Digital Games as a Learning Tool : A Cognitive Work Analysis

This qualitative study aims to evaluate digital games as a learning tool, by reviewing the experiences of a number of teachers. The thesis investigates what aspects of digital games create prospects for learning, and what concepts need further improvement. Thus, the study distinguishes the effects of different approaches to game development, to benefit the actual end-users of the gaming systems: students as well as teachers. In a broader perspective, the results of the thesis illuminate a fraction of the digitalization process in the Swedish school system. Using a semi-structured interview methodology, interviewee responses from eight teachers working with children aged 7-12, were filtered through a modified version of Vicente’s (1999) theoretical framework Cognitive Work Analysis. Using the framework, some aspects within the games that the interviewees used were identified as normative, encapsulating unnecessary challenges for teachers. Such games were found to be limited, as well as limiting in its use, and tended to put emphasis on the more playful elements of the game sessions, rather than on learning. Other aspects were identified as descriptive, meaning they were based on current work practices, but failed to utilize the full, unexplored potential within the learning setting of the game. Both the normative and descriptive aspects of games were found to a higher extent in the category of educational games, rather than in serious games. In the game concepts where the more desirable formative approach could be identified, the aspects in question were inserted into a work domain analysis matrix, to decompose the cognitive main goals into smaller fractions and game components. Conclusions made from the analysis included the importance of AI and data collection, as well as the ability for teachers to adapt the games to their needs. Moreover, formatively developed digital games seem to contribute to a way of teaching that meets more individual needs. The cognitive work analysis proved to be a fitting tool when evaluating digital games used for learning. Modifications made to the framework included the delimitation to, and addition of cognitive values to, the work domain, as well as the exclusion of the last level of the workdomain matrix