The competency building process of human computer interaction in game-based teaching: Adding the flexibility of an asynchronous format

This paper builds upon the authors´ previous research in which the competency building process of individuals was analyzed in a purely synchronous computer game-based teaching technology. The issue of heterogeneity of speed of adaptation to the learning tool, identified in the synchronous context, is here addressed by introducing the flexibility of an asynchronous format, in which students are given the opportunity to complete the game at their own pace. Experts count game-based teaching among the technologies likely to have the largest impact on education over the next five years. Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) are based on multiple interactions between different humans in virtual worlds. A MMOG teaching game was created in a virtual world. Participant discourses based on written chats were collected and exploited by netnography. Visual data was filmed and analyzed by the semiotics method then compared to the discourse analysis. First results show interesting differences between synchronous and asynchronous modes, in the interaction and collaboration within and across teams.