Scaffolding in educational video games: An approach to teaching collaborative support skills

Abstract

Because collaboration plays a key role in today's society, it is beneficial to prepare people at a young age for collaborative work. However, there is no academic or professional consensus on the most effective approach. To remedy this shortcoming, our research will expand on one promising method: the incorporation of collaborative scaffolding into collaborative educational video games. Although there will be several challenges, we have already made progress through the development of a multilevel taxonomy of collaboration to aid our evaluation approach. Our findings will bring academics and educators one step closer to developing methodology for the seamless integration of 21st century skills, such as collaboration and technological proficiency, into today's classroom curricula. In addition, researchers can utilize our taxonomy to more easily identify aspects of collaboration relevant to their interests, and educators can use the taxonomy to help identify collaborative skills that students lack.