Game-based learning through mobile phone apps: effectively enhancing learning for social work students

ABSTRACT

In the last two decades, there has been a growing body of new teaching methods that encourage students to be active participants in their own learning. One of these approaches is known as game-based learning (GBL). In social work education, GBL has only been seen in the last decade, and thus is relatively new. The aim of this study is to explore the use of GBL through mobile phone apps, and to examine its effectiveness in enhancing learning for social work students. This study was carried out using a quantitative research design and followed the model of a quasi-experimental study. A purposeful sample was used, namely 48 social work students registered in two sections of a course in Generalist Practice in Social Work. The experimental and control groups were compared both before and after the intervention, with the assessment based on the students’ marks in the exams and on their scores for the scale that measured their perception of the effectiveness of the methodology. Although there was a strong similarity between the experimental and control groups before the GBL intervention, there was a significant difference between them after it, which indicates that digital GBL might have the potential to enhance learning in social work students.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital game-based learning
• educational gaming apps
• learning
• social work

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

Ethical approval was obtained from the Human Ethics Committee of Sultan Qaboos University. The university does not have any policy that restricts the students from using cell phones in classroom.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mohamed Mohamed K. Elsherbiny

Mohamed Mohamed K. Elsherbiny; MSW &PhD in Social Work. He is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Sociology and Social Work at Sultan Qaboos University, Sultanate of Oman. The researcher is a coordinator of Quality and Accreditation Committee of the department and a member of the Higher Committee for Academic Accreditation. His research interests are models of intervention, micro level, social work with disabled and social work with family.

Raya Hamed H. Al Maamari

Raya Hamed H. Al Maamari is a lecturer at the Department of Sociology and Social Work at the College of Arts and Social Sciences at Sultan Qaboos University in the Sultanate of Oman. Raya is currently a PhD candidate at the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Nottingham in the UK. She has a Master of Arts in International Social Work and Community Development from the University of Durham, in the UK. She obtained a Bachelor's degree in Social Work from Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. She is a translator in the International Social Work Journal (SAGE). Her areas of teaching and writing include international social work, community development, social work in disasters, and social work with youth and elderly.