Sociological Evaluation of a Serious Game Designed for Building of Epistemic Competency of Military Students

Serious game applied in education and training is relatively new. Some skills needed for military action could be acquired through traditional (real) training methods, but, at the same time, as the computer games has been evolved, some skills can be obtained through the serious game as attractive and efficient method – virtual method. In terms of costs and risks, using a training solution based on a games scenario is also advantageous.

This study evaluates a serious game (SG) that is being applied in a Romanian Defence University context. It was designed in order to enhance the epistemic competency of the future military commanders at all levels of decision making process. Evaluation is conducted summative, after development of it; the study examines whether the serious game is efficient, appropriate for training goals and well accepted by the learners.

The findings provide evidence that serious game is genuinely beneficial for anticipated learning and training results and it could be used in future training process to assure required skills for new defence missions. Introducing games in the military training is based on all these advantages revealed through the evaluation. The epistemic competency obtained using serious games can provide necessary knowledge to action in a real experience.