Title: Integrating serious games into the engineering curriculum - a game-based learning approach to power systems analysis

Authors: Sanjay Bahadoorsingh; Ronald Dyer; Chandrabhan Sharma

Addresses: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago ' Management School, Department of Marketing and Operations, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK ' Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago

Abstract: Essential to the toolset of modern power engineers are the business environment knowledge, an appreciation for customer service/satisfaction as well as the ability to analyse, negotiate and articulate clearly with technical and non-technical personnel. Whilst most engineering oriented universities recognise the role of practical experience, challenges exist with the students' ability to translate the theoretical into practical knowledge. This paper investigates the application of the game-based learning (GBL) instructional method, as an alternative method of enhancing the practical application of course delivery, through the integration of business thinking principles into the final year undergraduate power engineering curriculum. IBM's Innov8: CityOne Game was chosen as the game of preference as it embedded core course content material via a serious game. The Game was administered to two consecutive cohorts (2012 and 2013) of the level three undergraduate course power system analysis. A qualitative and quantitative review of both cohorts' feedback and performance are individually analysed and compared.

Keywords: power systems planning; power engineering education; educational technology; serious games; learning games; game-based learning; power systems analysis; business thinking; higher education; e-learning; electronic learning; online learning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCVR.2016.077372

International Journal of Computational Vision and Robotics, 2016 Vol.6 No.3, pp.276 - 289

Received: 15 Jul 2014
Accepted: 26 Jun 2015
Published online: 29 Jun 2016 *

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