Serious Games Serving Integration of Graduated Students:

Review and Study Cases

Sabri Zineb

, Moumen Aniss

and Youssef Fakhri

Laboratory of Computer Science, Ibn Tofaïl University, Kenitra, Morocco

National School of Applied Sciences, Ibn Tofaïl University, Kenitra, Morocco

Laboratory of Computer Science, Ibn Tofaïl University, Kenitra, Morocco

Keywords: Serious game, Education, Curriculum vitae, Employment, Unity, Games, Interview

Abstract: Education systems have been applying games for a long time. Use serious games to increase the accessibility

and inclusion of graduated students to the job markets are considering by our research. We intend to make it

easy and more efficient. We started by conducting a systemic literature review of the application of games

and gamification in learning, and it proved to be an effective and interactive tool. We found insightful results

concerning the applications of game elements and mechanics in education. This paper will present an updated

literature review; we collected hundreds of documents from multiple research databases discussing the

learning theories, game theory and design, game development process, and tools. Then we will be presenting

a practical work we conducted in the context of our research as an open workshop to create starting games.

The first one is a drag and drop game to prepare a resume which is the first step of a laureate's career to set

himself apart from others. The second one is a quiz game to prepare the laureate for interviews, make the best

impression and show his qualification.

1 INTRODUCTION

A prominent number of tools, technologies and

programs have been created throughout the last

decade to increase the quality of learning and improve

the educational systems. Still, how effective they are

to achieve the intended outcomes? However, games

proved to be a very effective and successful learning

tool to reach them. A game can help students learn

multiple training, skills, and new abilities, so why not

use them to integrate graduated students inside

companies successfully, all along by being engaged,

motivated, and having fun.

In our last paper, we explored the application of

serious games and gamification in the educational

field by reviewing the recent literature, identifying

the elements involved in the gamification process and

explaining the game elements as a proof of concept

(Sabri Zineb, 2020).

In this paper, we conduct an updated statistic; then,

we will present how the learning model (Keller JM,

1983) based on attention, relevance, confidence and

satisfaction leads us to two games to help the

graduated students.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

As the literature review is always an important

milestone to reach in a research journey, we updated

our corpus of data to enlarge our analysis and

synthesis based on hundreds of papers retrieved from

different research databases. We witnessed many

studies in this field confirming the potential of games

and gamification to improve their effectiveness in

learning.

2.1 Methodology

We followed the methodology of N7+1 pedagogy

(O'Neill, 2017), composed of eight steps, using Nvivo

as a qualitative data analysis software to drive the

analysis of our data deeply. By following every step

of this process described below:

Zineb, S., Aniss, M. and Fakhri, Y.

Serious Games Serving Integration of Graduated Students: Review and Study Cases.

DOI: 10.5220/0010730700003101

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Big Data, Modelling and Machine Learning (BML 2021), pages 181-186

ISBN: 978-989-758-559-3

181

Figure 1: N7+1 approach and steps.

2.2 Corpus Presentation

We built a rigorous research set using different

research databases by title, abstract, and keywords.

We searched using multiple words as "gamification",

"eLearning", "serious games", and "training" to

retrieve so many different articles. We then sorted

these research papers to get only those linked to our

research study. We reassembled the sorted set in one

RIS file using the reference management software:

Zotero. Once the corpus set is completed and after

checking every research paper to ensure that title,

abstract, authors, database source and journal well

informed, to have classified literature. We imported

then the RIS file into Nvivo, which forms an

important part to analyze the data collected by

organizing, visualizing and coding it to get an

insightful finding at the end:

Figure 2: Data analysis approach.

2.2.1 Corpus Distribution by Database

Two hundred twenty-four papers were conducting

researches on gamification, and serious games

application in education and training extracted using

"Science Direct", "Springer Link", "Web of Science",

"IEEE Xplore Digital Library", and "Scopus". The

papers fetched from the research databases

distributed as the following: 45 research papers from

"Springer Link", 68 from "Science Direct", 41 from

"Scopus" and 13 from "IEEE Xplore Digital Library",

25 papers from" HAL Archives Ouvertes" and five

from" Cairn" (see Table 1).

Table 1: Distribution of sources by the database.

Database Provider Percentage of sources

ResearchGate 4.72%

Springer Link 21.23%

ScienceDirect 32.08%

Zotero 0.47%

IEEE Xplore 6.13%

Scopus 19.34%

JSTOR 1.89%

HAL Archives Ouvertes 11.79%

Cairn 2.36%

2.2.2 Corpus Distribution by Year

As displayed in the following table, our corpus

comprises different research papers from 1970 until

now. We have in our set fifteen research published in

2021, which indicates the importance of games and

education.

