Techniques to Motivate Learner Improvement in Game-Based Assessment

Learner motivation to self-improve is a crucial effectiveness factor in all modes and settings of learning. Game-based learning was long used for attracting and maintaining students’ interest especially in small ages, deploying means such as scoring, timing, scores of peers (i.e., hall of fame), etc. These techniques can provide recognition for high-scoring players, while also developing a sense of safe “distance” in the impersonal electronic environment for low-scoring players. In addition, constructive feedback on mistakes a player makes can contribute to avoiding similar mistakes in the future, thus achieving better performance in the game, while constructing valuable new knowledge when a knowledge gap is detected. This paper investigates an integrated approach to designing, implementing, and using an adaptive game for assessing and gradually improving multiplication skills. Student motivation is fostered by incorporating the Open Learner Model approach, which exposes part of the underlying user model to the students in a graphically simplified manner that is easily perceivable and offers a clear picture of student performance. In addition, the Open Learner Model is expanded with visualizations of social comparison information, where students can access the progress of anonymous peers and summative class scores for improving self-reflection and fostering self-regulated learning. This paper also presents the feedback received by the preliminary testing of the game and discusses the effect of assessing multiplication skills of primary school pupils using the adaptive game-based approach on increasing pupil motivation to self-improve.