A Novel Sensor-Based Methodology for Learner's Motivation Analysis in Game-Based Learning

摘要

Learner's motivation is one of the main aspects that need to be addressed for a successful learning process. Consequently, learner motivation assessment and measurement have attracted significant research interest in the e-learning area in general and game-based learning in particular. Traditional methodologies for learner motivation analysis rely on data collected through questionnaires. However, this approach does not fit well in the context of game-based learning, because an out-of-game questionnaire breaks the game user's flow and immersion. This paper presents a novel electroencephalography (EEG) sensor-based methodology that supports real-time non-disturbing automatic measurement and analysis of learner's motivation in game-based learning. An evaluation case study with participants playing an educational game was conducted in order to investigate the feasibility of the proposed sensor-based methodology and to compare the proposed methodology with the intrinsic motivation inventory-based questionnaire methodology. The results analysis has shown that the sensor-based methodology outperforms the traditional questionnaire-based methodology. The traditional questionnaire-based methodology is limited to analysing learner's motivation on short game-playing durations, while losing its feasibility when analysing learner's overall motivation over a long game-playing duration. Results have shown that learner's motivation changes in time during the game-play period and the learner's self-report of his/her motivation, assessed through the questionnaire-based methodology, tends to reflect only the last moments before the questionnaire is answered. Conversely, the proposed EEG sensor-based methodology is more suitable to analyse learner's motivation on both short and long game-playing durations (e.g. game tasks, game levels, etc.), with the additional benefit of not interrupting the game-play and not breaking the game flow and the learner's immersion with the game. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS 1. The paper tackles the lack of automatic solutions for measurement and analysis of learner's motivation in game-based learning. 2. An EEG sensor-based methodology for analysing the player's motivation during game-play activities is proposed. 3. Participants' motivation while playing an educational game was assessed using the EEG sensor-based methodology and the traditional questionnaire-based methodology. 4. The results show that the questionnaire-based methodology is limited to analysing player's motivation for short game-playing durations, as this tends to capture only the last moments before the questionnaire is answered. 5. The proposed EEG sensor-based methodology is suitable to analyse learner's motivation for both short and long durations, and enables improved experience as it does not break the game flow and the learner's immersion with the game.