Gaming in Education

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Permalink Reply by Leigh Newton on September 1, 2008 at 7:47am

Contact Al Upton and the Minilegends. You'll find his blog online. He teaches in Glenelg, South Australia.

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Permalink Reply by John Evans on September 1, 2008 at 9:31am

Thanks for the heads up. Will seek him out.

John

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on September 1, 2008 at 9:27am

There was discussion here last summer, don't know if it will be of interest to you. N

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Permalink Reply by John Evans on September 1, 2008 at 10:03am

Thanks Nancy!

James teaches near me so will look him up for further ideas. Great discussion on that thread from last year. Let me know if you come across anything else.

I did find Timez Attack - a free game to learn the multiplication tables via your suggestions and much more.

Thanks again!

John

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Permalink Reply by Tom Welch on September 29, 2008 at 11:49am

I'm working with a Florida high school that is pursuing the notion of using MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) to help students learn core content. We are interested in working with others from around the world who might share this interest. Feel free to contact me.

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Permalink Reply by Rich White on September 29, 2008 at 1:23pm

We are doing a fair amount with virtual worlds on these projects - http://edusim3d.com & http://grid.greenbush.us


Our latest work involves our "QuickCave" for immersive visualization

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Permalink Reply by Millis High School on September 29, 2008 at 5:28pm

Our school is currently researching ways to use gaming to help with education...any ideas?

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Permalink Reply by Tom Welch on September 29, 2008 at 6:21pm

We are in the process of applying for a grant to help in this area. We would welcome any partners who thought they might be interested. The 21st century is about collaboration -- we can accomplish more by working together than any of us can do by working alone.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on September 29, 2008 at 6:28pm

I've written a dozen or so grants over the years, ranging from $500.00 to a $480,000.00 federal technology grant (that one done by committee, of course) The best advice ever given to me is to not ask for the stuff--hardware, software, etc. Focus on the skills you want the students to gain i.e, enhance critical thinking, collaborate with team, etc....... "and by the way we can't do that without 6 gaming computers, joystick controllers, digital cameras, software etc" It may sound silly but it's always worked for me.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Welch on October 4, 2008 at 7:01pm

Thanks for the tips, Nancy. It's an interesting area that is certainly undergoing rapid change.

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Permalink Reply by marcusjpotter on September 30, 2008 at 12:24am

Hey John

Hows it going on getting traction?

We are currently developing some multi player 3d games (See pics attached) for English learning using Moodle with (amfphp) and Flash/Flex. See moodle http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=105716">AMFphp for more info.

I will check out your Wiki in the meantime, sounds a great topic "Gaming in Education!"
Please feel free to get in touch (anyone) if there is some common ground synergies?

Marcus Potter
Moodle AMF
marcusjpotter (at) gmail (.) com

Attachments:

• FinishEnd.JPG, 74 KB
• StartSmall.JPG, 72 KB

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Permalink Reply by Kev on October 1, 2008 at 7:42am

I heard a very interesting presentation on this idea from the guy who now runs the Xprize Foundation earlier this year. It is one of the areas they are looking at for an upcoming Xprize competition. For those who don't know, that's the one where they offer $10 Million to complete some goal (the first being sub orbital space flight which was a couple years ago.)

Anywho, I went to a few panels during the conference on this topic and what stuck with me most was honestly not how to use games in education but how to use game THEMES in education. The keynote from the speaker above talked about how engaged todays students are in games (and as a heavy, heavy gamer myself I couldn't argue) and he said if we can take the principles that make gaming so enthralling and apply them to the classroom we will do education a huge service.

It immediately dinged a light bulb in my head and I've been researching/experimenting since. It is interesting to stop and think about what really makes a game engaging and then how (and if) that can apply to a real-world situation. The main thing I'm working with right now is the "Bungie Philosophy." Bungie are the developers of the insanely popular Halo games and their theory is that any game can work well if it "has 30 seconds of fun, constantly repeated." As an admitted Halo addict myself I can agree, there really is only 30 seconds of content in the entire 10-15 hour game. Find enemy, decide tactic, use tactic, kill enemy, repeat. Halo is a stellar game because it nails those 30 seconds. What if all this work we are doing in education honestly boiled down to 30 seconds? How liberating would that be?!

I look forward to participating in the wiki and seeing this discussion grow here.

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