Effects of the Implementation of a Video Game Curriculum on Attendance and Student Perceptions of Their Engagement

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Dissertation by: Michael E. Russell

B.A., Friends University, 2010, B.A., Fort Hays State University, 2015, B.A., Fort Hays State University, 2015, M.S., Fort Hays State University, 2018

Submitted to the Graduate Department and Faculty of the School of Education of Baker University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership

Date Defended: March 26, 2021

Copyright 2021 by Michael E. Russell

Abstract

It is widely documented that engagement in the school community and attendance are critical factors in academic success for students. It is also widely documented that over the past decade gaming has exponentially increased in popularity around the world. These two facts have led some educators to wonder if incorporating gaming into the educational environment might increase engagement and attendance rates among students. This study was performed to examine how offering a structured gaming course to high school students would affect the perceptions of their engagement in school and how offering gaming in school would affect attendance rates as compared to non-gaming peers.

Two research questions were used in this mixed-methods study. The first question was qualitative and focused on student interviews regarding students’ perceptions of how enrollment in the gaming course would affect their engagement in high school. The second research question was quantitative and addressed how enrollment in the gaming course might affect attendance rates. The quantitative question had two hypotheses designed for statistical testing.

The results of the qualitative portion of the study did show increased engagement among all students enrolled in the curriculum. Levels of engagement and how the students were engaged varied, but several themes did emerge. Quantitative results for two school years did demonstrate a statistically significant higher attendance rate among those students enrolled in the course, compared to their peers.

Conclusions

The researcher is based in the home school where this study was conducted. When this study was undertaken, a gaming course did not exist anywhere, with the exception being the researchers’ home school. However, during the process of performing the study and examining the results, the gaming course has taken hold in several areas around the nation, as well as, internationally. As the course began to be utilized in areas outside of the school where it began, teachers and administrators became curious regarding outcomes in several areas, including student engagement. The researcher chose to focus on engagement, attendance, and ultimately sense of belonging as the study progressed. Additionally, to provide opportunities for students to interact with their peers, build relationships with teachers, have fun, and participate in classroom discussion.

The researcher is not advocating only for offering a gaming course, but any extra-curricular or co-curricular activity that will bring kids to school. Learning will occur if the students feel the sense of belonging and are engaged. The gaming course is just one way to help students find their “why.”

Implications for action. The research findings in this study demonstrate that students participating the gaming course did have increased engagement due to participation in the course. Additionally, students who were enrolled in the gaming course had statistically significant higher attendance than their peers who were not enrolled in the course.

Gaming and gamer are broad terms. While this study did not examine board gaming, people who participate in gameplay using board games, also identify as gamers.

However, video games are generally talked about with a negative connotation, as if they have no value for learning. Few people would argue that skills are not learned by participating in games such as Monopoly, Risk, Axis and Allies, or Dungeons and Dragons. Yet, video gamers who participate in Overwatch, CSGO, League of Legends, and others, are considered basement dwellers and ostracized. This study demonstrates that video gaming, along with a structured curriculum, can be harnessed to provide new opportunities for engagement and learning.

Careers in the video game industry are numerous and can be lucrative. Adding a new pathway for esports and gaming careers is on the horizon. Gaming careers do not only include design and competition. Relatively new careers in gaming have appeared, such as, shout-casting and esports coaching. Many traditional careers need to be fulfilled within the gaming industry as well. Careers in accounting, marketing, data-analytics, human resources, and executive positions all exist within the gaming industry. These are jobs that will need to be filled and schools should begin focusing on a pathway to ensure the students are prepared to enter the workforce in one of the largest industries in the world. The gaming course is one way to increase knowledge of the gaming industry, increase engagement in school, and encourage the students to attend school.

Recommendations for future research. Researchers into the subject of gaming and implementation of gaming courses in schools should look at several areas in their future research. First, replication of this study into high schools with larger student populations to determine if the results shared in this study are scalable. A second item for research is what other areas of academic performance can be measured from enrollment in the gaming course. One example is grade point average (GPA) among students who are enrolled in the course and if there is an increase in GPA among those participants in the course. A third research question would be to study students who participate in after school esports athletic programs. Do esports athletes receive the same benefit of a higher GPA as their peers? According to Lumpkin and Favor, “Among the 9,347 athletes who reported their GPAs on the ACT questionnaire, 80.1% reported a GPA of 3.0 or higher, as compared to 70.5% of the 9,221 non-athletes who reported a 3.0 GPA or higher” (2015, para. 2). Lastly, it would be beneficial to study how gaming courses can contribute to sense of belonging among not only high school students, but middle and elementary students.

The answers to these additional research questions will prove invaluable to legitimizing gaming courses in high school, after-school esports programs, and those students who play video games as their only form of expression.

Concluding remarks

The goal is to find a way to engage those students who are not feeling that sense of belonging and determining if the gaming course is one way to do accomplish that goal. For this researcher, who has been a gamer for 38 years, this study was done to prove the value that gaming can have for some students. Some students love algebra, some football, and some want to march in the band. All these areas engage specific students, it is their “why” for coming to school. Gaming courses and esports allows schools to broaden their offerings to those students who are searching for their “why.” Every school has these students who struggle with engagement and in most cases a teacher can identify these students. This study demonstrates that a structured gaming course will benefit those students who are on the fringe, by increasing their engagement and school attendance. The goal of educators should be to prepare these students for careers and give students the “why” to be a part of their school community.