Table 2: Distribution of sources by year.

Year Number of matching

sources

1970 17

2005 19

2006 4

2007 13

2008 4

2009 2

2010 12

2011 19

2012 14

2013 46

2014 2

2015 8

2016 1

2017 1

2018 1

2019 1

2020 2

2021 15

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2.2.3 Corpus Distribution by Reference

Type

The reference type of the selected research papers is

distributed as described in Table 2, Most of the

documents are journal articles, and nearly 15% are

conference papers.

Table 3: Reference type distribution of sources.

Reference Type Percentage of sources

Conference Paper 15.02%

Journal Article 84.98%

2.3 Serious Games and Education

Victoria proved the concept by developing the game

named It's a deal based on an educational theory; its

primary purpose is teaching intercultural business

communication (Victoria Guillén-Nieto, 2011). Also,

Laurence Hanes and Robert Stone conducted

teaching history in their research to prove the impact

of serious games in education by defining a model to

present historical courses and information using a

video game (Hanes and Stone, 2019).

Several meta-analyses (studies of studies) have

indicated that game-based learning is more effective

for learning than traditional classroom instruction.

Pieter Wouters and colleagues (2013) compared

results from 38 individual studies and found that

learning games or serious games promote learning

and retention more effectively than traditional

methods. They also found that using serious games,

students learned more than those taught with

conventional instruction strategies - lectures and

discussions, when the game was augmented with

other instructional methods when multiple training

sessions were involved, and players worked in

groups.

Traci Sitzmann (2011) conducted a meta-analysis

of 65 independent samples and data from more than

6,000 trainees, found that trainees who had played

games as opposed to those who participated in

conventional instructional methods: "had 11% higher

declarative knowledge levels, 14% higher procedural

knowledge levels, and 9% higher retention levels than

trainees in the comparison group."

She also found that the games were "17% more

effective than lecture and 5% more effective than

discussion, the two most popular instructional

methods in classroom instruction." (Sitzmann, 2011).

In another study, Thomas M. Connolly and

colleagues (2012) conducted a meta-analysis by

reviewing 129 papers reporting evidence related to

the outcomes of computer games and serious games

concerning learning and engagement. One firm

conclusion they reached was that the most "frequently

occurring outcomes and impacts were knowledge

acquisition/content understanding and affective and

motivational outcomes." learning games are a highly

proficient form of instruction for obtaining desired

learning results (Thomas M. Connolly, 2012).

3 SERIOUS GAMES: STUDY

CASES

We found the word "serious games" mentioned more

than 100 times in every research paper collected.

Based on the histogram of the most frequent words

concluded from our study mentioned earlier (Sabri

Zineb, 2020). We found the word serious games and

learning are directly connected, reflecting the focus of

research for a long time on the application of

gamification and games in education, as the best

levels of retention, content acquisition, and learning

come while playing games.

We followed this highlight in our research

because any person learns by experience, not just by

teaching. Following the traditional way as an analogy

is when you tell a small child not to touch a stove

because it's hot. The scenario usually goes like this:

you say to the child not to touch it, but the child

decides to have the experience on his own and feels

the stove. Of course, the child gets burned, but he

internalizes the experience and the lesson and decides

that touching a hot stove is bad. So, the games or

gamification works in the same fashion.

Evolved on this previous approach, we will be

presenting two games implemented using C# and

unity in this section.

3.1 Puzzle Games

Puzzle games make up a large genre of games, and

nearly every game includes a puzzle-solving strategy.

They arise from serious mathematical or logical

problems.

The puzzle games operate on many problem-

solving abilities like logic, pattern recognition,

sequence solving, spatial recognition, and word

completion.

The puzzle game developed in this present work

is for students to get them ready for their first job. The

primary purpose is to ease their integration into

professional life. The first step is to prepare a

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professional resume following the minimum rules

that employers use.

Figure 3: Starting page of the game.

Let's detail the game basics and map it to the

dialect of games:

Table 4: Definition of the game.

The Term The

ame

Game goal - Build a professional

resume

Core Dynamics - Drag and Drop the

resume elements

Game Mechanics - Answer the first

questions

Play with generated blocs

to place them in the

correct positions

Game Elements - Chance: depending on

what position the player

put the generated blocs

in, he may have a good or

bad event.

- Strategy: the player

should develop a plan to

acquire and gets the rules

to win the final resume.

