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Serious games get serious?
Educational computer games—video games for learning (a.k.a. serious games or edutainment)—have gained increasing attention over the last several years in academic, education, and gaming circles. In Disrupting Class we referenced a few of the top thinkers on the role games and simulations can play in education—people like Marc Prensky, James Paul Gee, and Chris Dede.
One reason people are so excited about educational games is because of how engaging and motivating games are naturally. Emerging research shows that many students are much more engaged when learning through a game than in more typical learning environments—and high engagement results in higher achievement. It also doesn’t take a whiz to see that many children already spend a ton of time with video games; moving learning to where the students are holds potential.
Yet despite their promise, serious games haven’t had a tremendous impact in formal learning environments to date. There are some limited successes—like Tabula Digita’s math games, for example (this article gives a solid overview)—but for the most part selling to and competing for time within traditional schools and classrooms remain difficult given many of the barriers we articulate in the book among others.
I’ve been left to wonder what would happen if educational gaming companies instead took a disruptive path and targeted nonconsumption rather than trying to penetrate the system by going in head first. “After school” has been one promising place of nonconsumption that has received some attention, but for a variety of reasons, adoption is still spotty although there are some successes.
To me, one natural fit has seemed to be introducing edutainment through the online learning channel. Because of the shift in platform and educational model, online learning is naturally well suited to educational gaming and other virtual simulations. I’ve always figured that offering educational games as a part of or an option in a course for those who would learn best through this path makes eminent sense.
Florida Virtual School is showing that that instinct could be right—and that I may also have underestimated the potential synergies—as FLVS is launching the first complete online game-based course for high school students in the form of a full American history course based on an online game scenario.
It’s called Conspiracy Code and FLVS designed it in partnership with 360Ed Inc., an educational game development company whose CEO, Ben Noel, is a former Electronic Arts employee.
The game has the potential to scale, according to Noel in the eSchool News article, and it is in beta testing right now with 65 students to understand how effective it is and do further research to improve it. Ultimately the University of Central Florida is planning a study on this using fMRI scans and so forth to understand the learning it produces in students.
It’s going to be fun to watch as the experiment evolves—both from a research perspective and from the perspective of where it goes next as FLVS plans future courses with 360Ed.
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Also, keep an eye on OnLive as a disruptive service for bringing affordable and easily accessible gaming to the masses. Could it suggest a path forward for education gaming, too?
- Michael B. Horn
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Filed under: Education Blog
Ive only just discoverer you guys and for the first time I can honestly say Ive found someone who understands… what a nice feeling!
“Yet despite their promise, serious games haven’t had a tremendous impact in formal learning environments to date.”
The simple fact they are trying to do too much with them. The prime example is SL which when I saw all the media hype it as getting I almost fell out of my chair laughing. I couldnt beleive it but I respect Rosedale on how he was able to hype it. VR education will not happen until we can embed a successful egame into it. But first we need to master the first part. What we are trying to do is run before can walk and we are falling all over ourselves. In every VR game that has come to market after the original hype dies and boredom sets in and users flee to the next attentions getter and once you have bit into that apple the user is always looking for something better. The reason why games like EQ and WOW have grown is the continual penetration into virgin markets and tapping into new user bases.
“I’ve been left to wonder what would happen if educational gaming companies instead took a disruptive path and targeted nonconsumption rather than trying to penetrate the system by going in head first.”
You couldn’t be more right! Look at the success of NDS educational games (my wife is addicted to them) and Wii. I use the phrase don’t embed education in a game try instead to embed games in education… Its huge difference. Games are used to test learned outcomes vs do the teaching. The younger the student the greater the game environment… for example a 2 year would have education embedded in a game… a college student the game embedded in the learning as a means to reward and test.
“To me, one natural fit has seemed to be introducing edutainment through the online learning channel. ”
Again you are right on. I hate the term btw… I would simply call them egames. If you are going to use games with education then there role is to reinforce learned outcomes and not teach. Another role is help test and maintain a users knowledge base. However there are things we must do: Keep them simple, and energized and compliment them with a reward system — people love levels and points. Look at facebook games as an good example and modify them for education. Make them elastic. The perfect gaming education system would be described as “Who Want Wo We a Millionaire meets Pokemon but on steroids.” — EDUIT.org
Final note, If you are reading this you have to check out Gregor Gimmy ‘s sclipo.com. It will become the #1 learning environment on the web. eFacebook! It is 50% of what I had envisioned 4 years ago. It has a lot of potential!
Great article btw!