Constructing Gamified Learning Experiences

Abstract

Educational games are usually delivered as ready-to-use tools, with little to no customization features, and meeting specific needs of learners, as well as of learning contexts remains a key issue. The emergence of authoring tools in the last decade aimed to address this challenge, and to provide teachers means to improve the use of games in education. In spite of that, bridging games and education, especially inclusive education, is yet to reach momentum. In creating serious games, teachers are to follow the rigors of game design processes, and attempt to meet the learner expectations that are shaped by a decades-old, successful entertainment industry. In this context, the authors discuss the challenges associated with gamified and game-based authoring processes, and present the rationale behind the design of an authoring tool that aims to provide teachers with a richer inventory of assets and tools to facilitate the creation of engaging learning experiences in support of inclusive education.