Ten steps to designing more empathic, human and effective educational video games
Ten steps to designing more empathic, human and effective educational video games
Ten steps to designing more empathic, human and effective educational video games
Juan F. Samaniego, Rubén Permuy
January, 07, 2026
Summary
Video games are increasingly recognized as valuable educational tools, but their adoption in formal education is limited by poor curricular integration, insufficient teacher training, limited resources, and a lack of focus on students’ emotional and social learning. To address this, Raluca Ionela Maxim developed the Empathic Design Thinking Framework (EDTF), a 10-phase, user-centered approach for creating emotionally engaging and pedagogically sound educational games. The framework integrates empathy, psychology, neuroscience, and design to align cognitive, emotional, and motivational factors. Through iterative co-design, prototyping, evaluation, and implementation, EDTF supports meaningful learning experiences and can be adapted beyond education to other digital fields.
Reference
Samaniego, J. F., & Permuy, R. (2026, January 7). Ten steps to designing more empathic, human and effective educational video games. Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. https://www.uoc.edu/en/news/2026/how-to-design-educational-video-games