Motivating Game-Based Learning Efforts in Higher Education

Though there is considerable research to support using Game-Based Learning (GBL) in higher education, its implementation is lagging behind K-12 education by an order of magnitude. By considering the current state of GBL from leadership, primary consumer, academic and technical perspectives, the authors frame the main issues involved with successfully implementing these efforts. These issues involve obtaining the resources required to make mature serious games that are similar in presentation, functionality and effectiveness to the commercial-based products so widely used today, while ensuring that they are imbued with academic content worthy of college curricula. After motivating a compelling case for GBL, despite a number of constraints and difficulties, the authors present two higher education efforts that are designed to augment the core curriculum for undergraduate and graduate level courses associated with the field of Trauma-a field enhanced by virtual efforts due to its challenging subject matter.