An Exploratory Study on Teachers' Perceptions of Game-based Situated Learning

Game-based Situated Learning (GBSL) is a web-based learning paradigm which is a combination of computer game and educational content, in which the learning context is charily designed to put a learner into a game-play environment that is similar or analogous to where the knowledge of the content can be applied in real life. Empirical evidence has shown that teachers' perceptions are always significant in influencing the success of an educational innovation because they are the ultimate designers of learning and teaching activities in educational processes. The present study aimed to qualitatively analyze the perceptions of the teachers who had participated as facilitators in two comparative research studies on GBSL. Results showed that although the teachers were uncertain on whether GBSL can enable their students to have better learning outcomes, they were very positive towards the educational paradigm of this approach in terms of arousing students' learning interest and motive. Coincidentally, they suggested a very similar 2-stage “blended” strategy for enhancing the existing GBSL approach. The 1st stage is to let students amusingly learn with a GBSL game in a learner-centred fashion, while the 2nd stage is for a teacher to correct, strengthen and further extend the knowledge that the students have learnt in the game; in fact, this is a process called “debriefing” which allows students to transform their game-play experience into learning experience. All these findings provided vital insights and a basis for further investigating the application and development of GBSL for learning and teaching.