DGIST: A digital game for international students’ adjustment

Purpose - This paper aims to explore the use of digital game to help international student to acquire adjustment-related information. Design/methodology/approach - The study introduces a digital game called Digital Game for International Student Training (DGIST) which is intended to satisfy important aspects of international students’ information needs. To evaluate the efficacy of DGIST, a before-and-after with control experimental design was adopted. The experimental group students were exposed to DGIST, while the control group was given a paper-based document. A total of 80 participants were involved in the study. They were from nine different countries with average age of 26. The analysis of covariance was used to analyze the data collected. Findings - Statistical analyses reveal that there was a significant difference between DGIST and paper-based document in helping international students acquire adjustment-related information on post-test score. Originality/value - Although digital games have been developed for various subject areas, little attention has been focused on using digital games to address international students’ adjustment issues. This paper thus represents a step towards an uncharted research territory.