Abstract:

The purpose of the Bologna Reform is the comparability of study programs. For this reason, the Bologna Reform challenges higher educational institutions to align or build up their study programs, the study courses in there, the learning units therein and the formats in which the courses are produced, in a competence-oriented manner in the future. The study courses are presented in the different formats. Increasingly in so-called Learning Management Systems (LMS), through which student can access the study material and learning units for each study course. This causes an interaction between the student and the LMS. This interaction provides different learning data, which can be measured, stored and also analyzed. In order to be able to compare the resulting learning success and the acquired competencies in the courses, the corresponding learning data and results need to be recorded digitally at the course level in various study formats such as game-based learning formats or traditional formats. Therefore, the already existing and the newly acquired competencies need to be stored and represented for each single student.

The aim of our research is to provide generic tools with which it is possible to analyse the achieved digital learning data in the learning process in an automated way with respect to the acquired competencies and to deposit them in a corresponding competence profile (a bundle of competences) of the corresponding learner. On this basis, it should also be likely to automatically adapt learning content to the respective level of competence achieved for the newly acquired skills in different study formats. For this purpose, different Application Scenarios (AS) are introduced and implemented. An overall concept of a system for multiple ASs is presented in this paper. For the AS of game-based learning (where the focus of this paper lies), functions for the integration into existing LMS and configuration options are required. Game data analyses should also be possible for learning and learning unit evaluation purposes with the help of which the course of the game can be evaluated for the purpose of optimising the learning unit, evaluating the task and supporting the learners. The prototype framework to be created is intended to support the developer of a learning unit conceptually and technically in extending the process of game creation by a component for knowledge transfer. Moreover, a component is to be developed for the AS with which it is possible to track game events in games and subsequently analyse them with regard to competencies. The analyzed data will be displayed in a dashboard and assigned to the individual competence profile of a learner. Furthermore, a mechanism for mapping game event data and the corresponding competencies is presented. For the easy integration of game-based learning units into an LMS, the concept, implementation and evaluation for a corresponding framework are presented.

The paper presents the conceptual considerations for the AS game-based learning and the overall concept for our research goals. Furthermore, the proof of concept implementation of the above-mentioned systems for the AS and the evaluation is presented. Following this, the results of an initial evaluation are discussed. The paper ends with a short summary and an outlook on future research.

Keywords:

Learning analytics, qualification-based learning, distance education, game-based learning, QBL.