Gaming and the liberal arts

Molle Industria strikes again.

World of Warcraft Students' passions can be a powerful driver for deeper and more creative learning. With this knowledge, some educators are using popular commercial games like World of Warcraft (WoW) to create curriculum around the game.

The pilot follows work undertaken by JISC Collections early in 2012, when a number of interactive educational software and games suppliers, as well as representatives of FE colleges, were interviewed to gauge the current extent and use of such software and online resources by the colleges.

Designed to show conflict between realism and modernism. Can find the game here: http://www.gamezhero.com/games/avantgarde

Check your sources and always give attribution!

And what a fun, lovely game it is.

Lots of dark stuff in there, from Skinner to addiction. Did the hype bubble burst?

"Dr. Keller: I designed the simulation with two main goals in mind. First, it had to be an effective teaching tool. I wanted to take abstract concepts and theories that my students often had difficulty grasping, and make these vivid and clearly understandable. I wanted students to personally experience the challenges and complexities of world politics-to get off the sidelines and become players. Although the countries, domestic factions, and global issues in Statecraft are fictional, they have been carefully designed to provide maximum insight into parallel real-world dilemmas: as students grapple with the Orion slavery issue, the threat posed by the melting Ice Mountain, and the temptation to seize Sapphire Island's vast resources they come to understand the security dilemma, the collective action problem, two-level games, the challenges of cooperation under anarchy, and many other constructs not as theoretical concepts but as visceral truths that permeate their conversations with classmates, friends, and parents, and may even keep them up at night."

I like the concept of Statecraft, and took an early look at them. But boy, I wish they would stop spamming up my inbox with invitations to lunch etc. Quite pushy.

That's weird. Are they aggressively courting players for other purposes, or pushing ads?

JISC Collections is making available selected educational games.

Shell turns to sims to power its scenarios.

Nice sketch of a political simulation, plus good reason for teaching with sims.

Oh fun. I hope it succeeds.

A team is building a .edu version of SimCity.

Whoa! A glimpse of the future?