GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

Module 3: Learner and Learning in a Digital Age

Design an Educational Game

Lexi Liu
Overview
Briefly describe your game. What type of game is it? (Simulation, arcade game, board game,
adventure game, branching story, etc.) Note the primary features of the game. Provide an overview
only here. This section should be short, concise, and interesting.

Drama-based pedagogy (DBP) has been proved to be an effective teaching method in language and
literature class. As it could engage students in academic, affective and aesthetic learning through
dialogic meaning-making when they are understanding and interpreting the literary text.

Based on this DBP, I will design a role-playing game in my G10 Chinese language and literature class. In
Unit 2, we will learn some short stories which are written in classical Chinese. This could be a difficult
Unit as there is a barrier in the process of understanding as classical Chinese is quite different from
modern Chinese. As a result, I want to add some colors to the lessons. After fully understanding the
text, students will be separated into small groups and try to retell the story from the viewpoint of
another character in this story. Also, they could try to write a continuation of the story. They will
work as a group. In next class, they will try to play this role-playing game based on what they wrote.
Each student will choose a character in their play and all performance processes will be recorded by
video.

Instructional Objective
You can provide a SMART objective here if possible. SMART is an acronym that stands for specific,
measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. At the very least, identify subject matter learning
goals. Try to align your game with curriculum standards. The standards can be any type of curriculum
standard (i.e. state standard, common core, IB, Cambridge, etc.)

SPECIFIC In the process of story retelling and expanding, students will incorporate their
creative and critical thinking ability. They will be encouraged to activate their
imagination and at the same time, reasoning appropriately.
In the process of role-playing, they need to put themselves in the characters’ shoes
and have the emotional resonance with the character they play. Role-playing
mirrors the way in which students understanding the literary text. Through this
process, they would also incorporate their language and communication ability.

MEASURABLE Before this activity, students will design their own rubric for assessing the
outcomes. They will give score to other groups based on the rubric they made. At
the end of this activity, they will also submit a self-assessment report based on the
rubric. By reviewing their scripts and reports, the achievement of this game is
 GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

Module 3: Learner and Learning in a Digital Age

measurable.
ACHIEVABLE When G10 students were in G9, they’ve already studied the short novel and create
their short novel as assessment. As a result, they’ve understood how to create a
story with appropriate structure. Meanwhile, many of them had chosen drama class
and there would not a big issue for they to perform a play in class.
RELEVANT G10 is a crucial year and the last before they enter DP. Character analysis will be an
important part in DP L&L course. This game is both entertaining and educating in
terms of interpreting literary text. Meanwhile, they will have literature oral test in
DP, this activity will train their language using ability.
TIME-BOUND This game will be finished within 2-3 classes

● CURRICULUM STANDARDS
This game could echo both article 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7 of the aims of Chinese L&L in DP.

(Picture copied from IBDP Language A: language and literature guide)

Learners
Who are they? Include information on age, grade, socioeconomic status, and anything else relevant to
the design and playing of your game. (Games are immersive by nature and can help you influence the
affective domain in students.) If you are creating this game for the same population you designed the
student survey for, you can use that data. If you are designing the game for a different demographic,
provide an overview of the target users.
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Module 3: Learner and Learning in a Digital Age

The G10 student in my former Chinese L&L class were active. Some of them were enthusiastic in class
and also very active in school’s activities and club, for example, arts night, drama club, debate club and
Chinese New Year festival. Two of them had even being the host of Chinese New Year festival party. So
I will be wonder if they don’t love this game.

Motivation
What motivational aspects of your learners are relevant to your game design? Without going into
design details in this section, discuss any relevant motivational issues related to the subject matter
and type of game. How do they generally feel about the subject matter? How do they feel about the
subject matter in terms of level of difficulty, interest, and relevance? Are they familiar with the type of
game you are designing? What do you think will attract them to this game? How will the game engage
the learner?

First of all, the understanding of literary work will be enhanced through different representations, for
example, movie and drama performance. In the process of transforming the literary text, students
would get opportunities to recreate and reimagine the content. As a result, this game will give them
autonomy for interpreting the text instead of passive understanding. They will receive joy in the
process of creating the new content and acting in the play.

Apart from that, in each group, everybody will get a chance in acting. They will have chance choose
the character they like in the role-playing game. They need to finish this play as a group and try to
gain the appreciation from their classmates. Collaboration and competition will stimulate their
motivation. Each step in this process request students fully dedicated to this game.

Context of Use
What do you foresee as the role of this game in the context of your class and curriculum? Is it central
to mastery of subject matter? Supplemental? Used for evaluation? Test preparation? A reward?

In my class, this game is critical to subject matter mastery. The process of story creation and expansion
will be extremely beneficial in assisting students in comprehending literary works. They could not
write a good play unless they thoroughly understood and analyzed the character, plot, and theme of
the literary content.
They will demonstrate their comprehension by incorporating language ability while acting. The
role-playing game increases the chances of using the target language while also helping learners
develop their listening and speaking skills.
Both of the skills I mentioned above are extremely important in L&L class. As a result, this game is
extremely beneficial to their learning.

