Game based learning for computer science education

Today, learners increasingly demand for innovative and motivating learning scenarios that strongly respond to their habits of using media. One of the many possible solutions to this demand is the use of computer games to support the acquisition of knowledge. This paper reports on chances and challenges of applying a game-based learning scenario for the acquisition of IT knowledge as realized by the German BMBF project SpITKom. After briefly describing the learning potential of Multiplayer Browser Games as well as the educational objectives and target group of the SpITKom project, we will present the main results of a study that was carried out in the first phase of the project to guide the game design. In the course of the study, data were collected regarding (a) the computer game preferences of the target group and (b) the target group's competencies in playing computer games. We will then introduce recommendations that were deduced from the study's findings and that outline the concept and the prototype of the game.