Game-Based Learning as an Effective Instructional Strategy for Improving Students' Critical Thinking and Collaborative Experiences

With the advent of COVID-19, almost all classroom teaching in higher education in Malaysia, were drastically converted to online. To enable more practical online learning to take place, blended learning approaches were adapted to address this necessity. However, over time, it was shown that students, when going online to learn content, experienced less interactions, and felt socially isolated. Literature has also shown that classrooms learning today still lack deep collaboration, and this was more prevalent during the COVID-19 education paradigm shift to the new normal of hybrid learning. Game-based learning has been posited to address this issues by providing more motivation and engagement to students. However, there is still a debate as to how effective is game-based learning in online education, as some studies have shown success, while some have shown little to none. Clearly these disparities poses a challenge to educators using game-based learning, and demands deeper investigation. This research seeks to look into the impact of game-based learning, embedded within a socio-constructivist environment, on students' critical thinking and collaborative learning. Findings from the study show that the game-based learning environment was very positively received by students, and was successful in impacting 3 areas: 1) learner engagement, 2) learner experiences and 3) technology support. Specifically, students reported positive experiences in the enjoyment, understanding, teamwork and real-world relevance constructs. A game-based learning (GBL) framework is proposed as a practical guide for educators seeking to adapt their classes to today's learner needs and cultivate improved students' critical thinking and collaboration skills in hybrid learning environments.