Treasure Explorers -- A Game as a Diagnostic Assessment Tool

Abstract

Understanding students' strengths and weaknesses can help in the design of teaching materials to successfully bridge identified gaps. Formal exams are useful to gauge the extent of learners' memorised information, but have been critiqued for not reflecting the true extent of learners knowledge. Diagnostic assessment assists teachers in setting task-specific plans and goals, for both individual students, and the learner-group as a whole. In this paper, we describe Treasure Explorers, a Game With a Purpose (GWAP) with a multilayered structure that facilitates the learning process, promotes user retention, and is designed to reward contributing players. A comprehensive evaluation based on game log and TAM model was conducted. The log of over 5,500 records reveals that aspects of engagement and learning had occurred, and qualitative evaluations show the applicability and usability of games as diagnostic assessment tools. Treasure Explorers assists teachers in identifying student difficulties, and has significant potential to help educators plan for lesson content.