ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses functional and semiotic parallels between games and assessments. It examines valued structural characteristics of assessments and addresses valuable features of simulation-based games. The chapter then presents an example of a simulation-based educational game under construction in the Cisco Networking Academy Program. Rules are common to games and tests. In tests, rules define what information is available and what is not, how much time is allowed to complete the activities, which formats the tasks should be completed in, and so on. The chapter discusses functional commonalities by describing the structure of assessment as suggested in the evidence-centered design (ECD) framework. The conceptual assessment framework further defines and makes explicit the developing design concepts and assessment argument in terms of the more technical components of an assessment, namely, the structures and variables in the task, evidence, and student models. In traditional assessments, these correspond to item types, item scoring rules, and total scores.
