A pedagogical approach to usability in serious games

Abstract

Why do people learn after playing a serious game versus a game for entertainment? Serious games impart knowledge because there is a pedagogy driving the learning process. Serious games must successfully employ pedagogical methods and theories to increase the likelihood that knowledge is. The process of learning is hindered when an unusable interface demands cognitive resources that should be allocated to learning. Despite the creation of a usable system, if the player’s interaction with the model is hindered, can real transfer of knowledge occur? Within the context of serious games that make use of model-based training, we suggest that a measure of pedagogical usability is warranted. The authors provide a conceptual basis for measuring pedagogical usability, specifically targeting serious games that employ modeling as the mechanism of action.