Assessment and Game-Based Learning

Extracted 06JAN2012 from http://techchange.org/2011/05/25/the-self-imposed-challenge-assessment-and-ga...

Generally speaking, there are two common forms of assessment used in schools. The most straightforward kind is when you have an answer key and your students’ responses are graded against that... Interestingly, games often assess players in ways similar to schools, using letter grades, numerical or percentage scores, and ranking...

Then there’s the self-imposed challenge. This is something that players do on their own, usually independent of the game’s goals... probably all players pursue self-imposed challenges, whenever they set off to challenge themselves to do better than they did last time, to beat their best score, to continuous improvement.

...grades should be a form of useful feedback, and they’re useful if the student can do something with it to improve their grade. [i.e. "formative assessment"]... In this case, the assessment would be continuous. Students would be setting goals for themselves on a regular basis

[see also http://www.scribd.com/collections/2695573 theory and measurement chapters on Outcomes-Based Training & Education]