Scope
How 'big' will your game be? How long will it take to play? What is the scope of subject matter content
to be included? Give details specific to your general design here. For example, for a simulation,
indicate both the amount of time needed to play and the time covered in the simulation. For an
 GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

Module 3: Learner and Learning in a Digital Age

arcade or adventure game, how many levels or spaces will it have?

We need to have 1-2 classes ahead for letting students fully understand the original work. After that,
they will complete their script and rehearsal by using their off-class time. Then another 1-2 classes will
be given to them to give a performance in front of their classmates.

Object of the Game

What's the game goal? What's the end state that players are striving for? How does one 'win' or
complete the game?

The goal of this game is to help students better understand the literary works, including the
characters, theme and plot. Students will find themselves to become creators of the story. They will
do peer review after this game and then choose “the best story ” and “the best performance.”

Design Details
This is the heart of your report. Give as much detail as you can. Include any designs or elements
storyboards, game boards, or screen shots of mock-ups.

Think big. Assume an unlimited budget and all the technical expertise required to create what you
design. What you include in this section will depend largely on what type of game you design. Here,
tell us how your game is played, what it looks like, what the player will experience. Include rules and
as many elements of play as possible.

1\ The Role of Learner

Each student in this class will draw lots to decide which group they belong to. There will be around 6-7
students in each group. Considering the situation that not all students are naturally expressive in
performance. (suggestion from Kevin) Half of the group members will be mainly responsible for
adapting the story and half of them will perform this story.

2\The goal for the students

For the students who are responsible for adapting the story, they should be able to apply their
creativity and critical thinking skills to manipulate the story based on their deep understanding. While
playing this game, students will make decisions about what the character should or should not do.
Also, they could even add plots and characters in their new story.
For the students who are responsible for performing the story, they will incorporate their deep
understanding into the physical performance. They need to use verbal and non-verbal language to
demonstrate the characteristics of characters.
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Module 3: Learner and Learning in a Digital Age

3\How to change this game for online learning?(question from Lina)

Another valuable question from Lina is how to change this game for online learning. I think if students
need remote learning in my class, I will only practice the story creating part. Since they still can
cooperate with each other and design their story online. For the performance part, maybe after we
choose the best story we can still have a chance to make it into a real play in the future.

4\ Rules of game

● Either adapting or expanding the story is acceptable

● Being creative is encouraged, but the character and plot should be consistent with the original
story
● Each performance should be within 20 minutes.
● Students themselves will decide the role and responsibility of each person in a group.

5\Materials that needed

● Characters design form

● Plots design form
● Peer review form
● Group reflection form
● Final script of story
● Costumes of performers(rent or made by themselves)
● Video recording tool
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Module 3: Learner and Learning in a Digital Age

Design Process
Briefly discuss the stages of design you experienced from your initial concept to your final plan. What
was your initial motivation? Did you do any research into existing games that you could borrow from?
What changes did you make as you moved forward? Did you encounter unexpected constraints or
abilities? Did you have any 'a-ha' moments? What feedback did you get from others and what
adjustments did you make in response to feedback?

Step 1 Establishing a Team (30 mins for this section)

After all the groups are established, they will decide which person is responsible for which part. All the
progress should be documented. If someone doesn't want to play a role in the performance, then he
or she should contribute a lot to the creation of the story.

Step 2 Story Creation and Scriptwriting (around 1-2 classes will be given to students)

Several forms should be filled during the process of the story of creation, including characters design
form and plots design form. They can be as creative as they want by using pictures, graphics and maps
to make their thoughts concrete.
Before their creation, they will break up elements within the story into game components: various
scenes, characters within the story and the things which they interact with. Students will try to
incorporate the new situations and characters into their narratives.

Step 3 Performing (around 2 classes will be given to them)

The group members who are responsible for performing will design the play based on the story their
group members created. They also need to prepare their costumes and stage properties. They will use
the after-class time to do the rehearsal.

Step 4 Reflections and feedbacks(will be given as homework)

They will give comments for other groups and will select the best story group and best performance
group. At the same time, they will write reflections as a group and the teacher will give them
feedback.
 GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

Module 3: Learner and Learning in a Digital Age

References

Drama-Based Pedagogy | Drama-Based Instruction. (2022). Retrieved 9 July 2022, from

https://dbp.theatredance.utexas.edu/about

Books-to-Games: Transforming Classic Novels Into Role Playing Adventures | KQED. (2022). Retrieved 9 July
2022, from
https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/42538/books-to-games-transforming-classic-novels-into-role-playing-adventures

Books-to-Games: Transforming Classic Novels Into Role Playing Adventures | KQED. (2022). Retrieved 9 July
2022, from
https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/42538/books-to-games-transforming-classic-novels-into-role-playing-adventures