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Gaming technology has become a new-generation tool for entertainment and can be an effective learning tool. The main factors of a gaming technology environment are interest, enjoyment and fun which can be used to measure learner engagement and performance in achieving learning objectives in an interactive environment (K. Kiili et al., 2014; Squire, 2011). Having a learning objective in a game environment requires a designer to utilise challenges as well as enhance engagement and interaction with the game in order to achieve learning goals.

Statistics show that 72% of people in the United States of America play computer and video games at home. Furthermore, according to the Entertainment Software Association (2011), 68% of parents in the United States of America found gaming technology supported mental stimulation and 57% of parents found playing games strengthened family relationships by family members spending more time together. Cognition is needed to explore and observe game strategy and this can be especially useful for learning. Games can be adapted for learning and become an effective tool for e-learning.

Gaming technology includes several types of games such as video games, simulation games and 3D environments. These can be used in a learning environment to support and enhance learning. Gaming technology can have an impact on learning in that it can be an effective tool and e- resource in the future.

Gaming technology can have some disadvantages, such as causing confusion for participants and distracting them from their learning target (Gee, 2005). In addition, gaming technology can waste time (K. Kiili et al., 2014). Moreover, gaming technology needs to be well-designed in order to avoid boredom or anxiety. In addition, Van Eck (2015) found that gaming technology needs more development because he found, in his research, that learning through games is not suitable for all participants. Sometimes learners obtain better results when they get their information from lecturers and books.

On the other hand, gaming technology has many benefits, such as providing an opportunity to undertake an event or phenomenon and creating an interactive environment between the system

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and the user that is interesting due to the game’s simulation. In addition, users play games for a challenge, for immersion and for the connection with the system and with other users (Buchanan & Vanden Elzen, 2012). Although gaming technology focuses on activity, gaming technology can also be used to support experience (Becker, 2013) when users practice their skills and knowledge in a gaming environment.

Gaming technology has a significant effect on a player and has various uses (Beck, 2004). Gaming technology can play a significant role in learning because 79% of teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 have used gaming technology (Lenhart et al., 2008). This finding is significant because it indicates that future users will have grown up with gaming technology. New generations have embraced technologies, including gaming technology, thus making it important to implement gaming technology in order to enhance and support learning in the future (Friedl & O'Neil, 2013). The Pew Report (Lenhart et al., 2008) recommended using gaming technology within education to improve the worth of learning.

Gaming technology can use 3D to create a virtual interactive environment that allows users to be involved in the system and to achieve a specific task. Using 3D technology for learning encourages learners to engage and interact with the learning environment to build knowledge, skills and experiences (Richards & Taylor, 2015).

The 3D environment has become popular and is used by many people, especially in learning (Chittaro & Ranon, 2007; John, 2007; Monahan, McArdle, & Bertolotto, 2008; Pan, Cheok, Yang, Zhu, & Shi, 2006; Rauch, 2007). There are several advantages in using a 3D environme nt in learning. The first advantage is that it gives learners the opportunity to be involved in activities which improve their knowledge and experience (Hanson & Shelton, 2008). The second advantage is that a 3D environment uses real-time interaction which means that the system responds to any action immediately. Learners can also cause changes in the system depending on their commands and actions (Huang et al., 2010). A 3D environment also gives users the opportunity to utilise nearly all the human senses (Burdea, 1999). A 3D environme nt helps users solve problems and provides a solution for training and for teaching concepts and skills to any student. Furthermore, it supports creativity which leads to a high level of problem solving and thinking. Technology provides tools, such as a 3D environment, that can improve cognitive learning by engaging learners (Jonassen, 2000).

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According to research, gaming technology has a significant influence on how users learn. For example, gaming technology used in medical learning has had an effective impact on learning concepts and improved medical skills (Heather, 2010; Jeffries, 2005; Rieber et al., 2009). The Al-Ahsa College of Medicine in Saudi Arabia used simulation to improve surgical skills and found it more effective than books and texts (Abou-Elhamd, Al-Sultan, & Rashad, 2010). Moreover, using gaming technology for training military pilots has proven to be an effective tool in improving pilot skills (Bell & Waag, 1998). Gaming technology involving movement can also be used in sport training in colleges and universities (Neely & Tucker, 2013). Gaming technology can provide activities and can mimic real action or event scenarios. It has become one of the most effective factors in teaching and building skills (Neely & Tucker, 2013). Thus, gaming technology enhances learners’ experience and skill levels; this is the important advantage of gaming technology.

Gaming technology in academic libraries gives individuals an opportunity to try out scenarios that cannot be used in real life (Friedl & O'Neil, 2013). Virtual simulation games can evaluate student learning outcomes by measuring their achievement through the system (Neely & Tucker, 2013). As a result, a 3D environment can be implemented as a learning tool to improve knowledge, skills and experience.

Although gaming technology within teaching may be fun for users, its main target is to support the understanding of tasks and improve cognition. Gee (2003) has recognised that teaching and learning objectives can be achieved by using gaming technology to complete some long, composite and hard tasks. Moreover, using gaming technology, Gee discovered the princip le that games can support successful learning and develop effective experiences (Gee, 2003). Furthermore, games enhance desirable attitudes through emotional and cognitive reactions from interacting and getting feedback from a game. In addition, Gee (2005) noted that gaming has three benefits which are empowered learners, problem solving and understanding.

