Computer games are typically associated with high motivation and fun, and players can spend a long time in solving complex tasks together. With educational software on the other hand, students often suffer from motivational problems, misunderstandings and lack of engagement. In between, traditional 'edugames' are drill-and-practise type of games, and so far the possibilities of virtual 3D-game technology have not been completely utilised.

From my point of view, usage of collaborative working methods in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) corresponds well with the aims of edugames, and creates an interesting overlap between learning research focused on the potentials and limitations of collaborative learning games. Both edugames and CSCL are, after all, based on the idea that a group of people work together and collaboratively construct knowledge. Therefore I have been conducting a series of design studies based on idea of scripting collaborative learning games –as a joint effort of our institute, Vocational Institute of Technology, Jyväskylä, and together with University of Oulu, Finland. The series of studies is integrated into the work of the Kaleidoscope European Research Team on the Computer-Supported Scripting of Interaction in Collaborative Learning Environments (CoSSICLE), in which we have been establishing a joint research agenda on the specification, formalisation and implementation of CSCL scripts. The CoSSICLE team combines expertise in educational sciences, psychology, and computer sciences from Germany, Finland and Switzerland.

The theoretical background idea within these game studies leans on the use of collaboration in a virtual environment of a new kind. The aim of an edugame is to provide students with complicated challenges related to a learning task. The tasks of collaborative learners encompass co-ordination of different perspectives, commitment to the joint goals, shared evaluation of group, and creation of shared solutions into problems set. At their best, well-designed multiplayer games may enable such collaboration between players during gameplay. It is typical of good games that the story keeps the player motivated throughout the game, but with the edugames enhancing motivation should not be considered for extrinsic reasons. Rather, developers should concentrate on relating learning tasks to the game story, so that the game world brings some added value to learning. Accordingly, it may be said that designing edugames is about balancing between motivational aspects, learning tasks, and theoretical knowledge of learning.

We in the CoSSICLE team have explored a script as a structure for collaboration. Studies have pointed out that collaboration does not emerge automatically when a group of people is operating in the same virtual environment – or if it does, interaction is often sub-optimal, e.g., learners participate heterogeneously, or they focus on tasks other than learning. Our recent studies have indicated that besides only 'natural' interactions, some amount of scripting may help teams achieve effective collaboration. Scripts are intended to facilitate collaborative learning processes and guide learners’ activities. Scripts specify and sequence activities and roles, and assign them among the members of the team engaged in collaborative work.

So far, three scripted CSCL games (eScape, Mustakarhu and Secure) have been implemented, tested and empirical analysed. There will be at least two more coming up. Interestingly, our studies have already indicated common features in scripted CSCL games with different learning contexts. On the basis of the findings I can conclude that:

• Scripting interactions is a natural idea in gameplay, because games are often based on different levels of activities and scripting can be integrated behind the game story. The different levels of script can correspond to higher game levels that may be reached by solving problems set in the game. For example, a higher level may offer a new scope for action or give access to more tools that help the player succeed in the game. Different levels of the game also enable motivating scripts and it is also possible to integrate individual and collaborative learning with the game story.
• Scripted edugames can offer interesting possibilities for learning because they can be based on a set of authentic situations, make virtual group interactions visible, and visualise the learning tasks in a manner that are impossible in a traditional classroom setting.
• The scripted environment helps to ensure that all players are able to go through the game and at their best, scripts have potential to make learning more efficacious. The learning outcomes also indicate that scripts can be used in a game environment to support learning.
• Despite the script, great variations between the groups easily occur in the game environment. For example, the groups differ in the time spent on the game, the degree of collaboration shown, the roles assumed and the attitudes displayed by their members. Hence the question arises: How to make all teams collaborate as needed, and how to increase the cognitive level of group activities with the help of scripts?
• In a game environment it is easy to obtain collaboration on practical problems, but higher levels of collaboration are difficult to reach, which poses a challenge to future educational games: How to combine the speeded and sometimes competitive elements of games with reflective learning and working together?
• Students’ perceptions of a scripted game environment are often very positive and they easily feel that they collaborate well and solve the problems as a team. However, collaboration depends crucially on team members’ need for each other, because they often try to solve the game tasks alone first, and join forces with the other players only when they realize that they are stuck.

On the basis of existing findings, collaborative games can be seen as one of today’s innovations in learning, because at their best they make it possible to design environments that promote new forms of virtual learning. They also enable learning tasks that are impossible in a traditional classroom setting. At the end of these five different design studies conducted around CSCL games, my aim is to be able to conclude a more general level knowledge about scripting CSCL games. Already it is evident that in future learning activities, the benefits of new technologies should be utilised more extensively. When discussing learning and computer games we should take into account the theoretical knowledge and needs of learning as well as the existing possibilities of game development. In other words, designing pedagogically meaningful virtual environments for specific contexts is a challenging task that calls for close cooperation between the technical game developers and specialists with pedagogic and field-specific expertise. From my point of view, Kaleidoscope activities (especially in CoSSICLE) have achieved an excellent way to enable this cooperation between other European researchers.

Raija Hämäläinen, University of Jyväskylä (Finland) will participate in the workshop Scripting Approaches in CSCL on 23-25 November 2005 in Tübingen, Germany.