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Video Games, Violence, Ban Question: Is there a coin here? Do educational video games sit on the opposite side of violent video games? If video games are good for instruction then are violent video games also instructing violence? Perhaps existing violent games are not following good educational design and therefore are bad at instructing violence (which is good)?

Some interesting videos with James Paul Gee et al. discussing issues related to video games and learning. Videos are under 5 minutes each.

Some interesting videos with James Paul Gee et al. discussing issues related to video games and learning. Videos are under 5 minutes each. What do you think about what they have to say?

Alas, NASA has almost no funding for the multiplayer game, and there is substantial opposition from internal leadership

The article highlighted the different agendas of the administrator (who brings the budget), educator (who is concerned with lesson objectives), and game designer (who wants to create an engaging game). I think that if students are not sufficiently engaged by the game, the educational objectives would probably not be delivered successfully either. If budget cuts ended up taking the fun out of an educational game, perhaps it might be worth rethinking if it should still be a game?

Matthew, you raise a good point. Users should be seen as stakeholders who can help improve the game in terms of both engagement and learning.

Scientist discusses positive effects of action video games, suggests entertainment industry should join scientists to create engaging educational games.

Thanks for sharing Brandon. I like two things she said in particular 1) General wisdom often carries no weight 2) Like red wine, video games may be good when used appropriately. I'm convinced myself in the power of game-based learning but do agree that more work needs to be done in bringing good ones to the class.

Found this in doing research for my HT500 presentation. Some foreign language teachers are installing the Sims in foreign languages and having kids play the game to develop their vocabulary. Teachers can use community-created game modding tools to edit text in the game, adding extra words and vocab lists. Because this is a game about everyday life, kids learn everyday vocabularies. Cool idea! I wonder if this would work with any other video games.

An article discussing the use of video games being used to replace the traditional "chalk talk". The games also combines the traditional subject-based curriculum into "domains".

An article discussing the use of video games being used to replace the traditional "chalk talk". The games also combine the traditional subject-based curriculum into "domains".

While there are still many barriers to using video games in educational settings, MIT's latest research is showing some positive results related to gaming and learning.

The Daily Show takes on iPads educational games and the 'freemium' pay model (free to get a game, costs $ to get desired add-ons and content). They specifically look at the game Tapfish.  Pretty funny - but I think hits the dangers of this model head on

Battu!!! You stole my thunder. I wanted to post this but I'm glad you did because I think it is one of the real hazards of education fronting for the products of private companies. We need to be ahead of the curve.

agreed - I think awareness of this growing model is crucial. But with the increasing occurrence of the pay-for-more mantra in mobile apps (especially those made by big publishers & developers-- even educational apps)--- will small-time efforts (solo developers, non-profits) be able to compete? Is this model reflecting the true nature of app development? It's already hard for small/independent efforts to match the polish and amount of content of stuff made by the 'pros' (big publishers & devs). Is it the constant revenue the big apps are getting from in-app purchases that allows their stuff to rise and stay steps ahead? I wonder if there'll be an obvious and real difference in the quality of free vs paid/pay-to-play apps down the road, enough that certain apps won't even be available in one category or the other.

Tying into discussions this week about bringing access to mobile devices to all via non-prohibitive costs, while still reaching a set of bare-minmum technical specs for actual use: India's "$35 tablet" has been a pipedream in the tech blog-o-sphere for awhile now, but it's finally available (though for a price of roughly $60). Still though, as an actual Android color touch tablet, with WiFi and cellular data capability - I'm curious to see how it's received and if it's adopted in any sort of large scale

I had heard months ago that India was creating this, but was not going to offer it commercially - rather, just for its own country. Just like the Little Professor (Prof Dede) calculator, when tablets get this affordable, educational systems can afford classroom sets of them and then use them regularly. But to Prof Dede's point - can they do everything that more expensive tablets can do? Or better yet - do they HAVE to?

