Serious Game on Factory Planning for Higher Education

Research has shown that student-centered classes are a promising approach to enhance learning. Even though this is well known, classes are often still designed in teacher-centered classes like lectures. However, lectures do not promote desired higher cognitive levels, which are needed for tackling the complex, all-embracing sustainability challenge. One promising approach to go for these higher levels is the usage of serious games. In this paper Factory Planner, a serious game on the VDI 5200 regarding factory planning, is presented. Factory Planner is a board game enhanced by an application. The game was evaluated with a pre- and post-game test measuring the knowledge gains at a bachelor's class. Further, a survey filled out by the students was conducted, which indicates a positive effect of Factory Planner on addressed learning goals and on students' motivation towards factory planning.