Designing and evaluating collaboration in a virtual game environment for vocational learning

Especially in vocational education, attention should be paid not only to the use of new technological solutions but also to collaborative learning and cooperative working methods in order to develop students' skills for their future jobs. This study involves a design experiment including the design process of a new game environment, description of the script developed for this game, as well as the empirical study with multiple data collection methods, data analysis, results and conclusions for further work. The aim of the study was twofold. Firstly, we aimed to develop a game environment to simulate the work context of a vocational design process, and secondly, to investigate how effective the game environment is in vocational learning and how scripting affected students' group processes during the game. It seems that, at their best, such edugames may enrich learning and the pedagogical use of technology. Although integrating learning and games provides tempting possibilities, it also contains many challenges, such as different group-specific learning processes despite the scripted environment. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.