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Games-based Learning

This page provides links to some resources on games-based learning - that is using games as part of a learning solution.

Articles in date order, most recent first.

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| 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 |

Learning in Video Games.com

"A regularly updated weblog and online resource that focuses especially on video game research and its implications for learning. Articles, resources, game reviews, and more information can be found here. It's a valuable reference/resource page."

Added: 20 December 2006
Reviewer's Note:
A blog on Serious/Educational games with a research focus

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Talking Favourites

"A podcast on game based learning. Talking Favourites provides thinking room about applications of games to learning in a networked environment. It looks far beyond arcade and video games to social gaming in formal and informal learning contexts.We believe the show and the treatment of the topic(s) is a unique view of game based learning."

Added: 10 October 2006
Reviewer's Note:
A podcast on a different game based learning site each month

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What are we playing at? An instructional designer looks at DGBL

"This presentation provides an overview of some of the theories that underlie games AND effective learning and explains how to align these two worlds. Richard Van Eck ,. EDUCAUSE

Added: 7 June 2006
Reviewer's Note:
PDF of PowerPoint slides from a web seminar

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All play and more work

"More organisations are finding that games can provide a painless way to train their staff" Sally Flood, Computing, 23 March 2006

Added: 23 March 2006
Reviewer's Note:
Some examples of organisations using learning games

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Serious Games; Serious Business Applications

"A 20 page investigation into the use of gaming as an effective training and development tool. Aimed at training and development professionals who are new to Games-based Learning. This paper introduces GBL, investigates the potential benefits, compares this to eLearning and discusses some of the implementation issues." Kevin Corti, PIXELearning Ltd, February 2006

Added: 16 February 2006
Reviewer's Note:
Gamesbased Learning (a.k.a. 'Serious Games') is all about leveraging the power of computer games to captivate and engage endusers for a specific purpose, such as to develop new knowledge and skills.

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Spontaneous Communities of Learning: A Social Analysis of Learning Ecosystems in Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming (MMOG) Environments

"This research project is comprised of a cross-cultural ethnography and social network analysis that seeks to illuminate the spontaneous communities of learning/practice that emerge around the relatively recent phenomenon of massively multiplayer online games." Lisa Galarneau, University of Waikato, April 2005

Added: 20 September 2005
Reviewer's Note:
This paper can be downloaded as a Word document

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Better training through gaming

"Note to managers: It's OK to let your employees play games at work. We're not talking about all those hours fooling around at computer solitaire. Where games have their place -- and significant benefits -- is in livening up boring corporate training sessions." Michael Totty, The Wall Street Journal, 25 April 2005

Added: 27 April 2005
Reviewer's Note:
This link will expire in4 days, unless you have a subscription to the Wall Street Journal.

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Extreme learning: decision games

"Sometimes failure is not an option. When a malevolent megalomaniac threatens to vaporize your empire, you send in your James Bond-not a raw recruit." Jay Cross, Chief Learning Officer Magazine, April 2005

Added: 31 March 2005
Reviewer's Note:
"Organizations need more savvy, can-do experts to deal with an increasingly complex world. In fact, decision games are a preferred method of developing experts in the U.S. Marines. These high-impact methods also accelerate the decision-making capabilities of high-tech sales stars."

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The use of computer and video games for learning

"This research report is the result of a literature review conducted by Ultralab and the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA) during the m-learning project. The main focus is on research involving the use of computer and video games for learning. The motivation for this review was to investigate the potential of games-oriented learning materials and systems and to inform the project's research activities. The report highlights many interesting pedagogic and technical issues and is, therefore, a useful reference for teachers, trainers, developers, researchers and others with an interest in the use of computer and video games for learning." Alice Mitchell and Carol Savill-Smith

Added: 12 November 2004
Reviewer's Note:
Report is a 93-page PDF file

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Social Study Games

"I created this site in October, 2004 as a way to share all of the great resources I am finding in the course of my doctoral research into the social aspects of gaming. Games research draws from a number of disciplines and a number of points-of-view, including academic, commercial and player-based perspectives. There are contemporary resources that are explicitly game-focused, as well as valuable non-game specific resources through the decades in media studies, learning theory, psychology, anthropology and more. There are today's news and yesterday's wisdom... all waiting to lend their contribution to the big picture of what games and virtual worlds mean for humankind." Lisa Galarneau, October 2004

Added: 3 November 2004
Reviewer's Note:
As Lisa points out: "I first planned for this site to be a blog, but my experience as a guide at About.com got me to thinking about creating a repository of resources, both original content and links to all the great stuff scattered all over the Web. I also didn't want the site to be limited by the temporal nature of blogs... I wanted the resources to be available at a superficial level, not buried as if they were last year's news."

