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Game-based learning or simulation-based learning – especially Serious Games – are notions of the contemporary discourse on digitalisation in the higher education sector in Germany. These methods offer a more vivid and motivating learning context and they help to improve important competencies for reaching work-related higher education goals. This explorative study focuses on experts’ experiences with digital and non-digital serious games and their contribution towards developing self, social and management competencies, in the Bundeswehr Command and Staff College in Hamburg (Germany). Whilst there are numerous opportunities for using serious games in higher education, their use creates barriers for addressing social, as well as leadership/management competencies. In the future, game-based learning – and more specifically, digital game-based learning – could challenge the relation between learning as hard work and learn for fun, and between explicit and goal-oriented learning and implicit, incidental and explorative learning.

Entrepreneurship educators have recently employed various computer- and game-based teaching methods to develop students’ entrepreneurship knowledge and competencies. However, our understanding of the learning outcomes (LOs) of such methods for students and specifically gamification teaching techniques is fragmented and underdeveloped. This chapter aimed to narrow the gap by systematically analyzing the peer-reviewed empirical studies on gamification and students’ entrepreneurship LOs (ELOs).

This study employed the systematic literature review method to examine the papers on the intersection between gamification and entrepreneurship education (EE). Some of 80 papers were retrieved from Google Scholar, Web of Science and Scopus databases and 16 papers were included in the final analysis. The papers were analyzed based on the key LOs that teaching entrepreneurship using gamification have for students.

This study found limited literature on the interrelationship between gamification and students’ ELOs. The majority of these studies suggested a positive association between gamification and students’ ELOs. These ELOs were classified into four key groups including cognitive, behavioral, social/interpersonal and skill-based LOs. This analysis explored the huge gap in empirical studies on the impact of gamification on students’ ELOs.

This exploratory study is limited to the systematic review of the empirical researches published in scientific journals. Of the numerous game-based and simulation teaching methods, this systematic analysis focused on gamification and its effects on cultivating entrepreneurial knowledge and competencies in students. Future studies should include published and unpublished papers in other sources (such as books, book chapters, working papers and theses) and other types of technology-based entrepreneurship teaching methods.

Educators and computer-based game designers may use the findings of this study to improve the effectiveness of gamified EE and training programs by connecting the objectives and content of the programs to students’ ELOs and examining if the programs create the intended ELOs in students.

This chapter is one of the first attempts that examines students’ LOs of gamification in EE. This chapter contributes to the limited validated knowledge and understanding of the impact of gamification on ELOs of students.

In this chapter, we discuss initiatives that aim to improve children’s literacy in low- and middle-income (LMI) countries through m-learning. These projects, predominantly introduced by governments and international aid organisations, often involve the provision of e-books and apps including game-based apps, to be used either inside or outside school. In some cases, lesson plans and content for teachers in poorly resourced schools are also delivered via mobile devices. After a general overview, we briefly describe a selection of projects with reference to m-learning and literacy theory and research. It is indicated in this chapter that the use of mobile devices to improve literacy opportunities for children in LMI countries has a great deal of potential but that, in many cases, there are limitations in pedagogical design and implementation practices, not to mention restricted views of what literacy is and might be for children in these locations.

Serious games are computer games with a primary purpose of educating or training while also entertaining. Literature has established that serious games can enhance learning in the classroom and improve student engagement. However, few studies have analyzed the factors that inhibit the adoption of serious games. The current study extends research by analyzing inhibitors of serious game adoption in an introductory accounting course for MBA students. The accounting mobile challenge (AMC) is a mobile accounting trivia game which utilizes both competitive and collaborative features in gameplay. Results demonstrated that students who identified as collaborative engaged in a greater amount of gameplay while those who identified as competitive did not. Furthermore, independent learners, as well as those who utilized mobile technology more outside of class, more readily adopted the technology. Utilizing the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989) as a framework, it was predicted that the perceived value of the AMC would increase as students played the game more. Results support this prediction. Finally, a “discouragement effect” was detected as a major inhibitor to utilizing the technology as students who did poorly gave up and discontinued playing the game. This research contributes to the emerging literature on the inhibitors to serious game adoption in accounting.

