Group items tagged

"Leading figures from the UK video games industry have criticised the teaching of computer studies in schools, claiming it puts pupils off from pursuing computer science degrees at university..."

This paper makes a case for learning games grounded in principles of good fun and good learning, explores the commercial games market, gleaning lessons from this rapidly growing and diversifying place, analyzes the downfall of edutainment in the 1990s and establishes how the current movement differs. Then, this paper lays out the ecology of games with a purpose beyond play and establishes principles and best practices for moving the field forward in a positive direction.

Professional athletes are using video games to study strategy and "preset" their brains for game time.

Supreme Court of the US of A weighs free speech vs: violent video games despite absence of any definitive research.

Article provides examples on how game developers benefit from interacting with their own children (e.g. able to observe what features excite children that were not anticipated by designers)

Learning about African through a video game

In 3 out of 5 of these games users work on quest-like activities - Wow is #5; Mafia Wars is #4 & Farmville is #1. The other 2 resemble typical socialization when playing a game in person - "bragging rights" and playing a board game. They all seem to touch on at least one of the 3 components from Ryan & Deci - relatedness, competence, and/or autonomy.

Beyond the Game is a festival-acclaimed, award winning Dutch documentary by filmmaker Jos de Putter about the world of gaming. It is especially focused on Warcraft III.

Ensuring games are engaging for both genders

This game does a great job of incorporating the social aspect of gaming. In addition, Sokikom uses classroom management techniques to reward postive behavior through "class cash." It would be interesting to look at what behaviors are actually transferred into the classroom.

Another study indicating that resident performance in laparoscopic and robotic surgery is improved through the use of video game systems like Wii. A side note: there is a Wii system in our departments simulation center and we are encouraged to play it while on call or during our education days.

An anti-gaming perspective for learning...

How do fast-paced video games affect the brain? Step into the lab with cognitive researcher Daphne Bavelier to hear surprising news about how video games, even action-packed shooter games, can help us learn, focus and, fascinatingly, multitask. (Filmed at TEDxCHUV.)

These the HG site created by Jane McGonigal for "the games for change collaborative" There are some really neat resources here.

Games are social...

Schell's talk ends with a simple but important question. How can we design games to not only motivate us in life but to help us be better people?

Some background about educational games

Arguments for game-based learning

another game from a federal agency

The author talks about society's addiction to "stupid" mini-games (e.g. Angry Birds), which have minimal learning objectives but help us compartmentalize our lives.