Teacher-Centered Design in Educational Games: Iterative Improvements to the Tragedy of the Commons pSim Dashboard

Abstract

Teaching tools such as the Tragedy of the Commons (ToC) participatory simulation, developed by MIT STEP Lab, have the potential to develop different skills or knowledge compared to single-player educational games. ToC illustrates the challenges of managing shared resources, but its existing teacher dashboard may not be well-suited to support its growing use across various classrooms. Through surveying and interviewing educators along with observing classroom usage, the software's shortcomings and opportunities for improvement were identified. This resulted in the design and implementation of a redesigned teacher dashboard, including a new “central bank” feature that provides structure to support more complex simulations. Additional enhancements improved usability and performance. Evaluations with teachers and controlled playtests demonstrated that these changes show promise in enabling richer classroom dynamics and making facilitation easier. The findings underscore the importance of teacher experience in educational game design.