“U.S. Spies Use Custom Videogames to Learn How to Think” (WIRED)

Even the DIA are using Game-Based Learning!

excerpt:

“The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency has just taken delivery of three PC-based games, developed by simulation studio Visual Purple under a $2.6 million contract between the DIA and defense contractor Concurrent Technologies. The goal is to quickly train the next generation of spies to analyze complex issues like Islamic fundamentalism.”

See e-Clippings Blog article here.

75 Free EduGames to Spice Up Your Course!

Zaid from ZaidLearn posted a list of 75 free edugames earlier this month. Here is an excerpt:

“1. Gwap
When you play a game at Gwap (e.g. ESP Game), you aren’t just having fun. You’re helping the world become a better place. By playing their games, you’re training computers to solve problems for humans all over the world.
2. WFP Foodforce
Understand world hunger and efforts to alleviate it.
3. Virtual U
Is a management education game, a simulation of a university, in which the user takes the role of a university administrator. It is designed to foster better understanding of management practices in American colleges and universities.
4. Revolution
Experience historical incentives for the American Revolution from the grassroots level.
5. Discover Babylon
Uses sophisticated video gaming strategies and realistic digital environments to engage the learner in challenges and mysteries that can only be solved through developing an understanding of Mesopotamian society, business practices, and trade. ”

You can see the full article here.

Grand Theft Childhood Author Weighs in on GTA IV

Back in March, we did a three-part segment on violent video games. At the time, we did a Q & A with one of the authors of the ground-breaking study, Grand Theft Childhood. Harvard Professor Cheryl Olson contradicted many of the general tenets regarding violent video games, especially the idea that such games are the bane of civilized society.

Two months later, at the time that Grand Theft Auto IV is setting new records for sales, we offer a follow-up with the co-author of Grand Theft Childhood, fellow Harvard professor Lawrence Kutner. Dr. Kutner has written extensively on parenting topics and is the author of five previous books about child psychology and parent-child communication.

We asked Dr. Kutner about the reception Grand Theft Childhood has received both with the general public and within the academic community. We also asked him about some of the criticisms of the study as well as those areas of research that deserve greater study in the future. Finally, we threw some questions his way about GTA IV, in particular his thoughts about MADD’s response to one aspect of the game and the many pundits railing against the game.

As with our first post with Dr. Olson, we are sure you will be intrigued by what the professor has to say.

Can you give us an overview of the general reaction you have received to the release of your study? My understanding is that you have been doing a number of radio talk shows and discussing your work with a whole host of media outlets. Could you review with our readers some of the folks with whom you have been discussing your work and what has been the general response of those media outlets?

There has been a tremendous amount of interest and support from both sides of the political spectrum, ranging from Barry Lynn, a liberal radio talk show host (Culture Shocks), to Adam Thierer of the conservative think tank The Progress and Freedom Foundation. For the most part, people appreciate the nature and approach of our research and our attempts to put our and others’ findings into perspective.

We’ve spent a lot of time on both commercial and public talk radio, including stations in Canada and Ireland as well as throughout the US. National Public Radio’s “On the Media” did a long piece on our findings. So did the CBC. Gil Gross of KGO Radio in San Francisco, the #1 news-talk station in the US, did an hour on the book. We will have that on our website soon. Even the nationally syndicated morning shock jock Mancow did an interview segment.

In print, we’ve been on page 1 of USA Today and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and on page 1 of a section of the Washington Post. Reuters just did a feature story on us along with a highly laudatory review. Publications outside the US such as The Globe and Mail and The Age and specialty publications like PC World have also given us coverage in print and/or electronic versions.
The most widely distributed television appearance was on the program “X-Play” on theG4 network, which focuses on video games. It was picked up by literally thousands of blogs for and by gamers. Cheryl was interviewed on CNN by Glenn Beck, who cut her off several times, apparently because her data contradicted his opinions.

“There have been other times when our findings and analyses have been cherry-picked by people wanting to force-fit our data to support their own biases. For example, the evening GTA-IV was released, Cheryl was interviewed by two Boston-area television stations. One set up her sound bites by saying that “some researchers say that there’s nothing to worry about.” The other said, “Some researchers are very worried.” Neither statement is an accurate reflection of our research.

One thing we did not think to ask you earlier was about the reaction of the Harvard community or that of others in academia? What has been the reaction of those folks to your study and the subsequent release of the book?

People in academia—even those whose research we criticize—have generally been supportive. They may disagree, but they see the value in what we’ve done. Only rarely have they engaged in ad hominem attacks.

Would you categorize your book as an academic text or as some other classification? And how has it been doing thus far as compared to initial expectations?

This is clearly a popular book, not an academic text—although some professors have told us that they want to assign it in their classes. It’s aimed at the intelligent reader who wants to understand more about kids and video games.

It’s been striking how many people who are neither gamers nor parents have expressed interest in our work.

We see where at least one person has taken strong exception to your findings, referring to the work as “industrial strength whitewash.” Could you comment a bit on that critique? Have there been any other such negative reviews of your study?

