Game-Enhanced Learning & Educational Technology

The Game-Enhanced Learning & Educational Technology group explores how game mechanics, interactive storytelling, and emerging technologies enhance learning engagement, retention, and skill development. Rooted in playful pedagogy, the group investigates how structured and emergent play can create meaningful learning experiences (LX) that foster problem-solving, creativity, and deep understanding.

By integrating hybrid game experiences—which combine analogue and digital components, such as board games with companion apps, AR-enhanced card games, or mobile-assisted role-playing simulations—the group seeks to bridge traditional and digital learning spaces for emerging educational contexts. This research aligns with Play Experience (PX) principles, ensuring that the way players interact, experience, and emotionally engage with learning games remains central to design considerations.

Research within this subarea spans a broad spectrum of game-enhanced learning applications, including gamification, serious games, educational games (edugames), kinaesthetic games, simulations, role-playing games (RPGs), AI-driven adaptive learning, immersive learning games (VR/AR/MR), alternate reality games (ARGs), tactical and strategic games, puzzle-based learning, social impact games, escape room experiences, and hybrid analogue-digital game systems. The group's work contributes to game production pipelines, educational game evaluation frameworks, accessibility in game-based learning, and instructional design innovations that improve teaching effectiveness; among others.

Areas of Interest

Serious Games, Edugames & Gamification

The group explores the conceptualisation, design, implementation, and evaluation of serious games, edugames, and gamified learning experiences, ensuring engagement, motivation, and pedagogical alignment. Research examines how point-based rewards, challenge structures, progression systems, and interactive feedback enhance knowledge acquisition, particularly in learning environments that respond to student interactions.

Hybrid Learning Games & Companion Technologies

With the rise of hybrid analogue-digital learning experiences, the group investigates how board games, card games, role-playing scenarios, and physical simulations can be enriched with technology—mobile apps, AR overlays, data-tracking dashboards, and AI-driven feedback loops. Research includes design methodologies for integration of digital and physical play elements, synchronous and asynchronous gameplay modes, and hybrid systems that enhance collaborative and competitive learning experiences.

Immersive & Kinaesthetic Learning Games (VR/AR/MR, Movement-Based Games)

The integration of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and kinaesthetic games into learning experiences is also a focus area. Research investigates how gesture-based interactions, spatial learning, and full-body engagement improve cognitive development, memory retention, and problem-solving skills. Examples include movement-based educational games, interactive storytelling in VR environments, and augmented reality field learning applications.

Simulations, AI-Driven Adaptive Learning & Learning Analytics

The group explores simulations and AI-powered adaptive learning environments that tailor educational experiences to individual learner needs. Research includes business simulations, engineering and medical training environments, historical reenactment games, and intelligent tutoring systems that adapt dynamically based on student performance. AI-driven techniques, such as machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and procedural content generation, are explored to further personalise educational content and assessment methods.

Narrative-Driven Learning, Alternate Reality Games & Digital Storytelling

The power of narrative-driven learning experiences, alternate reality games (ARGs), and transmedia storytelling is central to this research subarea. The group investigates how role-playing, interactive storytelling, and nonlinear narratives can immerse learners in complex problem-solving scenarios and ethical dilemmas. Research also explores computational media techniques, such as procedural storytelling and AI-generated narratives, to create adaptive and engaging learning experiences.

Arcademia: Gaming Software on Arcade Cabinets for Research & Engagement

A flagship initiative within the group, Arcademia is a research and community engagement project inspired by the University of Lincoln in the UK and adapted for the South African context. This initiative explores the deployment of educational and research-driven gaming software on arcade cabinets, creating unique opportunities for public engagement, marketing, and social responsiveness in schools.

  • Game jam events and international collaborations are integral to Arcademia, bringing together researchers, students, and industry professionals to develop new educational and socially impactful games.
  • The arcade cabinets serve as research tools for studying player behaviour, game-based learning effectiveness, and accessibility challenges in interactive digital education.
  • As a showcase platform, Arcademia will be used at conferences, university open days, and outreach programs, sparking conversations around game-enhanced learning and technological innovation.

The project is also integrated into postgraduate research, allowing students to explore UX/UI considerations, game production workflows, adaptive learning experiences, and the impact of public gaming installations on education.

Game Production & Educational Game Evaluation

The group contributes to game production methodologies by examining the full game development lifecycle for educational applications, from conceptualisation and prototyping to deployment and evaluation. Research explores:

  • Best practices for developing scalable and sustainable educational games.
  • Playtesting methodologies for refining mechanics, UX, and LX.
  • Frameworks for evaluating educational games based on engagement, effectiveness, and cognitive impact.

Accessibility in Game-Based Learning

The group prioritises accessible design by exploring barrier-free game-based learning experiences that accommodate students with varying abilities, learning needs, and socio-economic backgrounds. Research topics include:

  • Adaptive difficulty scaling for neurodivergent learners.
  • Haptic feedback and alternative input methods for visually impaired players.
  • Localisation strategies for multilingual and cross-cultural educational game adoption.

Instructional Design & Pedagogical Innovation

The group applies modern instructional design models to game-enhanced learning, ensuring alignment with cognitive, constructivist, and experiential learning theories. Research investigates:

  • Integrating games into curriculum design for various disciplines.
  • Hybrid learning ecosystems combining formal and informal learning strategies.
  • Instructor training for effective facilitation of game-based learning environments.

Playful Pedagogy as a Driving Force

At the heart of the group’s research is playful pedagogy—the philosophy that learning should be engaging, exploratory, and experiential. This approach challenges traditional instructional models by embracing game mechanics, adaptive challenge structures, and dynamic learner agency as essential elements of effective education.

By embedding curiosity, experimentation, and playfulness into learning environments, the group advocates for learner-centred, interactive teaching methods that support skill development, creativity, and deep cognitive engagement. This aligns with the belief that meaningful Play Experience (PX) drives effective Learning Experience (LX), ensuring that educational interventions remain immersive, adaptive, and impactful.

 

The Game-Enhanced Learning & Educational Technology group contributes to the advancement of digital education, ensuring learning systems are engaging, accessible, and tailored to evolving learner needs. By advancing research in hybrid game experiences, immersive simulations, adaptive learning analytics, and pedagogical game design, and through initiatives like Arcademia, the group aims to reshape the future of education through meaningful play, technology, and instructional innovation.

Members: