Doctor of Professional Studies (D.P.S.) in Instructional Design Leadership, Franklin University, 2023, International Institute for Innovative Instruction

This research examined how a Digital Escape Room (DER) about accessibility contributed to the potential change of faculty behavioral intentions toward developing accessible online course content. This paper describes the design of the DER and a pilot study of its initial implementation that consisted of two phases, (1 a usability test with 3 participants to identify challenges and allow for adjustments to the DER before entering the next phase of the pilot study and (2 a qualitative study to collect participants perceptions on their DER experience. The design of the DER incorporated constructs of both the Integrated Behavior Model and the Integrated Design Framework. Also, each clue aligned with a WCAG guideline and principle. The clues are intentionally inaccessible to create scenarios where the participants must try to learn from the inaccessible content. During phase one, the researcher conducted online observations of each conveniently selected participant during the usability test via Zoom, followed by an online debriefing interview. The usability testing data was analyzed to determine what design issues to fix ahead of phase two. In phase two, a purposive snowball technique was used to find participants for the study. Semi-structured elicitation interviews were conducted with 13 participants who could project their varying years of teaching experience, online learning, and content creation into their reflections on the phenomenon. The data collected from the elicitation interviews were transcribed and analyzed to uncover major themes. The data revealed that the participants found the game fun, engaging, and challenging. Some participants stated that their frustration made them feel as though they could empathize with learners with disabilities in an online classroom. Twenty-three percent of the participants were able to escape despite the accessibility challenges. More than half of the participants reported that their desire to develop accessible content (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Natalya Koehler PhD (Committee Chair); Joel Gardner PhD (Committee Member); Bora Pajo PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; Curriculum Development; Design; Education; Educational Technology; Educational Theory; Higher Education; Instructional Design

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Organizational Leadership , Franklin University, 2021, International Institute for Innovative Instruction

Escape room games have emerged in the educational landscape over the last decade and are growing in popularity. Studies show that participants enjoy educational escape room games, however the data to demonstrate learning acquisition and behavior change is limited. This study addressed the research question: How effective are escape room games as a leadership training activity? The researcher developed The Leadership Escape Game, a digital game, where participants explored the online space and solved puzzles and challenges to learn the SLII® leadership model (used with permission from the Ken Blanchard Companies). Effectiveness of the game was measured using the first three levels of the New World Kirkpatrick Model. Participants completed a learner satisfaction survey immediately after playing The Leadership Escape Game. The Leader Behavior Analysis II® (LBA II) was used as a pre-test, post-test, and 30-day post-test to measure learning acquisition. The LBAII® calculated Leadership Style Flexibility and Effectiveness scores that demonstrated understanding of the model with a scenario-based multiple-choice assessment. Behavior change was assessed using participant interviews at least 30 days following the game. Results demonstrated that a digital escape room game is an effective way to deliver leadership training. Learner satisfaction results presented statistically significant and positive ratings about participation in The Leadership Escape Game. Leadership Style Flexibility and Effectiveness results across the three assessments demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in scores following the game. 30-day post-game interviews also presented evidence that participants applied what they learned with their employees. Additional analysis determined that previous experience with escape rooms or the leadership content were not pre-requisites to success in The Leadership Escape Game.

Committee: Yi Yang Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Dawn Snyder Ph.D. (Committee Member); Yuerong Sweetland Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Business Education; Educational Technology; Instructional Design

Master of Education (MEd), Bowling Green State University, 2011, Career and Technology Education/Technology

New generations of learners who have grown up in a digital age have made it difficult for educators to keep students engaged in the classroom. Video games are one solution to the problem of engaging and motivating students. This study looks at current popular social video games, as well as alternate reality games, and the elements that these games possess that foster engagement in players. The purpose of the study was to identify and analyze gaming characteristics to determine how certain game characteristics could be effectively incorporated into a introductory digital photography course curriculum to create more motivation in class critiques and discussion. A framework based on Tom Chatfield's TED Talk "7 Ways Games Reward the Brain" was used to develop a gaming model that could be applied to an Introductory Digital Photography course at Bowling Green State University. This model was reviewed by members of an expert panel through a process of alpha and beta reviews. Recommendations of the expert panel were taken into consideration for the development of the final model. The study concluded that many tools and applications are available to assist instructors in creating personalized and engaging learning environments, but much work would still be required to develop and implement gaming elements into a course curriculum. As new tools and technology become available, the integration of such a model may become less cumbersome and more common among educational environments.

