Page 326 - International Perspectives on Effective Teaching and Learning in Digital Education

Betül Tosun and Ayla Yava

increasingly following technology. Especially the Z or Net Generation, born
after 1997, are introduced to technological devices such as computers, tab-
lets and smartphones when they are still babies and start using them from a
very young age. The effects of using current technology instead of meeting
the educational needs of this young generation with classical and tradition-
al methods continues to be the subject of many scientific studies (Demirel,
1).
While studies investigating the effects of technology and games on educa-
tion were almost nonexistent before 199, they have increased rapidly since
the mid-s (Olejniczak et al., ). With the opportunities provided by
today’s technology, methods such as online courses, video education, ac-
tive games, simulations and game-based learning are finding more place in
education. Especially the widespread use of the Internet, developments in
smartphones and mobile devices, and digital technologies have enabled the
development of the concept of Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL). DGBL
leads to significant changes in the management and evaluation of educa-
tion in the age of technological evolution and digital transformation (Şenyu-
va, 19). The learning method expressed as serious games in Digital Based
Learning (DGBL) is increasingly gaining attention in nursing education as in
all fields of health sciences. Digital games are designed to improve course
and subject knowledge or nursing skills, and the effectiveness of the games
is evaluated.
Serious games, which can be briefly defined as ‘interactive computer appli-
cations designed to achieve specific learning objectives,’ have the potential
to motivate students to achieve specific learning goals. In more detail, Stuck-
less et al. (14, p. 146) defined a serious game as ‘an interactive computer
application that has a learning objective, has a high potential to entertain
the practitioner and/or includes an interesting, objective and valid scoring
concept and provides the user with a skill, knowledge or attitude that can
be applied to the real world’ (Stuckless et al., 14). In health care professions
such as nursing, where the acquisition of practical skills in addition to theo-
retical knowledge is mandatory; Accessing information, ensuring rapid and
permanent learning and adequate practice are the most important elements
in gaining professional competence/clinical competence.
In order to adapt to the changing human profile, reforms and scientific
and technological enrichments in educational methods are becoming wide-
spread in the field of nursing education. Especially the interruption of tradi-
tional face-to-face education during the COVID-19 pandemic has increased
the need for online learning in nursing education, forcing educators to re-

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