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The eLearning Edge: Leveraging Interactive Technologies in the Design of Engaging, Effective Learning Experiences

"My premise is that interactive media are good for particular learning objectives and should be utlised as part of a blend that draws on the best of each media option.The paper also includes lots of references to learning theory that substantiate the use of interactive media. Both the paper and presentation include examples of various learning games and simulations that demonstrate these principles." Lisa Galarneau, Synapsys NZ Ltd, 13 October 2004

Added: 3 November 2004
Reviewer's Note:
Paper available in PDF format as well as the web-based presentation

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Game-Based Learning: How to Delight and Instruct in the 21st Century

"To learn more about videogames in academe, I sought out the insights of five leading-edge thinkers in the field: James Paul Gee, J. C. Herz, Randy Hinrichs, Marc Prensky, and Ben Sawyer. All five had traveled to San Jose, California, in March 2004 for the Serious Games Summit at the annual Game Developers Conference." Joel Foreman, Educause Sept/Oct 2004

Added: 29 August 2004
Reviewer's Note:
"Games, Simulations, and Learning" is an EDUCAUSE NLII 2004 Key Theme. Key themes are chosen annually from the larger domain of the transformation of teaching and learning with technology. The "Games" key theme is exploring whether games and simulations have changed how students learn and whether there are principles and practices from games that should be integrated into collegiate learning environments."

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An Intro to Online Training Games

"In training, games are commonly used to supplement traditional lecture-based or online delivery of information. Marc Prensky, explains, "In most cases, digital game-based learning is not designed to do an entire training or teaching job alone." The role of games is primarily to reinforce the understanding of presented material and to add variety in training," James Kirk and Robert Belovics, Learning Circuits, April 2004

Added: 10 April 2004
Reviewer's Note:
A good summary of the area of games-based learning plus some useful resources for creating (free) games

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EdGames Blog

"Musings and Discoveries by the EDTEC 670 Learning Commmunity"

Added: 12 February 2004
Reviewer's Note:
This blog is part of the EDTEC 670 Exploratory Learning through Simulation and Games course run by Bernie Dodge at San Diego State University

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The Learning Wire

"Your source for game-based learning news"

Added: 23 January 2004
Reviewer's Note:
Newsletter from Learningware

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The 300 games every games developer (and gamer) should know

I've been thinking about writing a book with this title. There are several reasons why I think it would be useful. For one thing, I (and everyone who comes into contact with game design wannabes) am often shocked at how ignorant such people often (not always) are--how limited their experience with games. In some cases, they don't even seem to play games at all; in others, their experience is limited to a very narrow range of games." Games * Design * Art * Culture Blog

Added: 28 October 2003
Reviewer's Note:
You can add your comments on the list at the blog

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Pretending to learn

"For Kimberly-Clark, a Dallas-based global consumer products company, the process for launching new products is practically its heartbeat. But after repeated efforts to teach Kimberly-Clark employees about the process with PowerPoint presentations and meetings, a lot of them still didn't understand it. Others got it, but couldn't remember how it worked three months after they'd learned about it." Holly Dolezalek, Training Magazine, August 2003

Added: 10 August 2003
Reviewer's Note:
They turned to a concept that was part simulation, part game and part video presentation. Now only available to subscribers

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Educators turn to games for help

"Video games have come under tremendous political pressure in recent years because of an increase in violent and sexual content. But schools soon may be using the technology that powers those games to help teach America's children." Wired News, 2 August 2003

Added: 10 August 2003
Reviewer's Note:
A news report about the use of games in Texas

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Employees discover that work is all fun and games

"For 15 minutes of paid work-time per day, 430 employees have been encouraged to play online games, teaching them about their company and, more importantly, its clients." Eric Wilson, The Age, 5 August 2003

Added: 7 August 2003
Reviewer's Note:
How one company is using games for training purposes

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The impact of digital games in education

"In recent years, electronic games, home computers, and the Internet have assumed an important place in the lives and children and adolescents. New media are causing major changes in the nature of learning. There is a vast gap between the way people learn and the way in which new generations approach information and knowledge. Nonetheless, in the formal educational setting the new media are still under-represented." Begoña Gros, first monday, June 2003

Added: 16 July 2003
Reviewer's Note:
"This paper is based on the idea that virtual learning is central in current society, and that the key aspect of this kind of learning is not so much technology itself but the interaction of the learner with the technology."

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Learning with role-playing games

"Whereas teachers, parents and other educators will concede the educational roles of traditional board games and some purpose-built, browser-based, curriculum-specific entertainments, they may at first glance question the value of Role-Playing Games as learning tools - in some instances, they will see them as too much like fun, a distracting influence at best, or even something worse." Graeme Daniel and Kevin Cox, Web Tools Newsletter, 29 June 2003

Added: 2 July 2003
Reviewer's Note:
"This week in Web Tools Newsletter we conclude our series on games as learning tools with a look at the educational uses of games involving role-playing."