Committee: Terry Herman PhD (Advisor); Larry Hatch PhD (Committee Member); Anthony Fontana MFA (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Technology; Higher Education; Instructional Design; Multimedia Communications; Teaching

Master of Education (MEd), Bowling Green State University, 2009, Career and Technology Education/Technology

This study contains the research, design, and development of a digital game based learning (DGBL) module that incorporated pedagogical elements of energy and transportation technology standards. A sample game prototype on energy efficiency in transportation was created by the researcher and assessed by a panel of subject matter experts. The prototype was focused toward an audience of children attending kindergarten through fifth grade. Based on the assessment by subject matter experts and the collected research, the game prototype accredited DGBL as a viable tool for use in education technology standard benchmarks. Although considered viable, DGBL required special considerations of design and development before the possibility of

Committee: Dr. Terry Herman (Advisor); Dr. Larry Hatch (Committee Member); Dr. Paul Cesarini (Committee Member) Subjects: Design; Education; Educational Software; Educational Theory; Energy; Teaching; Technology

PHD, Kent State University, 2024, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Studies

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 limited perspective. Digital gaming has been found to help develop creativity in K-12 students and undergraduate students but has not been explored from the perspective of pre-service teachers. The purpose of this study was to examine digital game-based learning and the development of creativity with pre-service teachers. With the aid of the 4Ps of Creativity Framework, this study employed a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design to examine how digital gaming instruction, gamification instruction and traditional instruction developed person creativity, process creativity, product creativity, and press creativity with pre-service teachers in an asynchronous module unit. Person creativity, process creativity, and press creativity were examined in the pretest and posttest. Product creativity was evaluated after the module. Findings indicated that growth in convergent thinking (a subdimension of process creativity) accounted for differences between digital gaming instruction, gamification instruction, and traditional instruction. The pre-service teachers' pretest scores of convergent thinking and their major also impacted growth in convergent thinking. The findings conflicted with past research and demonstrated the importance of measuring subdimensions of process creativity in digital game-based learning with pre-service teachers. Implications included a need for teacher educators to utilize digital game-based learning techniques to develop convergent thinking with pre-service teachers.

Committee: Richard Ferdig (Committee Chair); Enrico Gandolfi (Committee Member); Jason Schenker (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Technology

Master of Education (MEd), Bowling Green State University, 2012, Technology Management

Motivating students to learn is one primary goal of education. The same students that are unmotivated in school are highly motivated to play digital games. However, educational games have not enjoyed the same success as commercial games. An alternative approach to transforming education is to apply the aspect of popular game design into the more traditional existing best practice within the schools. Gamification is the process of integrating digital game attributes into an academic curriculum utilizing things such as levels, challenges and rewards with the goal of increasing student engagement. Thus, designing educational curriculum in the same way that successful games are designed may lead to more effective teaching and learning. This study used a review of literature and experts to create a set of guidelines of digital game attributes and design that can be applied to a more traditional curriculum. One purpose of this guideline was to provide educators with an alternative method of curriculum design and content delivery. The second purpose of this guideline was to provide suggestions for how teachers as to how they might implement digital game elements into an academic setting.