I think this is what they're aiming to do - all classrooms/students across the country having this particular tablet. They won't be able to do everything today's expensive tablets can do, but I think they'll still be able too to do plenty. This $35 tablet's specs are comparable to the mobile devices we had here in the US in 2008/2009. Even back then, we were able to web browse, check email, use social networking (sharing pics and video too), watching streaming online video, and play basic 2D games. But even beyond those basic features, I think this tablet will be able to do more than we expect from something at this price point and basic hardware, for 2 reasons: 1. Wide-spread adoption of a single hardware. If this thing truly does become THE tablet for India's students, it will have such a massive userbase that software developers and designers who create educational software will have to cater to it. They will have to study this tablet and learn the ins-and-outs of its hardware in order to deliver content for it. "Underpowered" hardware is able to deliver experiences well beyond what would normally be expected from it when developers are able to optimize heavily for that particular set of components. This is why software for Apple's iPhone and iPad, and games for video game consoles (xbox, PS3, wii) are so polished. For the consoles especially, all the users have the same exact hardware, with the same features and components. Developers are able to create software that is very specialized for that hardware- opposed to spending their resources and time making sure the software works on a wide variety of hardware (like in the PC world). With this development style in mind, and with a fixed hardware model remaining widely used in the market for many years- the resultant software is very polished and goes beyond what users expect from it. This is why today's game consoles, which have been around since 2005/6, produce visuals that are still really impressive and sta

A leading game maker is, among other things, dedicating resources toward education games. It's also worth noting, I think, that a company that rejects typical corporate structure might be a good one for disrupting typical education structures.

using video games to teach cellular biology and molecular science to high school students

Consider the possibilities for a performance assessment while playing through this simple "escape the room" game. The validity of the experiment involved in the solution is questionable.

Escape games are very big in the publishing industry right now due mostly to their inquiry based assessment and the low development cost compared to highly immersive first-person games. The biology lab escape is one of the better ones that I've seen out there. Thanks Chris!

I played for about 8 minutes and then grew tired of the game. I am curious how assessors would have graded my performance. I found the easier way to "escape the room" was to close the browser window.

PoweredUp Boston: October 14 + 15, 2010 * Hear from leading Boston area developers and thought leaders on the latest local and global issues shaping our industry. * Network with local developers, investors, educational institutions and government officials. * Learn about the unique resources and opportunities available to Boston area businesses in the video game industry. Who Should Attend: * Boston area indie game developers (existing and aspiring) * Established Boston area game developers looking to connect with other developers * National and international companies looking to establish a presence in Boston * Investors * Infrastructure, middleware and other organizations interested in doing business with Boston area game companies * Students and faculty interested in the gaming industry

Interesting graphic on video games and ed; purports kids who learned by playing an ed game improved their standardized test scores by 50% (no reference however)

To what extent should videogames be used in classrooms, and what is the research support for this?

Note the author characterizes the National Educational Technology Plan as a "manifesto." Quoting this article, "... in March, Arne Duncan, the secretary of education, released a draft National Educational Technology Plan that reads a bit like a manifesto for change, proposing among other things that the full force of technology be leveraged to meet "aggressive goals" and "grand" challenges, including increasing the percentage of the population that graduates from college to 60 percent from 39 percent in the next 10 years. What it takes to get there, the report suggests, is a "new kind of R.& D."

A bunch of especially interesting quotes toward the end: "This concept is something that Will Wright, who is best known for designing the Sims game franchise...refers to as 'failure-based learning,' in which failure is brief, surmountable, often exciting and therefore not scary... According to Ntiedo Etuk, the chief executive of Tabula Digita...children who persist in playing a game are demonstrating a valuable educational ideal.... 'They'll fail until they win.' He adds: 'Failure in an academic environment is depressing. Failure in a video game is pleasant. It's completely aspirational.' It is also, says James Paul Gee, antithetical to the governing reality of today's public schools. 'If you think about kids in school - especially in our testing regime - both the teacher and the student think that failure will lead to disaster,' he says. 'That's pretty much a guarantee that you'll never get to truly deep learning.'"

Game-Based Learning in higher education...

Thanks for sharing this Jennifer. I wonder how how transferable these skills are from games to reality. Apart from the motivation and engagement factor, I think research is still inconclusive about the actual benefits of gaming. Any thoughts on such transfer? Thanks for sharing again!

Great video on how we learn in games, how to change people especially teachers's and parents' view about games, how introduce games to education and why games are motivating.

New AR capabilities in Sony's about to be released PlayStation Vita. Very cool

I've never seen something that can take objects form the real world and make it part of the game experience for characters to jump off and bullets can ricochet off of real worl items.

Fantastic possibilities for entertainment and gaming. I can imagine doing a Parcour in my living room :-) It will be interesting to see who will invest the money and effort to bring this incredible technology to the educational area on portable gaming devices.

Wondering if this idea of "Pulling people into education, rather than pushing them into it" can work for the world's "worst-off Children"? Most interesting ideas found in the TED talk here: http://www.good.is/post/education-innovation-in-the-worst-situations/ Q: Are there smart-phone/cell-phone-based MUVE games?