TY - JOUR
T1 - Evaluating a Dental Public-Health Game across Two Learning Contexts
AU - Sipiyaruk, Kawin
AU - Hatzipanagos, Stylianos
AU - Vichayanrat, Tippanart
AU - Reynolds, Patricia A.
AU - Gallagher, Jennifer E.
N1 - Funding Information:
The initial development of GRAPHIC was supported by the King’s College London Teaching Fund, and the APC was funded by MDPI.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors.
PY - 2022/8
Y1 - 2022/8
N2 - Serious games have been shown to be effective learning tools in various disciplines, including dental education. Serious-game learning environments allow learners to improve knowledge and skills. GRAPHIC (Games Research Applied to Public Health with Innovative Collaboration), a serious game for dental public health, was designed to simulate a town, enabling students to apply theoretical knowledge to a specific population by selecting health promotion initiatives to improve the oral health of the town population. This study employed a literature-based evaluation framework and a sequential explanatory mixed-methods research design to evaluate the use of GRAPHIC among final-year dental undergraduates across two learning contexts: King’s College London in the United Kingdom and Mahidol University in Thailand. Two hundred and sixty-one students completed all designated tasks, and twelve participated in semi-structured interviews. The findings demonstrated knowledge improvement after game completion based on pre- and post-knowledge assessments, and the students’ perceptions of the game as an interactive and motivational learning experience. The evaluation identified five serious-game dimensions and clear alignment between these dimensions, demonstrating the impact of serious games in dental public health and, more widely, in healthcare education.
AB - Serious games have been shown to be effective learning tools in various disciplines, including dental education. Serious-game learning environments allow learners to improve knowledge and skills. GRAPHIC (Games Research Applied to Public Health with Innovative Collaboration), a serious game for dental public health, was designed to simulate a town, enabling students to apply theoretical knowledge to a specific population by selecting health promotion initiatives to improve the oral health of the town population. This study employed a literature-based evaluation framework and a sequential explanatory mixed-methods research design to evaluate the use of GRAPHIC among final-year dental undergraduates across two learning contexts: King’s College London in the United Kingdom and Mahidol University in Thailand. Two hundred and sixty-one students completed all designated tasks, and twelve participated in semi-structured interviews. The findings demonstrated knowledge improvement after game completion based on pre- and post-knowledge assessments, and the students’ perceptions of the game as an interactive and motivational learning experience. The evaluation identified five serious-game dimensions and clear alignment between these dimensions, demonstrating the impact of serious games in dental public health and, more widely, in healthcare education.
KW - dental education
KW - dental public health
KW - educational game
KW - serious game
KW - technology-enhanced learning
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85136799485&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/educsci12080517
DO - 10.3390/educsci12080517
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85136799485
SN - 2227-7102
VL - 12
JO - Education Sciences
JF - Education Sciences
IS - 8
M1 - 517
ER -
