Electronic sports (Esports) is a fast-growing competition that has increased modern sports families' market value and size worldwide. It has become a popular competitive gaming and intramural activity in American university campuses. However, what are the perceptual differences toward Esports among university students in America? Therefore, this…

One of the growing phenomena of our digital age is the proliferation of digital fan spaces (Gee, 2018). Dedicated to a specific fandom or activity, these spaces have allowed participants to play competitively, share videos with each other, create fanfiction, provide feedback to one another and engage in a host of literacies around something they…

In an increasingly competitive higher education marketplace, institutions are seeking innovative strategies to grow or maintain their existing student populations. As student interests shift over time, institutions must stay informed of the rise and decline of various sporting activities and the impact those activities have on the student body. As…

The budding esports scene has drawn attention from higher education institutions in North America, who are growing community, competitive, and pedagogical esports initiatives. Varsity Esports Programs (VEPs) have proliferated since Robert Morris launched the first varsity program in 2014, with over 12,800 players from 650 institutions competing in…

Misinformation is one society's most pressing issues, spreading division and chaos across the globe. Videogames have become one of the more promising mediums for misinformation interventions, teaching players common falsehood indicators and helping them develop their discernment abilities. This thesis details the design, playtesting, and…

Human-driven threats are changing biodiversity and impacting ecosystem services (i.e., nature's contributions to society, henceforth 'services'). The consequences of biodiversity change for ecosystems and people are hard to predict because the loss of one species can trigger secondary extinctions of additional species when species interact (e.g.,…

This qualitative research study explored levels of social presence in Second Life (virtual world) associated with phases of knowledge construction. The study explored images and data collected from users at two discussion-based activities. The findings revealed the three levels of social presence, according to the Interactional Process Model of…

Educational video games often engage students intuitively with visuals with quick, responsive actions to immerse students in authentic disciplinary practice. In contrast, typical formal learning environments engage students in conscious reflection with visual representations to understand underlying disciplinary concepts. Research has examined how…

This dissertation considers critical, digital information literacy from a variety of perspectives including composition and rhetoric, applied linguistics, and human-computer interaction. My work seeks to ask what is being done within academia regarding critical, digital literacy when applied to student writing, sociolinguistics, and design. The…

A leadership gender gap exists in politics, business, and higher education, and there appears to be one in collegiate esports. Researchers have conducted studies on some aspects of esports; however, we know little about women's experiences leading collegiate esports programs. The purpose of this qualitative study--a descriptive (transcendental)…

This study employed a pretest-posttest control group experimental design to investigate the impact of self-explanation prompts on content learning in the game-based context. Additionally, it explored the effectiveness of different delivery timings for the prompts--either during or after gameplay--in enhancing students' cognitive engagement in…

This investigation narrates how digital game playing while integrating augmented reality can help enhance higher-order thinking. Digital game playing, when referring to games played on computers, game consoles, or handhelds, can be considered a powerful learning tool in education. The central problem of this investigation lies in the fact that…

In the evolving landscape of gaming, a need for reliable methods to differentiate expertise levels among players has emerged. This study defines experts by their exceptional skills, domain-specific knowledge, and successful application of these attributes in complex situations. Unlike conventional methods that rely on self-reported experience for…

As content creation becomes more accessible and social through gaming, defying hardware barriers, not deterred by software interfaces, moving gaming into the cloud has made it a massive multiplier for players to explore their literacies and creativity without the clutter of the physical space. Videogaming's popularity has sparked controversy,…

This dissertation examines the possibilities and anxieties that attend a notion haunting Western thought since at least Kant--that reality itself is a revisable construct, a kind of collective game with social and physical rules that simultaneously delimit and solicit radical interactivity. Investigating experiments in the gamification of reality…