Leveraging local expertise: Design of game-based formative assessments for broader adoption

Abstract

21st Century Standards and the Deeper Learning movement in the U.S. emphasize the ability to think critically and solve complex problems, to work well in teams and to communicate effectively as core objectives of teaching and learning. While traditional classroom activities can certainly meet these objectives, digital games and simulations provide unique affordances. In particular when designed to incorporate formative assessment functions, they can be instrumented to capture detailed data on learners' performances and provide learners with immediate feedback. In spite of their strengths, practitioners' adoption of game-based and simulation-based formative assessments can be slowed where design does not account for requirements that arise in local classroom and school environments. This paper presents the Integrated BEAR Design System (IBDS) as one way of engaging practitioners in principled design and development of game-based formative assessments in order to design for broad adoption by accounting for local needs. The Integrated BEAR Design System (IBDS) extends existing principled design approaches by engaging practitioners working in diverse teaching and learning environments. We outline the four building blocks of the IBDS while referring to our experiences designing and developing a prototype game-based assessment - Little Fish Lagoon. The game is a formative assessment of collaboration and communication skills that puts players in charge of a North Atlantic fishery. It supports exploration of scientific, communal and governance issues that arise with common pool resources. Participatory design involved 6 schools in the U.S. to plan for broad adoption of the multiplayer collaboration game in diverse classroom settings. We illustrate an iterative process to engage practitioners in the first three building blocks of the IBDS: (1) construct maps (2) the items design and (3) the outcome space. The result is a game-based formative assessment poised for broad adoption.