Classroom games and puzzles Jeroen Belien KU Leuven

Classroom games and puzzles Jeroen Belien (KU Leuven, Belgium) Editor-in-Chief ITE Stefan Creemers, IESEG Lille (France) Area Editor educational games

ITE Puzzles vs. ITE Classroom Games • Puzzle – Short, textual assignment (often supported by a figure) – Single round – Single player – One optimal solution – E. g. , Sudoku – Simple ITE Format • Classroom game • No textual assignment, but: • Game format (board game, role playing game, etc. ) • A set of game rules • Multiple rounds • Multiplayer • Possibly several good game strategies • E. g. , the Poker Chip game • Game ITE paper format

ITE Classroom Games Format Two game components: • Game Article • Instructors only material • Teaching note • Files, solutions, etc.

Game Components: Game Article Audience: Instructors looking for teaching games • Overview of the game • Literature review • Pedagogical objectives • Classroom experience: • How game has been used in a learning experience, and with what students • Level and experience of student for which game is appropriate or adaptable • Overview of how game might be adapted for various student groups • Game evaluation

• Students’ informal feedback (quotes) • Students’ formal feedback (e. g. , anonymous questionnaire) • Comparing students’ formal feedback before and after the game • Comparing students’ knowledge before and after the game • Experiment: • Comparing students’ formal feedback group A (game) vs. group B (no game) • Comparing students’ knowledge group A (game) vs. group B (no game) Stronger evidence of game effectiveness Game Evaluation

Game Components: Instructors Only Material Audience: Instructors who are using the game • Password protected, released only to verifiable instructors • Guidance for instructors using the game, based on classroom experience • Game analysis, supporting models and files • Suggestions on adapting to various student audiences • Anything YOU would want to know if using someone else’s game!

Tips for writing articles for ITE • Your target audience is OR/MS/analytics instructors • They want to know how relevant the topic that you are writing about is for them: • What kind of students do you teach? (business/engineering/math/… , UG/MBA/MS/…) • In what course(s)? • What have your students learned already? • How often have you used what you are writing about? • How well did it work? What lessons did you learn?

Tips for writing articles for ITE • You need a literature review • The relevant papers to cite will probably be from education journals • Read a few recent ITE papers before you start writing one yourself

What do I do next? • Learn more about ITE: pubsonline. informs. org/journal/ited • Write an article to submit to ITE • Submit the article: mc. manuscriptcentral. com/ite • Contact Jeroen: jeroen. belien@kuleuven. be