Committee: Terry Herman PhD (Committee Chair); Larry Hatch PhD (Committee Member); Paul Cesarini PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Technology

Master of Education (MEd), Bowling Green State University, 2011, Career and Technology Education/Technology

The problem of the study was to evaluate current distracted driving video games for teen drivers based on a best practice checklist of effective strategies. The best practice checklist was generated from game metrics, game models, and theorists that specialize in digital game-based learning (DGBL) games. The DGBL model was designed to help teach teen drivers all the distracted driving challenges teens presently face that the driver's education program does not hit on. The DGBL game model was designed from all the evaluated distracted driving video games. All the current distracted driving video games were evaluated with the best practice checklist. After all the current distracted driving video games had been evaluated, they were ranked and put into a list. If a driving game has a certain criteria from the checklist it would get a check mark for that game criteria. Whichever game got the most check marks would be first and thus down the line of games. Once the list was completed all the games were be reviewed to see if there was one game that fits all the criteria for a complete DGBL game model. If one game happens to fit the criteria it would be used for the DGBL model. The results from objective two were analyzed and ranked. They were ranked based on how many of the criteria they met. At the end of the ranking process, there were two games that not only had the same amount of game metrics, but also had the same game metrics as well. Both of them had all of the game metrics, except rewards. Both of the top two ranked distracted driving games were especially well done and had in-depth story lines, many challenges, and immediate feedback, and were motivating, engaging, and interactive. The researcher's game model was based off of the Distractology game model with rewards being added to make it a true well-rounded DGBL game model.

Committee: Terry Herman Dr. (Advisor); Larry Hatch Dr. (Committee Member); Paul Cesarini Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Design; Education; Educational Software; Educational Technology

Master of Education (MEd), Bowling Green State University, 2008, Career and Technology Education/Technology

A deficit exists in Ohio high schools students' performance on the social studies section of the Ohio Graduation Test (Ohio Department of Education, 2007b). In this thesis, the researcher has studied and proposed a curriculum model integrating gaming into the social studies curriculum, with the purpose of aiding students on the social studies section of the Ohio Graduation Test.Digital game-based learning has been endorsed by many expert supporters as an effective learning tool. However, little research has been conducted to explore how to implement a pedagogically-sound digital game-based learning model into an existing curriculum (Van Eck, 2006). Digital game-based learning may be the solution to engaging today's students who are unengaged in the classroom but engaged by nearly every other aspect of their lives (Prensky, 2005). To assess the validity and potential success of the curriculum, the researcher presented a series of questions to an expert panel comprised of a subject matter expert, curriculum specialist and gaming expert. This study is one step in garnering a body of knowledge and research to support integration of digital-game based learning into K-12 curriculum to reinforce student learning.

Committee: Terry Herman PhD (Committee Chair); Donna Trautman PhD (Committee Member); Gary Benjamin PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Curricula; Educational Software; Secondary Education; Social Studies Education; Technology

Master of Education (MEd), Bowling Green State University, 2007, Career and Technology Education/Technology

The problem of this study was to develop and evaluate an educational role-playing game aimed at the instruction of fourth-grade Ohio State Mathematics Standards. The program Realmcrafter was used to create the virtual environment in the study. For this study, a combination of Educational Research and Development or (R & D) and iterative design was selected for the research design. Educational (R & D) “… consists of a cycle in which a version of the product is developed, field-tested, and revised on the basis of field-test data …” (Borg & Gall, 1983, p. 771). Alternatively, the method of iterative design as detailed in Salen and Zimmerman's Rules of Play Game Design Fundamentals is defined as “… a cyclic process that alternates between prototyping, play testing, evaluation and refinement …” (2004, p. 11). A hybrid of these methods was chosen to supplement the general research model described by Borg and Gall in 1983 for educational product design with the specific techniques for game design found in Salen and Zimmerman (2004). Dickey (2007) states that MMORPGs, “… may be of great relevance in the design of interactive learning environments …” (p. 254) and the bottom line is that the program created in the study can be used by educators to help enhance the learning that goes on in and out of their classrooms. What, in summary, was developed by a teacher practitioner was a prototype mathematics educational game using a simple but powerful gaming engine. The study used the R & D refinements from Borg and Gall (1983). While the R & D process was shorter than in a commercial applications development, its purpose was fulfilled in creating a potentially viable educational gaming prototype.

Committee: Larry Hatch (Advisor) Subjects: