Game-based learning (GBL) broadly refers to learning and education that involves characteristics of games and play in their design, pedagogy, praxis, culture or teacher and learner experience. Game-based learning is a broad field of research and practice and contains under its umbrella for example the following key concepts: educational games, serious games, gamification of learning, games-with-a-purpose, science games, simulation games, and smart toys.

Gamefulness has increasingly become an integral part of any learning and education, and its rise is based on the premise that games are able to invoke beneficial engagement, interest, and motivation as well as cognitive, emotional, and social skill development.

To advance the literature on GBL, this minitrack encourages submissions from any disciplinary background reporting different kinds of studies: e.g., empirical studies, case studies, methods and techniques, conceptual frameworks, and literature reviews. Beyond the title of the minitrack, the minitrack covers research and practice framed as related to neighboring concepts such as educational games, serious games, gamified learning, single- and multiplayer games for learning, simulation, and training games, gameful design, etc. Studies should cover, but are not limited to, the following issues:

- Users: e.g., studies on the effects of GBL on usability, engagement, experience, motivations, user/player types, individual differences, user modeling, etc.
- Educational science: educational effectiveness of GBL, educational theories and their application in GBL, games as assessment tools, games as educational research tools, pedagogical models for GBL, instructional design of GBL, learning mechanisms in GBL, emotions and affective interaction.
- Computing: Computational aspects involving GBL, e.g., tangible and physical computing, artificial intelligence / data-driven approaches, algorithms, frameworks, architectures, etc.
- Technology: e.g., GBL in mobile games, procedural content generation, etc.
- Arts & Design: e.g., user interface design, emotional design, design of learning mechanics, mapping instructional methods to game mechanics, inclusive design and accessibility issues, narratives, media, and & languages in GBL, localization in GBL, .
- Culture: e.g., socio-cultural relations involving GBL, Anthropology, and poetics in GBL, bodies, gender, and politics in GBL, etc.
- Pedagogy: pedagogical aspects (e.g., personalization, collaborative learning, blended learning, cognitive process, intellectual skills, edutainment, etc) in GBL.
- Learning analytics: e.g., adaptivity and personalization in GBL, studies involving GBL in the learning analytics process, game-mechanics adaptation based on learning data.
- Health: GBL for health, effects of GBL in health, health literacy, behavioral change..
- Theories/concepts/methods: e.g., contributions to science around GBL
- Ethics: i.e., general ethical aspects involving GBL.

Authors of accepted papers have the option to fast-track extended versions of their HICSS papers to:

- Smart Learning Environments
- Internet Research
- AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction
- Frontiers in AI for Human Learning and Behavior Change

Minitrack Co-Chairs:

Wilk Oliveira (Primary Contact)
Tampere University
wilk.oliveira@tuni.fi

Juho Hamari
Tampere University
juho.hamari@tuni.fi

Kristian Kiili
Tampere University
kristian.kiili@tuni.fi

Julita Vassileva
University of Saskatchewan
jiv@cs.usask.ca