Mobile devices, through their capacity to enable anytime-anywhere learning as well as capture, annotate and share multimedia, offer entirely new ways for students to learn. This chapter provides review of mobile learning with a particular focus on learning design. First various definitions and characteristics of mobile learning are examined in order to establish a common understanding of its boundaries and meaning. Example uses of mobile learning in schools and higher education are described as a way to provide a more concrete understanding of design possibilities. Benefits of mobile learning are unpacked, as distilled from the literature, including the ability to provide flexible, accessible, authentic, personalized, ubiquitous and seamless learning. Mobile learning issues are also examined, including technical problems, cognitive load issues, distraction, equity and safety. A primary school science and a university pre-service teacher education vignette are described so as to offer a more in-depth illustration of what mobile learning can look like and achieve in practice. Finally, mobile learning research findings and observations are synthesized into recommendations, to inform and guide evidence-based mobile learning design practices. Opportunities for future research and investigation are also discussed.

This chapter critically examines the implications of different pedagogical perspectives, approaches, and strategies for the design and implementation of technology-enhanced learning. The key tenets of different pedagogical perspectives are unpacked, including behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, socio-constructivism, and connectivism, with reference to how technology can be used to instantiate them. A range of different pedagogical approaches, including collaborative learning, problem-based learning, inquiry-based learning, constructionist learning, design-based learning, and games-based learning are discussed in relation to the use of technology and the previously identified pedagogical perspectives. Pedagogical strategies at a more instantaneous level are also considered, as are the goals of technology-enhanced learning in terms of promoting authentic and meaningful learning. The critical role of the teacher when applying pedagogies using technology, as well as associated issues, are discussed throughout.

Active learning is not a simple practice. It is a new paradigm for the provision of high-quality, collaborative, engaging, and motivating education. Active learning has the capacity to respond to most of the challenges that institutions of higher education are facing in our time. In this chapter, we present active learning strategies used in STEM disciplines and we analyze the potential of active learning to redefine the value proposition in academic institutions. After providing the theoretical underpinnings of active learning as an evolving practice, an attempt is made to connect it with different learning theories and present an integrative model in which institutional strategies, learning strategy and information, and communication technologies work synergistically toward the development of knowledge and skills. We then present the results of a survey examining “stories” of active learning from the STEM disciplines, identifying good teaching practices, and discussing challenges and lessons learned. The key idea is that active engagement and participation of students is based on faculty commitments and inspiration and mentoring by faculty. We finally present a stage model for the implementation of active learning practices in higher education. Emphasis is put on a new vision for higher education, based on systematic planning, implementation, and evaluation of active learning methods, collaboration, engagement with society and industry, innovation, and sustainability, for a better world for all.

This chapter aims to establish a positive vision for the technology-enhanced learning design field. It commences by summarizing the current state of technology-enhanced learning research, as established by the previous analysis, in order to clarify the foundations upon which the field can build. The future of learning technology is considered, in the first instance, by extrapolating trends in information and communication technologies throughout history. This process showcases how the most impactful technologies are those that bring information closer to us, support sharing, and offer more visceral learning experiences. The nature of learning technology trends occurring in recent Horizon Reports, for instance, gesture-based computing, augmented reality, Massive Open Online Courses, and table computing, are analyzed and explained in terms of Roger’s Diffusion of Innovation Theory and Gartner’s Hype Cycle. This leads to identifying teachers as the critical lynch pin in order for society to derive greatest educational benefit from the exponential advances in technology. Consequently, support for educators is argued as essential. Into the future the learning technology field will only optimize its progress if educators and researchers work together to understand design issues and possibilities. Directions forward for educators and researchers are proposed, emphasizing a research-driven, pedagogically focused, creative, and collaborative approach to technology-enhanced learning design.