Characterizing Serious Games Implementation's Strategies: Is Higher Education the New Playground of Serious Games?

Abstract

This article is an exploratory approach of the different strategies used in higher education institutions for implementing serious games. In the complex and often slow-moving education sector, serious games are challenging not only the learners and teachers' practices but also the organizations' strategies. What performance criteria can be used in this specific context to evaluate the training? What types of strategies emerge? During the past decade, different types of serious games implementation have been experimented in higher education. Through a longitudinal analysis of six case studies, this article builds a typology of six strategies to implement serious games in higher education: Recycling, Ready-to wear, Home-made, Haute-couture, Co-branding and The Playground. This study therefore introduces a sixth level of analysis in the evaluation of training process: Innovation. It therefore supports the creation of a new strategy: the Playground strategy.