Thesis Topic Identification:

Applied: Development of Video Games in Education

Scholarly: Video Games’ Role as an Educational Tool

Michael Jude Plesniarski

Game Design Masters of Science, Full Sail University

GDM 542: Game Design

Professor Derek Manns

May 17, 2024

 

 Identification of Applied Topic:

  • Discipline Area & Research Focus: Video games play a role in developing practical education.
  • Planned Portfolio Content: My portfolio will include a completed Indie game focusing on practical education. It will feature all aspects of the game, including scholarly research, preproduction planning, prototype development, and final production.
  • Connection to Capstone: The tracks I plan to shadow are all focused on self-motivation and benefit me as a designer who wants to open a studio. These capstone tracks include the Indie, the Autonomous, and the Thesis tracks. Another track I am considering and am interested in is the Production track. Either of these four tracks allows me to manage my work and develop my product.
  • Connection to Career Goals: I aim to open an Indie development studio upon graduation. While my initial plan is not specific to working with developing educational titles, I do believe that branching out and gaining additional insight will make me a better designer overall by understanding the player rather than only focusing on the experience of the player.

Identification of Scholarly Topic:

  • The Topic: My scholarly research topic will be the impact of video games on young people’s education and motivation. During this 10-month research and thesis paper, I plan to focus on how games, specifically video games, have been and can continue to be used as a tool for the educational system and the sociological maturation of young people.
  • Innovative Quality: In previous decades of video game history, some work was done to create educational platforms, but over time, that quickly translated into games for entertainment with mild educational concepts.
  • Relevance to the Industry: Creating a game that can help educate children could alleviate a lot of stress related to the lack of teachers and staff to teach all the children. While this may not solve the problem entirely, it could certainly help. Presently, there are not many mainstream titles that offer the opportunity for the information learned in their products to be translated into real-world ed
  • Connection to Career Goals: I pride myself in education and giving back to my community. Creating games that help inspire, motivate, and educate others would be extremely rewarding. This also enable me to create games that are designed for a more specific targeted audience. 

Feasibility Analysis

Applied Thesis Example:

Rebetez, C., & Betrancourt, M. (2007). Video Game Research in Cognitive and Educational Sciences. Romanian Association for Cognitive Science, 1-12.

  • In Video Game Research in Cognitive and Education Sciences, authors Rebetez & Betrancourt (2007) explored the history of video games used as an educational tool while highlighting their application to studying specific areas such as “Where in the world is Carmen SanDiego” which focused on “geography.” (Rebetez & Betrancourt, 2017, p. 3) The authors also discuss many of the challenges and pitfalls that educational video games have had to face. Rebetez & Betrancourt (2017) reviewed case studies led by “McFarlane, Sparrowhawk, & Held (2012)” (Rebetez & Betrancourt, 2017, p.3), which studied the effectiveness of several types of video games across “twelve primary and secondary schools of the United Kingdom” (Rebetez & Betrancourt, 2017, p.3). Ultimately, the research team deduced key use areas for video games in a classroom setting. (Rebetez & Betrancourt, 2017, p. 4)

Empirical Study

Applied Thesis Second Example:

Edgeworth, M., & Edgeworth, R. L. (1798). Practical Education. London.

  • In Practical Education, father and daughter authors Edgeworth & Edgeworth (1798) discuss their education theories, which focus on a more hands-on approach. (Edgeworth & Edgeworth, 1798) This focus allows the child to learn from examples set by their parents and teachers. The authors also highlighted the importance of “experimenting” (Edgeworth & Edgeworth, 1798, p. 3), which enables children to practice and grow their knowledge. The book’s first chapter is dedicated to play and what children can learn from this activity. In contrast, all the following chapters are dedicated to different branches of practical education aimed at nurturing the young mind. (Edgeworth & Edgeworth, 1798)

Empirical Study

Scholarly Thesis Example:

Downes, T. (1995). Children and electronic media: the home-school connection. World Conference on Computers in Education VI, 543-552.

  • In Children and electronic media: the home-school connection, Downes (1995) discusses how before we bring video games into the educational system we must first reduce the width of the technological gaps. Downes reviewed a study that was conducted to inquire about children’s accessibility to electronic media at home, which highlighted how children were consuming digital media. The second part of this study was a survey of students to gather more information about how they felt regarding learning while playing games. (Downes, 1995, p. 545) Downes also reviewed this material from the teacher’s perspective and inquired further into some of their concerns, with many teachers supporting video games as a tool in the classroom. (Downes, 1995, p. 550) Downes pointed out that teachers are ready to embrace this change and come to terms with an understanding that technology and video games have a role in education. (Downes, 1995, p. 551)

Empirical Study

Mentor Identification

Professor Jude would be an excellent mentor for the Applied Thesis. He has a deep-rooted background in Blueprints and Unreal Engine and has always given me excellent advice regarding development’s practical or applied aspects. For the Scholarly Thesis, I would have two mentors I chose because of their backgrounds unrelated to game design. Abby, an indie development capstone manager, also has much experience and an undergraduate degree in psychology. Marie has a degree in the human sciences of anthropology and has her Master’s in Library Science. These two mentors would provide excellent in-depth knowledge of human behavior, the history of human activities of play, and education. With my mentors selected, I will succeed significantly in both the Scholarly and the Applied Thesis or both if given the opportunity to combine and produce both, culminating into one master thesis.

References

Downes, T. (1995). Children and electronic media: the home-school connection. World Conference on Computers in Education VI, 543-552.

Edgeworth, M., & Edgeworth, R. L. (1798). Practical Education. London.

Rebetez, C., & Betrancourt, M. (2007). Video Game Research in Cognitive and Educational Sciences. Romanian Association for Cognitive Science, 1-12.