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Board games for learning

"Games are educational, aren't they? Everybody says so, though there's always the lurking suspicion that it's really only a justification for indulging in something enjoyable, rather than getting down to the serious work in hand; indeed, as Lloyd Rieber puts it in Seriously Considering Play 'the education profession has long been ambivalent about the value of games as an instructional tool or strategy'." Graeme Daniel and Kevin Cox, Web Tools Newsletter, 14 June 2003

Added: 16 June 2003
Reviewer's Note:
This week's Web Tools Newsletterlooks at the role board games play in learning processes.

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A little fun goes a long way

"Despite what you may have heard, fun is not dead. In the burgeoning niche of game-based e-learning, a group of companies are using the video games kids (and adults) play as inspiration for delivering learning that counters workers' reluctance towards training and offers an antidote to the stress that many are under." William Powell, Learning Circuits, 13 January 2003

Added: 25 January 2003
Reviewer's Note:
As William says, you're either a believer in games-based learning or you're not. I'm convinced it has an important part to play

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Play for Performance

 

Added: 4 September 2002
Reviewer's Note:
Free electronic newsletter from Thiagi

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Computer games and education

"This week we look further into the role of computer games in education, and the range of games already enlisted for this purpose" Graeme Daniel and Kevin Cox, Web Tools Newsletter, 25 June 2002

Added: 28 June 2002
Reviewer's Note:
Includes lots of links to educational games

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wireless gaming review

"We're an online publication that's dedicated to bringing news, reviews, previews and interviews to mobile gamers everywhere. We want to be the best site in the world for wireless gamers."

Added: 8 June 2002
Reviewer's Note:
Articles, reviews and game previews

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Zero cost e-learning

"As a foot soldier in the e-learning revolution, I see our leaders rapidly losing the hearts and minds of learners, trainers, and designers. Strategists are converging toward learning objects, metatags, and comprehensive and costly platforms. However, some of my fellow soldiers have been developing some agile (and cheap) guerilla e-learning activities: email learning games." Sivasailam Thiagarajan, Learning Circuits, May 2002

Added: 21 May 2002
Reviewer's Note:
e-Learning doesn't have to be expensive - some effective things can be done very simple and cheaply. See also Thiagi's website (http://www.thiagi.com/) See also interview with Thiagi (in elearningpost) 14 June 2002 (http://www.elearningpost.com/features/archives/001102.asp)

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Microsoft explores new game-based learning environment

"With the intention of revolutionizing current pedagogy, Microsoft Corp. is bringing researchers and businesses together to develop a game-based computer learning environment to be used by classroom teachers. The idea behind this partnership-known as the Learning Federation-is to take the same video-game technology that lets you virtually fly airplanes or build amusement parks, and use it for educational purposes."

Added: 6 April 2002
Reviewer's Note:

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The relevance of video games and gaming consoles to the Further and Higher Education learning experience

"This report presents an overview of gaming consoles and a comparison of consoles and the PC. Benefits of games to learning and the learning environment are touched on, as is the use of games consoles in research and teaching. Issues pertaining to potential future applications of games and consoles to learning and teaching, especially through the enhanced functionality of consoles, are addressed. The report concludes with an overview of other gaming platforms, and a summary of key points and trends to monitor." John Kirriemuir, Ceangal, March 2002. Available at JISC

Added: 12 March 2002
Reviewer's Note:
An easy to read document with good coverage of the subject area.

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Games e-learners play

"In this article, Clive Shepherd argues the case for simulations and games as engaging, life-like and highly-interactive learning activities, capable of providing the foundation for second generation e-learning products that really deliver on the hype." Tactix from Fastrack Consulting, March 2001

Added: June 2001
Reviewer's Note:
Clive Shepherd looks here at the use of simulations for creating engaging, compelling e-learning content

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Digital Game Based Learning

By Marc Prensky, is a strategic and tactical guide to the newest trend in e-learning - combining content with video games and computer games to more successfully engage the under-40 "Games Generations," which now make up half of America's work force and all of its students. The book fully explores the concept of Digital Game-Based Learning, including such topics as How Learners Have Changed, Why Digital Game-Based Learning Is Effective, Simulations and Games, How Much It Costs, and How To Convince Management. With over 50 case studies and examples, it graphically illustrates how and why Digital Game-Based Learning is working for learners of all ages in all industries, functions and subjects."

Added: April 2001
Reviewer's Note:
Mark has an innovative look at creating compelling e-learning content.

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Game-based e-learning gets real

"Trainers, facilitators, e-learning designers, and others engaged in knowledge development could take a lesson from the computer games industry. Gaming shows us that long, traditionally tedious, and difficult tasks can be engaging and fun when they're part of a good story." Davis Klaila, Learning Circuits, January 2001

Added: February 2001
Reviewer's Note:
An introduction to the use of games in learning

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Simulation and Gaming

An Interdisciplinary journal of theory, practice and research

Added: 2000
Reviewer's Note:

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