Editing Learning theory (education) (section)

===Using online games for learning===
{{Further|Educational game|Video games in education}}
Many educators and researchers believe that information technology could bring innovation on traditional educational instructions.<ref name="sitzmann-meta-2011">{{cite journal| last1 = Sitzmann | first1 = Traci | title = A Meta-Analytic Examination of the Instructional Effectiveness of Computer-based Simulation Games | date = 27 May 2011 | url = http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/business/about/Faculty-Research/workingPapers/test/Sitzmann_Traci_Simulation%20Games%20Meta-Analysis.pdf | journal = Personnel Psychology | volume = 64 | issue = 2 | pages = 489–528 | doi = 10.1111/j.1744-6570.2011.01190.x | access-date = April 12, 2016}}</ref> Teachers and technologists are searching for new and innovative ways to design learner-centered learning environments effectively, trying to engage learners more in the learning process. Claims have been made that online games have the potential to teach, train and educate and they are effective means for learning skills and attitudes that are not so easy to learn by rote memorization.
<ref>{{cite book| last1 = Michael | first1 = D.| last2 = Chen | first2 = S.| title = Serious Games: Games that educate, train and transform| date = 2006| publisher = Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade| isbn = 9781592006229| url = http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1051239}}</ref>

There has been a lot of research done in identifying the learning effectiveness in game based learning. Learner characteristics and cognitive learning outcomes have been identified as the key factors in research on the implementation of games in educational settings. In the process of learning a language through an online game, there is a strong relationship between the learner's prior knowledge of that language and their cognitive learning outcomes. For the people with prior knowledge of the language, the learning effectiveness of the games is much more than those with none or less knowledge of the language.<ref>{{cite book| chapter = Effects of prior knowledge on cognitive learning outcomes within an English learning multiplayer online role-playing game| doi = 10.1109/IIAI-AAI.2013.10| isbn = 978-0-7695-5071-8| title = 2013 Second IIAI International Conference on Advanced Applied Informatics| year = 2013| last1 = Yang| first1 = Jie Chi| last2 = Hsu| first2 = Hui Fen| pages = 166–171| s2cid = 3030283}}</ref>