Evaluation of STEM digital educational games using an instrument that integrates technology acceptance and player experience factors

Abstract

Digital educational games (DEGs) are gaining a lot of recognition in a variety of educational and training contexts, including science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Since modern-day children are accustomed to digital and gaming technologies, DEGs are considered to be a progressive and effective learning strategy that appeals to them. However, despite the enormous efforts and financial investments made by game academics and producers, students' acceptance of this learning tool is still low. There is also a lack of studies that provide an understanding of students' perceptions and acceptance of STEM DEGs. Furthermore, existing research normally conducts the assessment of game acceptance and player experience (PX) separately even though both are crucial assessments that can be integrated and measured simultaneously in a comprehensive manner. Hence, this paper presents the evaluation of three DEGs related to STEM namely RoboCo, Poly Bridge 2, and Moonbase Alpha using a questionnaire that extensively combines important user acceptance and PX components. The proposed DEGAPX instrument which consisted of 13 factors measured by 64 items had passed the reliability and validity testing. The descriptive statistics of the 281 valid responses received from high school students in Malaysia and the interview results with ten survey participants were discussed in this paper. Students' views on the games were generally positive and their intention to use the games was higher when more factors of the DEGAPX instrument received high scores. This paper highlights the design criteria that can be considered by game developers for creating DEGs that satisfy the needs of target users. Educators can also utilize the suggestions discussed in this paper for the selection of games and deployment in classrooms.