June 15, 2009
Greetings!
Erin and her compatriot, Dan Hurd, recently returned from the 2009 Northeast Texas distance learning consortium (Netnet) conference. Together, they presented their paper on educational games ratings. Both the presentation and paper have been uploaded to the HigherWorlds wiki.
We had a terrific time at the conference, meeting distance education faculty and enjoying beautiful Tyler, Texas (Stanley's BBQ is amazing, by the way). Our presentation was well-received, and we appreciated everyone who attended and offered feedback at the end. Thank you! :)
Dan and Erin are putting together some additional resources to support the presentation, including our notes and a list of educational games. We'll have them uploaded soon.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Published!
Hello everyone,
Just wanted to share with you that Erin and her colleagues at the UT Dallas Culture Simulation lab have been published in the latest volume of IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, a special issue on Serious Games (vol. 29, number 2 - March/April 2009).
The article, entitled Serious Games for Immersive Cultural Training: Creating a Living World, discusses the work they are doing at the lab to create an engaging and effective cultural trainer.
A brief version of the abstract is available here. Unfortunately, the full article text is only available for free to IEEE members.
If you'd like to know more about the article or the project, hit up the comments section for this post :)
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Educational Game Ratings
Hi there!
Sorry for the long gap between posts. Erin has been keeping busy with her graduate studies. This semester, she's working with another Arts and Technology graduate student, Dan Hurd, to write a paper about evaluating serious games. Here is the abstract:
In recent years, serious games have garnered increasing attention and acceptance among educators, many of whom believe that games and simulations can be used as effective learning tools. Studies suggest that game-based environments promote active, engaged learning and problem-solving, and may even be as effective as face-to-face instruction. The popular success of titles such as Brain Age and My Spanish Tutor for the Nintendo DS indicate that the general public is intrigued by the potential of serious games and is willing to give game-based learning a try. In the classroom, educators are looking for games that complement their lesson plans.
Some serious games have been criticized for focusing on entertaining gameplay at the expense of sound instructional methodologies. Due to the surge in popularity of educational games, an increasing number have been brought to market. Because no standard for educational games exists, selecting a title for purchase can be confusing.For this reason, a system for evaluating educational games is needed. Although rating systems exist for entertainment games, the criteria used are often inappropriate for evaluating games in an educational context.
This paper proposes an educational games rating system that would rate games on the following criteria: overall value, usability and accessibility, accuracy and appropriateness, engagement and motivation, and stand-alone suitability. These criteria represent areas of interest to educators and parents when considering educational software. The rating system would present scores for each of these criteria, in addition to a final, cumulative assessment that shows at a glance the overall educational value of a title.
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This topic -- the effective use of game technology in education -- is of great interest to Erin, and she's enjoying learning from the research and writing process. She will keep you updated on the paper's progress. Hopefully, she and Dan will find a journal or conference that will accept it once they're finished!
Sorry for the long gap between posts. Erin has been keeping busy with her graduate studies. This semester, she's working with another Arts and Technology graduate student, Dan Hurd, to write a paper about evaluating serious games. Here is the abstract:
In recent years, serious games have garnered increasing attention and acceptance among educators, many of whom believe that games and simulations can be used as effective learning tools. Studies suggest that game-based environments promote active, engaged learning and problem-solving, and may even be as effective as face-to-face instruction. The popular success of titles such as Brain Age and My Spanish Tutor for the Nintendo DS indicate that the general public is intrigued by the potential of serious games and is willing to give game-based learning a try. In the classroom, educators are looking for games that complement their lesson plans.
Some serious games have been criticized for focusing on entertaining gameplay at the expense of sound instructional methodologies. Due to the surge in popularity of educational games, an increasing number have been brought to market. Because no standard for educational games exists, selecting a title for purchase can be confusing.For this reason, a system for evaluating educational games is needed. Although rating systems exist for entertainment games, the criteria used are often inappropriate for evaluating games in an educational context.
This paper proposes an educational games rating system that would rate games on the following criteria: overall value, usability and accessibility, accuracy and appropriateness, engagement and motivation, and stand-alone suitability. These criteria represent areas of interest to educators and parents when considering educational software. The rating system would present scores for each of these criteria, in addition to a final, cumulative assessment that shows at a glance the overall educational value of a title.