The benefit of gaming technology, according to Gee, is an empowered learner. Games give users experience by offering them an interactive system in which to make decisions and perform various tasks. This promotes ownership within the users and motivates them to face the game’s challenges in a flexible environment. Players learn the game’s processes and methods to resist obstacles and solve problems in multiple ways which, in turn, empowers the users. According

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to Gee (2005), using gaming technology successfully results in role and game characterist ics that are influenced by social science, psychology and learning theory.

2.7.1.1 Influence of gaming technology on learning

In this section, the influence of gaming technology on learning will be further explained based on average behaviours that arouse learners’ desires to learn as well as their cognitive needs for success in learning and the impact of gaming technology on memory.

Gaming technology supports independent learning. According to McBride (2014, p. 133), ‘learning-by-doing or an active learning environment fostered by computer/video games makes the learning experience much more exciting, rich and ongoing’. Furthermore, gaming technology gives participants opportunities to solve gaming challenges in multiple ways that make the game flexible and to perform tasks for different levels of skills. Gaming technology supports learners who have a low level of achieving tasks in enhancing their skills (Van Eck, 2015). Thus gaming technology enhances attitudes such as independent learning and the motivation to learn. Furthermore, the availability of the Wi-Fi network also encourages developing learning experiences because it widens access to technology (such as gaming technology) (Huer, 2015; Valenti, 2015).

Moreover, gaming technology is fun and interesting and this enhances ability and motivat io n based on interacting with a game and making information and knowledge clear and coherent. It also gives learners opportunities to repeat the game context (Pivec & Dziabenko, 2004). Annetta (2008) found that educational gaming technology enhances learner motivation, supports engagement with a learning environment, increases interest to an enjoyable level during learning and, in particular, enhances intrinsic motivation. K. Kiili (2005, p. 192) found that game-based learning ‘arouse[d] intrinsic motivation’ which has an important impact on learners in learning and in enhancing their knowledge, skills and experiences. Also, game based learning encourages learners to learn and improve knowledge, skills and experience independently. Furthermore, Ciampa (2014) and Mozelius (2014) found that gaming technology enhances intrins ic motivation. Moreover, gaming technology has an external effect in increasing extrins ic motivation because it has challenges and provide scores (Kapp, 2012; Nicholson, 2012; Zichermann & Cunningham, 2011). However, Nicholson (2012) suggested that gaming

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technology can reduce intrinsic motivation because it is replaced by extrinsic motivation. This supports the need to have well-designed and effective games that relate to the needs of the users. Well-designed games motivate participants to learn. Mayo (2009) found that a well-designed game enhanced learning between 7% and 40% over traditional learning (such as lectures) and helped participants to develop their understanding and improve their grades. Moreover, gaming technology also has an effect on cognition and helps to enhance understanding, critical thinking and problem-solving ability.

Gaming technology can enhance understanding. Players can use and apply the experiences and skills that they have gained in developing a plan to overcome challenges and difficulties (Gee, 2005; Mayo, 2009; Tobias, Fletcher, Dai, & Wind, 2011). Accordingly, they build a better understanding by using their imaginations and skills within the rules in order to achieve the task and reach a specific target. Tobias et al. (2011) pointed out that gaming technology stimulates participants’ educational skills based on cognitive abilities such as mathematics, spelling and reading, physics, health and medicine, and computer science. Also using visual aids such as pictures and animation can enhance attention as well as helping to organise and map knowledge. Previous research demonstrates the significant advantage of gaming technology in enhancing and promoting the higher-order thinking which is important for 21st-century learning, such as critical thinking and problem solving (Hays, 2005). Moreover, Clark, Tanner-Smith, and Killingsworth (2014) found that game-based learning is better than conventional instruction in supporting cognition and in improving understanding.

Furthermore, one of the important benefits of game-based learning is problem solving. Games are based on problems that users face while playing the game. These problems require the players to learn the rules of the game. In addition, the games challenge players to create an effective strategy for solving the problems as well as increasing their proficiency in performing the task efficiently. As a result, game-based learning enhances a player’s problem-solving abilities (Gee, 2005, p. 10).

Games offer a wealth of experiences for learners when synthesising information to learn and solve problems, and they also support the cognitive process (McBride, 2014).

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Rosas et al. (2003) discovered playing computer/video games improves learners’ performance and enhances cognitive abilities and higher-order thinking skills, such as critical thinking and problem solving. Moreover, playing computer/video game increases motivation and a higher level of curiosity towards learning. It also increases attention and concentration. Additiona l ly, gaming technology can provide a better understanding if the cognitive load is low, which supports learning.

According to K. Kiili et al. (2014), gaming technology can minimise the cognitive process which can help to improve participants’ performance and help them to understand and gain knowledge effectively.

Thus, games can be used to improve learners’ knowledge and attitude. They can be used effectively and successfully in formal education, such as within the military, in health care, medicine and physics, as well as in a training setting (Pivec & Dziabenko, 2004). In addition, games can be used in higher education in universities to support academic performance.