Game-based Learning in Eye Health Education - The Developmental Challenges of E-learning Games.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Game Design
• Ophthalmology

Background:

• Game-based learning offers benefits for eye health education and skill acquisition.
• Developing effective educational games for this field presents unique challenges.
• This study addresses the practical difficulties in creating e-learning game prototypes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the developmental challenges encountered during the creation of e-learning game prototypes for training eye health professionals.
• To identify and analyze the specific obstacles faced at various stages of game development.

Main Methods:

• Structured focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with all stakeholders, including subject and technical experts.
• FGDs covered four phases: ideation, competency mapping, concept to prototype development, and testing.
• Data were collected through audio recordings, verbatim transcription, and thematic analysis.

Main Results:

• Challenges varied significantly across all phases of game development.
• Key difficulties included aligning technical and subject matter expertise, defining game topics, mapping cognition to competencies, and managing team dynamics.
• Cross-team understanding of e-learning game requirements and end-user feedback were also significant challenges.

Conclusions:

• Lessons learned from overcoming procedural challenges can inform future game-based educational tool development in eye health.
• Sharing these insights can help others developing similar educational games.