Any good book draws critics. That quote was from a review written for Library Journal by a 73-year-old private practice psychiatrist whose expertise is on the influence of Otto Rank on psychoanalysis. While he’s entitled to his opinion, of course, it’s unclear why he was selected to critique the book. By the way, a few days after this review was published, Larry was approached by the American Library Association about giving a keynote address at its upcoming national conference on the use of games in libraries. That gives you an idea of how influential that review was with librarians.

We’re sure that others will find fault with our book, and hope that their criticisms sharpen our thinking and add to the quality of future studies.

Based on the release and the questions you are receiving, are there some aspects of your study that perhaps you wished you had spent more time on or specific questions you wished you had researched but did not? Will any of this lead to follow up studies in the future?

There are several areas that we wish we had explored but could not due to financial and time constraints. We did not anticipate when we started that M-rated games would be as popular with girls as they actually were. This deserves more research. We would like to study a sample of teenagers who have gotten into trouble with the law because of violent behavior, to see how their patterns of video game play may differ. Also, it would be useful to do some different types of studies that involve watching how kids actually play the games (and perhaps to measure their physiological responses) in a typical (non-lab) environment.
Whether we, or someone else, do these studies will depend upon funding.


The recent release of Grand Theft Auto IV has been met with some scathing rebukes. One has come from MADD regarding a section of the game where a car is driven by an intoxicated driver. Would you be willing to provide your thoughts on this based on your prior research? Is this much ado about nothing or have the makers of GTA gone one step too far?

We haven’t played GTA IV yet, so our awareness of this scene comes solely from articles like that. It would be interesting to see if teenage players interpret the scene the same way that MADD apparently does. Our understanding is that the experience of being unable to control the virtual car in the game is aversive, and may actually deter drunk driving. It’s worth investigating.

We will probably end up buying an Xbox 360 or PS3 so we can play GTA IV ourselves and make more informed comments.

Susan Estrich, a syndicated columnist also rails strongly against GTA IV in a recent column. Having done your research, what thoughts go through your mind when you read such an editorial? Is this still the most common reaction people have to these games?

This is strikingly similar to the concerns over and editorials against comic books, radio, gangster films and—back in the late 19th century—the evil influence of paperback novels on teenage girls. None of those bore out. Each time, the pundits and politicians said that earlier concerns may have been silly, but that this time it’s different. So far it hasn’t been.

She says, “It’s not my son I’m really worried about…. It’s his generation, the generation that he is going to grow up in and live with, full of kids who take this stuff for granted and spend more time with it than with real life, that worries me.” We heard that—my kid’s fine, it’s the other kids who are at risk—time and again from parents in focus groups. Many of them had “heard stories” about kids who got into trouble or even died because of video games, but none of them actually knew anyone who did so. It seems to be another set of urban legends.

She also engages in hyperbole in her attacks, stating that kids “spend more time with than with real life.” Think about that for a second. It’s a dramatic statement, but is it true? Our study found that only 13 percent of boys and 2 percent of girls spent 15 or more hours per week playing video games. Assuming 8 hours/night for sleep, a child would have to spend more than 56 hours per week playing video games to meet her criterion. We’ve only seen that among an extremely small group of gamers not in our study whose serious emotional problems were manifest in other ways—it’s certainly not the norm!

Similarly, we’ve heard statements describing the GTA series as including opportunities for gamers to rape women as part of the game. We’ve been unable to find any instances of this, although there are opportunities for characters to have sex with prostitutes. Yet such hyperbolic statements are rarely challenged in and by the media, perhaps because they’re so effective at grabbing attention.

Most of the parents we spoke with who had actually seen a GTA game recognized that it was satire. Their concerns were not this type of knee-jerk reaction, but were more nuanced, such as whether their children would understand the essence of that satire and the cultural allusions.

Editor: Many thanks to both Dr. Kutner and Dr. Olson for their time – for those wishing to hear more about this groundbreaking study, the many links after the first question will provide readers a wealth of additional information.

Author: Tom Hanson, OpenEducation Blog, 16th May 2008

Original article available here.

Publication authorised by OpenEducation.net

Development Project – OceanQuest

I have not been posting on G&L for some time now and this is because I have been working on a research and development project. OceanQuest is a mini piece of game-based learning focused on creating engaging learning from relatively dry learning content. OceanQuest targets bearings in Key Stage 3 Mathematics, Ma3 (shape, space and measures). The game includes three different missions with varied tasks involving target practice, navigating between objects, giving bearings of objects, clearing sea mines and delivering supplies to islands. Below are screenshots of the missions:

I have compiled a 2 page teachers’ information pdf which contains more detail on learning objectives and the game itself. If you would like a copy please contact me. The game is password protected so please email me or comment on this post if you would like to play the game. The only requirement for the game is Flash Player 9. I have finished the first stage of development and am looking for constructive feedback or evaluations from people who work in related industries. If you are a teacher/other educator/developer or have experience with elearning and game-based learning, any feedback on the game will be very much appreciated. Educators, feel free to have students (KS3) play the game as feedback from the target audience will be extremely beneficial to the project.

