Abstract:

The study aims to investigate how higher education students and facilitators experience learning and teaching with a new kind of learning case study "Deal Hero game ". In an interactive case simulation, students adapt to one of the professional roles and participate in problem-solving and decision-making based on real-life situations. Students play the role of medical centre managers and must decide how to allocate the budget. Students can only help some stakeholders, so they must choose who will receive the budget and who will not. After students choose whom to help, they receive a description of the stakeholders' reactions. Different choices lead to different stakeholders' reactions. Students make three rounds of choices and then receive the final summary of the consequences. The game encourages students to collaborate and reflect on the decision-making process. Students play the game in groups via their laptops or phones.

The research design encompasses a quasi-experiment, i.e., intervention without a control group. The data was collected by means of a survey before and after students had experienced the Deal Hero game. Facilitators were given a set of open questions after the Deal Hero game.

The Expectancy Value Questionary, Engagement Scale questionnaire, and the set of open questions were used to collect the data to answer the following research questions:
1: What are the Deal Hero game's perceived learning outcomes from the students', course coordinators' (teachers'), and facilitators' perspectives?
2: How do the students', course coordinators' (teachers'), and facilitators' perceived values of the Deal Hero game and engagement with it differ from the participants' average learning and teaching experiences?
3: How do students, course coordinators (teachers), and facilitators perceive different aspects of learning with Deal Hero — the app, the roles, and the duties of participants?

Sample:
1159 students (Female – 429, 1 — did not to mention), Mean age = 19.96 (SD =1.62) and 9 facilitators (Female — 8), Mean age = 21.78 (SD =1.79).
The analysis of quantitative data (Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test) revealed that the way how students experienced learning with the Deal Hero game case study significantly (p<.05) differed from their average learning experience at university. In particular, the Deal Hero game was more engaging: cognitively (MDeaHero = 4.00; MUniversity = 3.91), emotionally (MDeaHero = 3.77; MUniversity = 3.53), and socially (MDeaHero = 4.10; MUniversity = 3.93). Additionally, the Deal Hero game had a higher intrinsic value (MDeaHero = 3.58; MUniversity = 3.44) and was less costly (MDeaHero = 1.94; MUniversity = 2.26) in terms of effort and comfort than the average learning experience at university. However, students considered learning at university more valuable than learning with the Deal Hero game in terms of attainment (MDeaHero = 3.23; MUniversity = 3.58) and utility values (MDeaHero = 2.97; MUniversity = 3.41). Finally, students believed they had higher chances of performing well in average university activities than in the deal hero game (Expectancies of Success, MDeaHero = 3.34; MUniversity = 3.58).

The analysis of qualitative data is still being processed.

Keywords:

Game-based learning, case study, engagement, expectancy, value.