Teaching e-markets through simulation games Maria Fasli & Michael Michalakopoulos University of Essex, Department of Computer Science Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, UK {mfasli;mmichag}@essex.ac.uk Abstract This paper presents our experiences in using an ap- proach to teaching and learning that incorporates elements from games. In particular we describe a simulation game that has been used in a graduate course on Agent Technol- ogy for E-commerce to teach students principles of elec- tronic markets and strategic interaction. 1. Introduction During the last few decades the very nature of teaching in modern universities has changed [11]. Whereas higher edu- cation was once thought of as primarily the process of trans- mitting knowledge through formal presentations, a growing body of research has made it clear that student motivation and engagement play fundamental roles in learning. Moti- vating students by setting challenges, goals and problems which are engaging is a key factor in the learning process. As a result, the idea of incorporating gaming elements into learning has received increasing attention recently, as games are known to engage the user through providing a challenge and immersing them into an environment. This paper discusses an approach to learning that uses gaming elements. The structure of the paper is as follows. First computer game-based learning is discussed. The fol- lowing sections briey describe the background and moti- vation and the platform that was implemented in order to support the development of interactive game-like exercises in the area of intelligent software agents. The presentation of a simulated electronic market game that has been de- veloped follows. Next the experiences from using this ex- ercise and the students feedback are presented. The paper ends with the conclusions. 2. Computer game-based learning Research has shown that students learn better and re- tain more when they actively engage in the learning pro- cess. Active learning strategies involve engaging the stu- dents in higher-order thinking tasks such as analysis, syn- thesis and evaluation. A prerequisite for engagement is mo- tivation; motivated students learn better and consequently progress faster Pedagogists and researchers have recently shown an in- creased interest in incorporating gaming principles into teaching and learning [8, 14]. Games have been the sub- ject of research in a number of disciplines, including educa- tion, computer science, media and cultural studies and psy- chology. Although there is no standard taxonomy of games, Herz [6] presents the following major categories: ² action games; ² adventure games; ² ghting games; ² puzzle games; ² role-playing games; ² simulations; ² sports games; ² strategy games. Some games may fall into more than one category and the taxonomy itself does not take into account the number of players that are involved in a game. Prensky [14] points out that the essential elements of games are: ² Goals and objectives. Almost every game has a goal and it gets to an end. ² Competition/challenge/opposition. Games provide challenges to the user; s/he encounters difcul- ties and has to overcome obstacles, solve riddles or even face adversaries either operated by the game en- gine itself or perhaps other players. ² Outcomes and feedback. To keep the user’s attention throughout a game s/he is rewarded or punished for her actions using most of the times some sort of points sys- tem. The utility or score achieved at a certain point in