I have had only positive feedback so far with people commenting on how fun and engaging it is and also on the potential they see in using the game with their students.

My email address: alex@gamingandlearning.co.uk

21st Century Teaching and Learning, Part 1

Ruth Reynard discusses emergent skill sets for teachers, looking at different ways to engage digital native students and make teaching more effective:

“while we do not know enough about long-term affects on thinking and perception, we can make sure of the technical capabilities and work hard to develop in ourselves the instructional skills we need to meet students where they are in terms of expectations and familiarity. We can also become more critical ourselves in how we perceive our own disciplines and more mobile in how we distribute content and intentional in how we stimulate student response. While mobile technology is coming at us via communication demands, we can monopolize these technological advances and think through how we can use them for instructional benefit and effectiveness.”

Author: Ruth Reynard, T.H.E. Journal, 27th April 2008

Full article available here.

Food for Thought: game-based learning and pedagogy

‘A Modest Proposal’, IGDA’s Culture Clash column for April 2008, Matt Sakey writes on game-based learning and education from a culture-orientated perspective. He discusses the potential of game-based learning and highlights the need for the education system to be redesigned to focus on experiential learning. However, he also states that games fit into the experiential design and that they could teach all aspects of learning.

“Experts say that games can’t completely replace other forms of pedagogy. Maybe not, if you simply take games and try to stuff them up the current model for education, a model based mostly on rote memorization through lecture, and less on interpretation and application. You’re told that Animal Farm is a commentary on Socialism, told where Bhutan is. Games don’t work that way; they are experiential. Players draw their own conclusions from the context, which is why games couldn’t totally replace the system as it exists today. Redesign the model to focus on experiential learning, though, and games would be a perfect fit. Of course, the games would have to be very well-designed.”

Even if the games were very well-designed I believe there is a need for a teacher figure to guide discussions on the learning content with the class as a whole. Reflection and discussion is an important part of learning and understanding. In ‘A Grand Proposal’, Daniel Livingstone also comments on this article stressing the need for reflection and discussion.

“In fact, numerous reports on game based learning (several I’ve mentioned before on this blog, apologies for not linking to them just now – I may return and add the links later) emphasize the need for teachers to facilitate reflection when games are used in class. Why? Because in most cases playing the game alone is not enough to make students think things through.”

A Free Learning Tool for Every Learning Problem?

Zaid Ali Alsagoff posted a great list of free learning tools. Zaid has suggestions for almost every learning issue and below are some of them:

• Microblogging tool? Twitter
  
• Directory of edubloggers from around the world? International Edubloggers Directory
• Wiki tool? PBwiki
• Encyclopedia, which I can add to or edit? Wikipedia
• Audio recording tool? Audacity
• Tool to host my audio recordings? Odeo
• Tool to transform media into collaborative spaces with video, voice and text commenting? VoiceThread
• Tool to tell a story? Here are 50!
• Screencasting (recording) tool? Wink
• Hosted screencasting tool? Jing
• Mindmapping tool? FreeMind
• Tool to make screenshots from different browsers with one click? Browsershots
• Easy-to-learn 3D authoring software tool? Google SketchUp

See the full article here.

TeachMeet North East London 08 Event

FutureLab has posted up another Education & Technology event:

“19 May 2008
Redbridge Teachers Centre, Ilford

TeachMeet NorthEast London is a chance for education stakeholders to share effective, exciting and innovative uses technology in schools in an informal environment. If you come for the evening, then you can either present, or just listen to inspiring presentations on ICT in schools. People attending previous TeachMeets before have found them to be inspirational and a great form of CPD.”

According to the TeachMeet site you can also join the event via Flashmeeting and there is a Facebook page too.

Heated Debate on Game-Based Learning

Mark Oehlert, who owns and write the e-Clipping Blog, commented on a post today by Paul McNamara which has caused some heated debate “I wonder if maybe we should continue the debate about whether or not games are good for learning or maybe, here is an alternative…just shut up, accept the data and start really figuring out how to do it write and for PETE”S SAKE understand that design principles, ESPECIALLY design principles (except they aren’t really design principles are they Adriana? ;-))…are not crafted in stone and can and should change and that BY ALL THAT’S GOOD AND PURE the classrooms and instructor-led training were probably NEVER studied RE their effectiveness as learning environments but rather as production environments. I’m sure that the Romans thought their empire wold stand for all time as well and look what happened to them.”

The original post can viewed here and be sure to read the comments which currently run onto a second page. There are comments from people of varying ages and opinions and it is all well worth a read!

Meet the Sims

“The students were in a UW classroom laboratory using life-size — and fairly lifelike — computerized simulators, the latest technology trend used by universities to train students about real-world emergencies before setting foot in a hospital room.

The human patient simulators — SimMan, SimBaby and Noelle, a pregnant simulator for labor and delivery — each cost about $30,000. They can talk, breathe and can be programmed to simulate a host of illnesses, disorders or symptoms (or genders, for that matter — Mrs. Jones was actually SimMan), and can change symptoms in real time in reaction to a student’s interaction with them. ”

Author: Cherie Black, Seattlepi.com, 12th April 2008

Full article available here.