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

Game-based learning enhances eye health education and skill acquisition but poses distinct challenges in developing effective educational games. The present study aims to demonstrate the developmental challenges encountered at various stages of creating e-learning game prototypes for training eye health professionals.

Structured focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted involving all the stakeholders involved in game development, the subject experts, and the technical experts. The four phases of FGDs were as follows: i) Ideation and team development; ii) Identifying the competencies and mapping these with cognition; iii) Concept to prototype development; a) Defining questions and data points; b) Accumulating content; and iv) Prototype testing and feedback. The FGDs were audio recorded, the descriptive data were transcribed verbatim, and the data were thematically analysed.

The challenges differed in every phase of the game development. Data on the strengths and weaknesses of the game development were collected via participant recall. Throughout the project, the technical team had to understand the requirements of the subject experts and vice versa. Participants' understanding of e-learning games varied across the teams. Choosing appropriate topics for game development, identifying and mapping underlying cognition to exit competency, generating data, translating concepts into games, determining the role of communication in maintaining team dynamics, and seeking early feedback from end-users were some of the challenges encountered.

The lessons learned from overcoming procedural challenges in this study may be applied by others who are developing game-based educational tools for eye health education.