Learning with games in a professional environment: a case study of a serious game about levee inspection

Serious games are an increasingly popular field and this has resulted in a large number of serious games so far. Despite this growth, relatively little gaming research is focused on professional environments. In particular, a lack exists in reflecting on the design and learning experiences. To take a step in this desired direction, this paper examines learning with games in professional environments. This is done by looking at the design and the learning experiences of a game about levee inspection called "Levee Patroller". Based on this case study six valuable learning lessons are identified; games need to be a single whole, function as discussion-support-tools, simplify and emphasize aspects in reality, request a complimentary learning style, are motivation-enhancers to those interested, and require a change in curricula.

@InProceedings { HB07a,
  author       = "Harteveld, Casper and Bidarra, Rafael",
  title        = "Learning with games in a professional environment: a case study of a serious game about levee inspection",
  booktitle    = "Proceedings of LG07 - Learning with Games conference",
  pages        = "555--562",
  month        = "sep",
  year         = "2007",
  address      = "Sophia Antipolis, France",
  url          = "http://graphics.tudelft.nl/Publications-new/2007/HB07a"
}