---
This topic -- the effective use of game technology in education -- is of great interest to Erin, and she's enjoying learning from the research and writing process. She will keep you updated on the paper's progress. Hopefully, she and Dan will find a journal or conference that will accept it once they're finished!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
The Return
Ohmygosh, a new post!
Sorry for the long delay in updates. Erin has been very busy with a new job as a research assistant and assistant project manager to the University of Texas at Dallas' cultural simulation lab. She's currently attached to a project that is developing a simulation of an Afghan city, in which the player must interact with non-player characters (NPCs) in culturally respectful ways in order to build rapport. Erin is working on this project as part of her PhD studies within the UT Dallas Arts and Technology program. She intends to concentrate her studies on serious game design. Her coursework and research will provide ample fodder for the HigherWorlds blog and wiki, so expect much more frequent updates to the sites' content.
For example: new resources have been added to the HigherWorlds del.icio.us account, and more are on the way! In addition, new sites have been added to the custom Google search on the HigherWorlds blog homepage.
Erin and Patti are looking forward to conducting and sharing research into virtual worlds and serious game design, and hope that you'll join us in discussion through the blog comments or Jaiku. We'd love to hear your thoughts on the latest developments in virtual worlds and higher education.
Sorry for the long delay in updates. Erin has been very busy with a new job as a research assistant and assistant project manager to the University of Texas at Dallas' cultural simulation lab. She's currently attached to a project that is developing a simulation of an Afghan city, in which the player must interact with non-player characters (NPCs) in culturally respectful ways in order to build rapport. Erin is working on this project as part of her PhD studies within the UT Dallas Arts and Technology program. She intends to concentrate her studies on serious game design. Her coursework and research will provide ample fodder for the HigherWorlds blog and wiki, so expect much more frequent updates to the sites' content.
For example: new resources have been added to the HigherWorlds del.icio.us account, and more are on the way! In addition, new sites have been added to the custom Google search on the HigherWorlds blog homepage.
Erin and Patti are looking forward to conducting and sharing research into virtual worlds and serious game design, and hope that you'll join us in discussion through the blog comments or Jaiku. We'd love to hear your thoughts on the latest developments in virtual worlds and higher education.
*** Edit 3/8/09: Jaiku was recently shut down after being bought by Google. Sadness! But you can join us on Twitter, instead.
Erin's personal Twitter account: serinity
Patti's personal Twitter account: pattijennings
HigherWorlds: higherworlds
Monday, March 3, 2008
Survey Update
Thank you for your participation in the Best Practices Survey. Although the report is due this Sunday (and will be made available on the Documents page of the HigherWorlds Wiki then), the survey will remain open. It is our intention to continue to incorporate the survey results, so that the best practices document will evolve as virtual world education grows. If you have not yet responded to the survey, we invite you to participate. Your feedback is a valuable part of the development of the best practices handbook.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Innovations in Online Learning Conference
Great news! Erin's proposal for the Innovations in Online Learning conference was accepted. The conference is being held in Austin, Texas on May 22-23. The conference is sponsored by the University of Texas Telecampus (UTTC), and supports "innovations developed by faculty, staff and students of the University of Texas System." Unfortunately, it is being held during the first week of classes at the University of Texas at Dallas, where Erin works, so she won't be able to attend the conference in person. However, she will conduct the session from a distance along with her supervisor, Darren Crone (manager, UT Dallas School of Management E-Learning Team). Their presentation is titled The University of Texas at Dallas School of Management in Second Life. The session goals are:
As soon as the presentation is complete, a copy will be made available on the HigherWorlds wiki.
For those of you attending the conference, we look forward to "seeing" you there!
- To discuss the development of the UTD SOM island in Second Life
- To present and discuss the current status of the island: its projects, users, and issues
- To present exciting plans for the future of the UTD SOM island.
- To discuss developer-educators’ experiences with building, teaching, and community building in Second Life
As soon as the presentation is complete, a copy will be made available on the HigherWorlds wiki.
For those of you attending the conference, we look forward to "seeing" you there!
Friday, February 22, 2008
Survey
We would like to announce a new survey for virtual world educators, students, and administrators. We are hoping to learn more about your experiences teaching and learning in virtual worlds. The results of the survey will be used to create a report on best practices, which will be made available on the HigherWorlds wiki as soon as it is ready. We appreciate your participation.
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