- Aesthetics: The visual

look of the template grid

inspires college-themed

versions of the game.

- Conflict: the player gets

into head-to-head

contests with the multiple

locs

enerate

The game's play is composed of two parts; the first

part proposes a friendly typed question to get some

data of the player to generate the proposed blocs, as

displayed in the following figure:

Figure 4: Home Page

The second part proposes to the player multiple

blocs generated on the left (see Figure 5), based on

the information he taped earlier, then he starts

enjoying by dragging and dropping the blocs on the

grid as he wants,

Figure 5: Generated blocs

if he puts the right bloc in the right place, he earns

points and indications to guide him understand how

to present himself in the resume the most effective

way to be selected amongst others,

Figure 6: Drag and drop blocs

3.2 Quiz Games

Quiz games have been prominent in our time through

tv programs and shows, game consoles, mobile

games, etc. They are widely in the education field in

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the way of learning, self-assessment, exams and

evaluations.

A quiz is composed of a flow of questions. Within

this flow, each question is designed for a specific

takeaway and requires a predefined answer.

The quiz game developed in this present work is

for students to get them ready for their first job. The

primary purpose is to ease their integration into

professional life. After learning the main basics to

build a professional, the graduated students will have

to pass the interviews, the second game's primary

goal.

Let's detail these game basics and map them to the

dialect of games:

Table 5: Definition of the second game.

The Term The game

Game goal - Prepare for a job

interview

Core Dynamics - Choose an answer within

multiple options

Game Mechanics - Put the player in a

problem-solving situation

or context, and let him

decide accordingly

Game Elements - Aesthetics: The visual

look of the game has

inspired a wide range of

spin-offs

- Challenge: the player gets

to challenge himself with

multiple contexts.

The game's play is composed of two parts; first

part puts the player in different contexts; the first one,

for example, while he is getting ready for the

interview at home, he should choose the clothing

style, so the game suggests him multiple choices, he

gets to choose one option by clicking on it:

Figure 7: Clothing situation

And then, the player passes to the second one, for

example:

Figure 8: Clothing indication

it's always advisable to have multiple copies of your

Resume and getting out early to be on the exact time

of the interview, even this problem-solving strategy,

is an essential skill that many recruiters and

companies require. So, this kind of game can be a

helpful way of encouraging this type of mindset and

evolving these skills.

Figure 9: Resume copy’s situation

As the player continues with the game, he earns

points as an award to attend the feeling of well-being

and pride that comes from the admiration and

recognition that winners and achievers often receive.

Figure 10: The score view

4 CONCLUSION

Evidence strongly supports the conclusion that games

can be effective, practical and efficient tools for

teaching players. Our goal to achieve is mainly easing

and make the laureate's integration into professional

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life very successful. We started by the analysis of

literature review to prove the exciting impact of

learning through games. We implemented two early

version games to test the proposed approach before

getting deeper to create a prototype aiming to fulfil

the needs. We gathered the requirements while

interviewing multiple recruiters in different

offshoring enterprises to define the mandatory

training students must pass. Then, the soft skills they

wish laureates had before integration made it easy and

efficient.

REFERENCES

Sabri Zineb, Moumen Aniss, Fakhri Youssef. "Gamifying

eLearning to Improve Professional Integration to Labor

Market Systematic Literature Review." 2020.

Keller JM, Motivational design of instruction. In: Reigeluth

CM (ed) Instructional design theories and models.

Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, 1983.

Victoria Guille ́n-Nieto, Marian Alison-Carbonell, Serious

games and learning effectiveness: The case of It's a

Deal, Computers & Education, Volume 58, Issue

1,2012, Pages 435-448, ISSN 0360- 1315.

Hanes, L., Stone, R. A model of heritage content to support

the design and analysis of video games for history

education. J. Comput. Educ. 6, 587–612 (2019).

O'Neill, M., Booth, S. (2017a). N7 + 1 Literature reviews.

A meta-analysis of the cognitive and motivational effects of

serious games.P Wouters, C Van Nimwegen, H Van

Oostendorp… - Journal of educational psychology,

2013.

Sitzmann T. A meta-analytic examination of the

instructional effectiveness of computer ‐ based

simulation games. Personnel psychology.

2011;64(2):489-528.

Connolly, T., Boyle, E., Boyle, J., Macarthur, E., & Hainey,

T. (2012). A systematic literature review of empirical

evidence on computer games and serious games.

Computers & Education, 59(2), 661-686.

https://doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2012.03.004.

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