The project is building on earlier work on the use of video game technology and effective learning-teaching principles to enhance learning in electrical and computer engineering (ECE) courses. One goal of the present project is to expand the video game prototype to include multiple levels, additional course content, a more developed storyline, an information resource on key concepts addressed in the game, explanatory feedback for problems, and worked examples of problems. Other goals include integrating the video game with the instructional techniques into three courses and assessing the impact of the video game on student learning and attitude toward digital systems and electrical engineering, with attention to differences in impact by gender and ethnicity. The project brings together investigators from electrical and computer engineering, educational psychology, and visualization science. Project results and video game development experiences are being disseminated in engineering education and video game conferences and journal. Assessment and evaluation, under the direction of an evaluation specialist, is using systematic observation, interviews, analysis of student products, and a student attitude survey to monitor progress. Broader impacts include dissemination of the results and materials, new data on gender and ethnic differences in learning, and serving as a model for showing the effective instructional uses of video games.
