Purpose: This paper presents two educational gamified virtual labs and investigates different methods of including gamified elements in virtual labs used for teaching. The purpose of this study is to investigate if immersive gamified virtual labs can be used as effective pedagogical tools by properly incorporating them into higher education curricula to assist low-risk active learning and student engagement.Design/methodology/approach: This research design comprises two gamified virtual labs including nine essential experiments of biology and chemistry integrated into the higher education curriculum of the Foundation of Science at an international University. Students filled in a survey after participating in the lab to shed light on appropriate ways of using gamification approaches in virtual labs.Findings: From the predominant findings of the study, gamified virtual labs increase student involvement thereby enhancing knowledge development with active learning and may be a potentially suitable pedagogical tool for low-risk interactive learning.Research limitations/implications: Limitations of the study include findings based on gamified virtual labs but not comparing the gamified virtual labs to simple virtual simulations to further investigate the pedagogical approach and understand the student perceptions in a simple virtual simulation and a gamified virtual lab.Practical implications: The findings of this study will provide evidence that gamified virtual labs integrated into higher education curricula as supplementary tools for laboratory experimentation improve the educational delivery process.Originality/value: This research highlights an appropriate way of integrating 3D virtual labs into practical curricula while discussing the benefits.

Purpose: This paper presents an educational virtual reality (VR) game and experiments with different methods of including it into the teaching process. The purpose of this research study is to discover if immersive VR games can be used as an effective pedagogical tool if blended with traditional lectures by assisting learning gain, memory and knowledge retention while increasing edutainment value.Design/methodology/approach: This research design comprises three different methods of learning: lecture-based involving lecture slides, infographics, and a video, game-based involving an immersive VR game of oil rig exploration, and the combination of lecture and game-based. Participants of each method filled up a questionnaire before and after participation to measure the learning gain, memory, and knowledge retention.Findings: From the predominant findings of the study, the combined method demonstrated a significant increase in learning gain, memory, and knowledge retention and maybe a potentially suitable pedagogical tool.Research limitations/implications: Limitations of the study include findings based on one VR game with a specific educational topic, additionally, it is suspected that having different participants for each of the three methods may have slightly affected the results, albeit to a limited extent.Practical implications: Findings of this study will provide evidence that VR games can be used alongside traditional lectures to aid in the learning process. Educators can choose to include VR games into their curriculums to improve the educational delivery process.Originality/value: This research contributes to ways of incorporating VR games into educational curriculums through findings of this study highlighting the combination of VR games with lectures.

Background: This study introduces an innovative personnel training method for facility management and maintenance of Thermal-Energy-Storage (TES) chiller plants using a serious 3D game. Training games can improve the decision-making of personnel where they can learn to deal with management of TES chiller plants in the context of this study in an active learning approach. Intervention: The research aims to investigate the effectiveness of an immersive learning experience with computerized simulation and synthetic task environments as a training game for facility managers. The serious 3D game adopts a first-person perspective, allowing players to assume the role of a facility manager and actively learn how to address maintenance issues commonly encountered in chiller plants. Methods: The study implemented a first-person-based serious 3D game centered around a TES chiller plant. Participants, in the role of facility managers, engaged with the game and followed instructions to gain practical knowledge in managing maintenance issues within a controlled and simulated setting. Results: The findings demonstrate increased engagement and interest among personnel when learning how to manage chiller plant issues within a serious 3D game environment. Notably, personnel experienced reduced pressure compared to real-life scenarios, as they navigated the challenges without the presence of a supervisor. Limitations: The study’s limitations include a higher proportion of male participants in the qualitative content analysis, which may affect the generalizability of the findings. Additionally, the absence of a control group limits the ability to make direct comparisons with traditional training methods. Conclusion: The results suggest that serious 3D games hold potential as an effective training tool for facility management and maintenance personnel. By engaging in active training within simulated and synthetic task environments, personnel can enhance their skills and decision-making capabilities. However, further research with a more diverse participant sample and a control group is warranted to fully evaluate the effectiveness of this innovative personnel training approach.

Recently, integrating Internet-of-Things (IoT) for an interactive learning has become a topic of interest. For cultural inclusion, young individuals need to be more aware of the culturally diverse community and embrace it. However, this is not possible without proper cultural education and awareness. With maker-based education, individuals can participate in active learning where they share their cultural heritage story. Hence, this research focuses on analyzing whether integrating IoT into a cultural game authoring tool will be an interesting and innovative approach in maker-based education for culture.