How to Design Effective Game-based and Immersive Learning Experiences

Game-based and immersive learning technologies are becoming increasingly apparent in research and practice suggesting an innovative supplement to traditional and online methods. The technological innovations of game-based and immersive learning for training and education require thorough attention in their design, development, and integration. However, instructional designers and educators do not readily consider and suggest these options due to a lack of understanding of how to design them for educational or training purposes. The focused attention and planning of these innovations call upon instructional designers and their expertise of instructional principles and technologies in the broad understanding including strategies, practices, devices, and tools. With combinations of these principles and technologies, instructional designers can construct appealing and functional designs for contextual gaps in knowledge and skills. Current research can aid in synthesizing a coherent set of design principles for game-based and immersive learning that connects to an instructional designer’s existing knowledge of instructional principles and experiences. Improving competency in these innovations would initiate designing more effective serious games, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) that meet an educational purpose.