Evaluation of gamification strategies as an effective asynchronous experiential learning approach in Geodesign Education.

Keywords: Geodesign, GIS, Pedagogy, Asychronous, Experiential learning, participatory GIS, Urban Planning,
Abstract Type: Virtual Paper Abstract

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to invite a discussion around a video-game inspired teaching module which engages students in experiential learning in Geodesign. Our Geodesign course is taught asychronously, which experiential learning more challenging to create. Nevertheless, an advantage that asynchronous online learning provides is greater educational access to non-traditional students. Teaching and learning in Geodesign benefits greatly from experiential context. Geodesign is an approach to planning that aims to facilitate dialogue among stakeholders groups through the use of interactive geospatial technologies and mapping to collaboratively design solutions to complex planning challenges. Many synchronous Geodesign courses teach concepts and theory through a workshop experience. This is done by having classmates assume the roles of the different stakeholders. Through roleplaying, they take an active role in solving problems, promoting alternative scenarios, and find opportunities to compromise in real time, something not easily replicable in asynchronous learning. Our approach to overcoming this limitation is gamification of a Geodesign workshop experience. Our goals for this research is to evaluate if gamification strategies can provide important experiential context for asynchronous learners and to develop best practice for Geodesign pedagogy for asynchronous online learners. Our evaluation methods use both qualitative and Likert scale analysis of student responses to a survey on the video game experience’s impact on understanding Geodesign theory and concepts at the conclusion of the course. Our analysis shows that asynchronous students value experiential opportunities offered through gamification and that experiential context greatly facilitated the understanding of Geodesign concepts and theories.