A Pilot Study on Teacher-Facing Real-Time Classroom Game Dashboards
This addresses the problem of supporting teachers in managing classroom gameplay, but it is incremental as it focuses on a specific tool prototype.
The study tackled the lack of tools for teachers using educational games by developing a teacher-facing real-time dashboard through participatory design, resulting in a tool found to be useful and usable in a pilot classroom session.
Educational games are an increasingly popular teaching tool in modern classrooms. However, the development of complementary tools for teachers facilitating classroom gameplay is lacking. We present the results of a participatory design process for a teacher-facing, real-time game data dashboard. This two-phase process included a workshop to elicit teachers' requirements for such a tool, and a pilot study of our dashboard prototype. We analyze post-gameplay survey and interview data to understand teachers' experiences with the tool in terms of evidence of co-design, feasibility, and effectiveness. Our results indicate the participatory design yielded a tool both useful for and usable by teachers within the context of a real class gameplay session. We advocate for the continued development of data-driven teacher tools to improve the effectiveness of games deployed in the classroom.