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The purpose of this paper is to explore four general design features of King Digital Entertainment’s game “Candy Crush Saga” – structural, social, cognitive, and emotional – that reflect the principles of Universal Design for Learning and discusses how these features can be applied to course design in order to motivate learner persistence and increase student success.

Both authors are casual Candy Crush game players intrigued by how the game motivates users to continue. The methodology began with participant observation and expanded to “deconstruction” of game features and application of research findings in multiple disciplines to build the argument that game design strategies can be applied to course design to enhance learning outcomes.

Many factors influence game play, but it is crucial for each level to provide increasing challenges that motivate increased mastery but do not frustrate a player to the point of quitting. Similarly, course design that provides the opportunity for learners to achieve a sense of “flow” through the opportunity to identify goals, meet challenges, and receive feedback may encourage them to persist even when they are working autonomously as in some online environments.

This paper is based on an analysis of the design of a single game and has not been formally tested on course design. Some suggestions may be easier to implement in courses than others.

The paper offers 14 structural, three social, four cognitive, and six social design strategies that can be implemented in course design as a way to potentially enhance learner engagement and learning outcomes.

No published research exists that connects game design and course design in this fashion.

Middlemen can make or break a strategy. Here are two case studies that show the pivotal role that these marketers play.

Engineered material arresting systems (EMASs) are dedicated to stopping aircraft that overrun the runway before they enter dangerous terrain. The system consists of low-strength foamed concretes. The core component of the arresting system design is a reliable simulation model. Aircraft test verification is required before the practical application of the model. This study aims to propose a simulation model for the arresting system design and conducts serial verification tests.

Six verification tests were conducted using a Boeing 737 aircraft. The aircraft was equipped with an extra inertia navigation system and a strain gauge system to measure its motion and the forces exerted on the landing gears. The heights of the arrestor beds for these tests were either 240 or 310 mm, and the entering speeds of the aircraft ranged from 23.9 to 60.6 knots.

Test results revealed that both the aircraft and the pilots on board were safe after the tests. The maximum transient acceleration experienced by the dummies on board was 2.5 g, which is within the human tolerance. The model exhibited a satisfied accuracy to the field tests, as the calculation errors of the stopping distances were no greater than 7 per cent.

This study proposes a simulation model for the arresting system design and conducts serial verification tests. The model can be used in EMAS design.

Rigid multibody modelling is used to study the crash‐related global behaviour of transport vehicles. These models are made up rigid bodies, joints and springs. Distinct kinematic models have been developed in order to analytically determine the resistance to collapse of thin‐walled structures of simple geometry subjected to compression or bending loading. The modeller must position these different elements but has no information on their numbers and their locations. For this reason, a modelling aiding tool, based on the elastic buckling analysis, has been developed. This method is used to resolve a problem of an “S” frame undergoing a collision against a rigid block to estimate its validity.