There’s a real gap between what the research says about game-based learning and what practitioners actually know about it. A lot of the evidence stays locked behind paywalls or buried in dissertations. That gap is what drives most of my scholarly work.
My dissertation, Beyond the Flow: A Critical Examination of Engagement and Learning Outcomes in Game-Based Learning through Bibliometric and Manual Literature Analysis, took a hard look at how the GBL field has studied engagement, especially around the concept of flow. The findings raised questions about what outcomes we’re actually measuring and whether the theoretical frameworks we lean on have kept pace with the games and learners we’re studying.
I use bibliometric methods alongside traditional literature review approaches. It lets me look at a research domain from a wider angle, tracking what’s influential, what’s trending, and where the real gaps are. That same approach shaped my co-authored work with Dr. Marci Davis on simulation-based education in nursing curricula, published in the Journal of Applied Instructional Design in 2024.
A few questions keep showing up across my research:
How do we design GBL experiences that are both genuinely engaging and educationally sound? Where is the evidence on learning outcomes strongest, and where is it the weakest? How does accessibility fit into game design for learning? And what can platforms like Minecraft teach us about how people learn informally, outside any designed instruction?
I’m a member of AECT and serve on the Accessibility Committee. I try to present and write in ways that are useful to working educators, not just other researchers.
If you’re interested in collaborating, or you’re a student thinking about GBL as a research focus, feel free to reach out.