Serious games research shows that games can increase engagement and improve learning outcomes over traditional instruction, but the impact of specific elements of serious games has yet to be fully explored across many contexts. Additionally, many existing intervention studies omit the details of the game design and development theory that informed…

This dissertation observed and analyzed the experiences of five higher education students participating in a modified tabletop role-playing game (TRPG) intentionally modified for teaching adaptive leadership concepts. The study observed participants' capacity to learn the adaptive leadership concepts taught throughout the game and the ways in…

The meteoric rise in software and technology has altered the paradigm of information security and privacy. Classified information, stored earlier behind locked doors, is now stored on the internet on servers that can be accessed from anywhere on the globe. As a result of these advancements, we are now vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Cyber-attacks are…

The Gamification Game ON! Starter Kit provides educators with resources and instruction to create a gamified classroom. This kit aims to simplify the process for educators while maintaining their creative freedom, and outlines a summary of the research, design, and development of an educator kit to incorporate gamification in their classroom.…

The Gamification Game ON! Starter Kit provides educators with resources and instruction to create a gamified classroom. This kit aims to simplify the process for educators while maintaining their creative freedom, and outlines a summary of the research, design, and development of an educator kit to incorporate gamification in their classroom.…

This qualitative dissertation explores the use of an original table-top role-playing game as a framework for community-building among independent community educators who lack a central geographic nexus. The study utilized an action research approach, involving the creation and development of the game in collaboration with participants for a period…

Current literature reveals the importance of expanding the educational toolchest to include teaching through games. Game-based learning has been extensively studied, underscoring a human need to have fun while learning. This research project focused on the development of "Paved Paradise: A Tiny House Ecovillage Board Game," that could…

The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to explore how The Sims could be used to assist L1 English speakers in learning L2 Russian verbs of motion through completing in-game tasks in pairs while speaking Russian. English and Russian verbs of motion encode manner and path differently, and L2 Russian motion verbs use a variety of…

Registered nurses (RNs) working in today's healthcare environment must consistently learn new knowledge and skills, keep abreast of practice changes, and implement strategies to improve patient outcomes. However, healthcare organizations face significant challenges as they attempt to facilitate efficient training. Nursing professional development…

Given the connection between problem-solving and computational thinking (CT), studying the connections between these two constructs is critical. This study focused on students' computational problem-solving strategies, specifically how they applied conditional logic to solve CT-related puzzles within a game-based learning environment called…

Video games, such as the popularized game Minecraft, have been used in a variety of educational settings and learning contexts. Though academic findings of video game usage are mixed, increases in learning competencies, skills and engagement were apparent. While faced with creating an alternative learning plan for teaching kaikua?ana and kaikaina…

Gamification is a term used to describe the art of taking a process or a task and making it into a game. Using games as a way to make mundane tasks or necessary lessons more fun is used in many aspects of life. Parents often use games to teach children tasks, and teachers use games to enforce learning, and much more. The gamification of Security…

This dissertation seeks to investigate how digital gestures connect to students' mathematical understanding when playing "From Here to There!" (FH2T). This investigation explores the intersection of three fields, game-based learning, embodied cognition, and mathematics education. I used three studies which break down the different…

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine the beliefs of physical education teachers regarding the value of exergames and the association between exergames and physical literacy. This study employed a sequential two-phase data collection process. The first phase of this study collected quantitative data through an online survey…

Creativity is an important part of education. Teachers need to be able to understand and develop creativity to be able to successfully model it for their students. They can achieve this through pre-service training. Past research has provided implications in pre-service training that helped pre-service teachers develop creativity, albeit from a…