Serious Game Design with medical students as a Learning Activity for Developing the 4Cs Skills: Communication, Collaboration, Creativity and Critical Thinking: A qualitative research

Introduction : The impact of technology in education has led to various changes in the way that different stakeholders, like students and teachers work and interact with each other. The use of the serious game design in educational contexts has been related to the development of the 21st century skills such as communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking. Aim : To analyze a serious game design process by third –year medical students, from the perspective of the 21st century competencies engaged in the game design process. Those outlined key competencies are communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking. Methods : >This is a qualitative, descriptive, and inductive study that follows a phenomenological approach. Twelve volunteer third-year medical students participated in an activity of designing of serious games. This study, carried out during summer internship in the cardiology department of Habib Thameur Hospital. The course of the designing of serious games with students spread over 4 weeks with 10 hours face-to-face and 10 hours of remote work. Results: The participants in our study were twelves third-year medical students. Of these 12 students, 10 were female. The duration of each interview depends on each participant’s ability. The analysis of the data, based on the phenomenological method of Giorgi brought out four central themes: theme 1: Critical thinking skills and problems solving skills, theme 2: Communication, theme 3: Creativity, theme 4: Collaboration. The overall essence of the phenomenon is these third medical students who experienced the serious game design outlined key competencies. Conclusion : Using serious game development-based learning as a learning method to impart multidimensional skills and knowledge suggests a promising approach for developing clinical reasoning, creativity, communication, and collaboration in students.