With lifestyles becoming increasingly busier, people are finding less time to take courses in a traditional classroom. Consequently, people are turning towards online classrooms more to help them reach their goals. Online educational programs provide students with great flexibility. These programs generally allow a student to move as slow, or as fast, as they need to finish their degrees. The classroom materials are primarily electronic, so a student may access them from any location, as long as they have a computer and Internet access.
However, even with all of the benefits of online education, there are still issues which plague the minds of people worried about its efficacy. One of these issues is the lack of physical interaction. In addition, studio classes and labs are difficult to put into a digital environment. Another issue is the lack of motivation in the online student, when they do not have efficient ways to have peers or a professor to discuss their current projects with. This investigation has found that it may be possible to lessen the advantages that traditional classrooms have over online classes. Using elements found in video games, human interaction in online creative classes can be improved upon.
The study begins with literature reviews in the areas of:
• The principles of creative education,
• Advantages and disadvantages of an online education, and
• Similarities between the delivery of information in video games and an online education.
Features found within video games were used to help create solutions to improve online education and rid it of any problem areas that were found during the literature reviews.
After the literature review was complete, an online survey was conducted to gather opinions about online education and explore the previous experiences the respondents had with it. Using the answers gathered in this survey, alongside the information from the literature reviews, a prototype of an online course was then created. The primary purpose of the prototype was to overcome any difficulties the respondents had with past courses.
The respondents were then shown the first prototype of the creative online course. After the presentation, group interviews were performed to discuss the important elements of creative education and how to bring the prototype online. They also discussed the advantages of the video gaming experience and how to utilize it to enhance online education in a creative manner.