How Social Gaming is Improving Education.

Posted by Celia Walter | 14 Feb, 2010

Greg Ferenstein at Mashable blogs about How Social Gaming is Improving Education. The article discusses how schools are replacing textbook learning with social video games, and improving learning outcomes.

“Social gaming has a come a long way from the days when a dozen students would squint at a 10-inch screen of Oregon Trail. The 2000s seemed to be the decade of case studies: Bold educators willing to experiment with developing technologies. But now, the involvement of major funders, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, points to an industry that is on the cusp of freeing education from its 2D textbook prison.”

 From iLibrarian blog

Post in Gaming and learning, Education | comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

International Journal of Role-Playing

Posted by Celia Walter | 3 Feb, 2009
International journal of role-playing
The 'International Journal of Role-Playing' is a full-text ejournal. At February 2009 there is one issue online. Articles are freely offered in PDF format. Example article titles from the first issue include: 'Roles and Worlds in the Hybrid RPG Game of Oblivion'; 'The Many Faces of Role-Playing Games'; and 'A Hermeneutical Approach to Role-Playing Analysis'. The website has full details of the Editorial and Review Boards, and details of the submission process. The journal aims to bridge... "academic research, the games and creative industries, the arts and the strong role-playing communities". This is a very useful addition to the small range of open ejournals in the developing field of game studies. From Intute.ac.uk
http://journalofroleplaying.org/

Post in Journals, Gaming and learning | comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Effective Use of Games in Academia

Posted by Celia Walter | 5 Aug, 2008

Rafael C. Alvarado, Director of Academic Technology Services at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania writes for Educause Quarterly with Overcoming the Fear of Gaming: A Strategy for Incorporating Games into Teaching and Learning. Alvarado discusses opportunities for the effective use of immersive games in academia.

“Ultimately, to take full advantage of games as engines of learning, we should move from a critical approach to a creative one and encourage the innovative use and development of games (and gaming engines) within our colleges and universities as collaborative new media projects. Such projects would take advantage of our unique social arrangement of students, developers, and faculty and allow us to rely less on consumer culture to provide game content. The design of these games would be guided by the experience of managing the pedagogical outcomes of games in real-use contexts, forming a feedback loop that would identify and select for better games.”

iLibrarian blog

 

Post in Gaming and learning | comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Welcome to Zon! [Macromedia Flash Player] Learn Chinese through gaming

Posted by Celia Walter | 4 Jul, 2008

Welcome to Zon! [Macromedia Flash Player]

http://enterzon.com/

Learning Chinese is not easy, but this magnificent site may spark a new interest among those who have been thinking of taking up the language. Created by Professor Yong Zhao at Michigan State University, Zon is a multiplayer online learning environment designed to introduce users to the Chinese language and culture through gameplay. His work was sponsored by the Office of the Chinese Language Council International and Michigan State University. As a part of the total experience, users will have the opportunity to learn from non-player characters, responsive game agents, and other players. First-time visitors can learn more about Zon by clicking on the "About" section, and after that they can register (a quick and free process) to get started. [KMG] Internet Scout Report

Post in Gaming and learning | comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Gaming & Libraries Update: Broadening the Intersections

Posted by Celia Walter | 6 May, 2008

Jenny Levine’s excellent Library Technology Report - Gaming & Libraries Update: Broadening the Intersections. It’s chock-full of interesting case studies of real library implementations of gaming programs as well as recommended resources. The report covers tabletop (board) games, big games such as LARPing (Live Action Role-Playing), as well as video games. Readers can pick up plenty of game recommendations throughout, but I will be checking further into some of the board games suggested at the end as I noticed a couple of my favorites were listed including Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride.

iLibrarian blog

Post in Gaming and learning | comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Play, think, learn [a blog]

Posted by Celia Walter | 29 Apr, 2008

Play, think, learn
This is a blog in which the author shares her thoughts on the "potential of using online games for learning, teaching and assessment - particularly in Higher Education but also in the context of all sorts of adult learners." Reviews are supplied as well as extensive links to related websites and reports on the topic that are accessible online. Archives date back to October 2007. Intute.ac.uk
http://www.playthinklearn.net/

Post in Universities, Gaming and learning | comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Gaming to Develop Research Skills

Posted by Celia Walter | 21 Jan, 2008
Matt Bolin alerted me to the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries’ Library Arcade. Graduate students from their Entertainment Technology Center have teamed up with the University Libraries to create educational games to help students develop library research skills. They have two games so far - “I’ll Get It” in which players must help fellow students find library resources, and “Within Range”, a library re-shelving game using the LC classification system. They are still in the testing phase, but have made the games available to the public. From iLibrarian blog

Post in Gaming and learning | comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)