Kiili, 2005b;Skadberg & Kimmel, 2004;Webster, Trevino & Ryan, 1993). A more detailed description of the model is provided in Kiili (2005c).…”