Promoting game-based e-Learning through urban tourism scenario game from the evaluation of knowledge-attitude-usability effectiveness

This paper introduces a platform of Urban Tourism Scenario Game, which is created to enhance the teaching-learning process of tourism geography and planning through a scenario-based game of a hypothetical city under urban tourism development. This study evaluates and compares the effectiveness of the game in terms of knowledge enrichment, attitudinal changes and usability of the game platform rated by the groups of undergraduate student participants. The overall effectiveness of the game is generally found positive. Paired-sample t-test results indicate that the users have significant positive changes in the dimension of knowledge. Cluster analysis identified two participant groups, namely active-cognitive and knowledge-focused learners, which indicated their different aspects of effectiveness from either game-based or discussion learning. This urban tourism scenario game raises students’ learning interests more than acting as a substitute for traditional lecturing. Game-based learning in this urban tourism platform has opened the potential to lead to attitudinal changes by simulating and presenting real-world environments similar to other areas in geography education. Given an arguably lack of clear pattern of the learning enhancement, it is critical that game-based teaching should still be incorporated with other instructional classroom activities to deliver effective knowledge transfer.