Games, gaming and gamification in Education

If the investment in digital technology and gaming in schools is going to continue to grow, it is up to game developers and companies to do a better job sharing information about what games work and for what kind of learners. That was the message from the deputy director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation who oversees investment in what the foundation dubs the next generation of K-12 education in the U.S. last week.

Stacey Childress said the coming five years represented a real opportunity for digital content developers, but only if they change the way they currently operate.

Gamification is the application of game elements and digital game design techniques to non-game problems, such as business and social impact challenges. This course will teach you the mechanisms of gamification, why it has such tremendous potential, and how to use it effectively.

Recently, gamification in education has been a trend characterized by two very different perspectives. Some see engagement, concentration and collaboration, while others see isolation, social dysfunction and addiction. This interactive, 3-hour session will dispel the myths surrounding gaming, draw clear connections between games and learning, and give attendees practical examples of this pedagogical approach happening right now in schools all over the world. A combination of experiential learning, presentations from gaming experts, and a special appearance by ISTE 2013 opening keynoter, Jane McGonigal, this session will explore gamification from a leadership perspective and will demonstrate how games can help us create rich, dynamic, and challenging learning environments.

Welcome to the Games and Simulation for Healthcare Library and Database.  This website aims to provide a portal and network to meet the needs of clinicians, researchers and educators in the healthcare community who want to integrate games and simulation into their scholarship and patient care strategy.  This resource also welcomes healthcare consumers, advocates, and others interested in patient and clinician education, and clinical research taking advantage of games and simulation-based learning.

Please visit frequently and feel free to contact our project team for details on how you can contribute to this project, or with any comments and suggestions.

Gamification Expert Yu-kai Chou explains his elegent Gamification Framework that breaks Human-Focused Design into 8 Core Drives within an Octagon.

Can’t get your kids to stop playing video games? That may be a good thing, according to Duke University researchers.

They find that hours spent at the console not only train players’ hands, they also may train the brain to make better and faster use of visual input, which is particularly the case for first-person shooters

A game about creating games? Well that’s the wager that Greenheart Games took with its business simulationGame Dev Tycoon. A serious game giving you the chance to replay the history of video games from the 80’s until nowadays.

Most of gamers use to playing entertaining, funny, or not very engaging games. The aim of such games is pure relax and escape from everyday duties and efforts. But it doesn't work in all cases this way. Presently, we are seeing very fast growth of the mobile market with more and more variations of apps and games showing up to compete for interested customers. HTML5 gaming became one solution which can change the approach to game production. With the great advantage of cross platform features, HTML5 developer products can work on almost any platform we like. Any interactive standalone or mobile device with browser support can become a platform for HTML5 games. This potential can be used in many ways. Cross platform games can entertain, but they can also teach, help with experiments, or show new solutions to people of all ages. What I'm trying to prove here is that mobile gaming doesn't have to be only "a pig shooting contest", but it can also be a journey presenting a great experience for youngsters or allow exploration for the elderly who don't have as much experience as the younger generations.

There's nothing wrong with liking likes and other gamification forms (more on this in minute). What isn't great is when they become an obsession or a much bigger reason for playing in a social app or social site than your friends.

When the e-learning courses are dull, learners are bored and frustrated and hence learning does not happen and knowledge transfer does not take place...

Co-sponsored by GreaterThanGames and the PhD Lab in Digital Knowledge

Archived live-stream (also see selected tweets from the event at Storify)

Approximately 90 minute discussion featuring scholars Pet Rorabaugh and Jesse Stommel (editors of the Journal Hybrid Pedagogy). Presentation begins at approximately 4:15 on the video.

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