The core of email game templates contains real-world problems and issues that are salient to the players. Using a constructivist approach (Knuth & Cunningham, 1993), an email game engages participants in interactive discussion of these problems and issues. Participants bring a variety of diverse experiences and previous knowledge to the task and the facilitator selects and implements appropriate structures for different rounds of the game that encourage the construction and sharing of new perspectives, knowledge, understandings and insights as suggested by Zhu (1998). Different email game templates are designed to facilitate different types of learning outcomes as classified by Gagne (1985). The design, development, formative evaluation and revision of the email games are carried out according to the Instructional Systems Design (ISD) model in its recent versions (Tessmer & Wedman, 1992 and Merrill, 1990).
