Serious games are frequently successful in teaching, training, or assessing professional competencies, with reported success rates of 84% for cognitive skills, 83% for knowledge, and 100% for motor skills¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2024 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Across 56 reviewed studies, the large majority reported serious games successful for the targeted professional competency, with success rates of 84% (cognitive skills), 83% (knowledge), and 100% (motor skills). → Bijl 2024

Evidence¶

Bijl 2024¶

Bijl, A., Veldkamp, B. P., Wools, S., & de Klerk, S. (2024). Serious games in high-stakes assessment contexts: a systematic literature review into the game design principles for valid game-based performance assessment. Education Tech Research Dev, 72, 2041–2064. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-024-10362-0

q2 · i? · review · r2

Systematic review of 56 studies (published 2006–2020) on serious games for professional competencies. The review reports the proportion of studies per competency type meeting its success criteria, quoting that "84%, 83%, and 100% reported research results showing the SG was successful". Success was defined as significant improvement or a significant relationship with a validated measure.

"Divided over the type of professional competency evaluated, 84%, 83%, and 100% reported research results showing the SG was successful for cognitive skills, knowledge, and motor skills respectively"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Adaptivity is rarely implemented in serious games for professional competencies, no reviewed game adjusts difficulty down based on player actions, and none were found for cognitive skills — related
• Serious games can provide an authentic physical context and task for professional competencies, though a small number of successful games used neither — related
• In-game behaviors collected unobtrusively in serious games show promising relationships with candidate ability level in the target professional competency — related
• Nearly all reviewed serious games include game mechanics providing freedom of gameplay, most commonly choice options, interactive elements, and free exploration — related