Group items tagged

This is an interesting article that speaks to the result of over-engagement. I wonder if this problem is specific to Korea and less so in other countries (if so, what is it about that environment that makes video games so addictive) or if it's only been studied in Korea but could be a similar problem in other parts of the world.

Virtual reality field trips!

Kwedit, an online lending site, lets teens sign a virtual "play now, pay later" contract in exchange for real-world currency for virtual games. Is this model really valuable for teaching credit responsibility, or does it take advantage of the draw of virtual games to make a profit...or both?

""For all intents and purposes, this is an economy that has activity equal to a small country in real life," Guðmundsson says. "There's nothing 'virtual' about this world.""

Part of the American Medical Associations' attempt to increase engagement in medical education.

An old game learns new tricks

Virtual Patient App that is being presented at the HGSE Social Innovation competition. It was developed at HMS and is described in the video as a "game" for patient diagnosis and treatment. I downloaded the app and am not so sure I consider it a "game" but found it to be a good tool at developing differential diagnoses and treatment strategies. It also says the app is applicable for med students, residents and attending physicians (in addition to other healthcare professionals), though I don't know if attending physicians would find it very useful.

"Identifying promising models for mixing online learning and face-to-face instruction Challenges in e-learning Building partnerships to increase virtual learning collaboration among districts Teaching a "flip model" of instruction with online lectures as homework"

Virtual Cultural Exchange!

Children who cannot pick up context and facial cues from peers more likely to face social isolation. I wonder if social gaming environments using avatars as virtual selves help or hinder a child's ability to pick up such social cues.

The avatar movie motivated audiences, but paradoxically led to depression in some audience members who wanted to live in the virtual world.

The Vatican embraces the use of digital media and social networks to promote dialogue among different communities, but cautions against "excessive exposure to the virtual world".

a classroom- facebook. and a school where students 'work virtually' from home one day a week

Two players who met in the World of Warcraft virtual world, wound up falling in real-life love.

The way players form into groups in online games reveals that hierarchies are an inevitable product of the human condition, say complexity scientists.