To game or not to game?

Effective teaching of software engineering is a challenging endeavor, and some researchers have suggested alternative teaching methods to help. This column looks at the empirical evidence for one such method, game-based learning, and reports on a literature review that looked at what games are available as well as the degree to which their efficacy has been studied. The 21 studies that were reviewed contained mixed results about the games' pedagogic effectiveness, but in general, results showed that games can provide effective learning, mainly to reinforce knowledge. More detailed results were also reviewed concerning the games' results on other metrics, as well as conclusions about how such games could be best designed.