How Social Gaming is Improving Education

Educators have always looked for better ways to prepare students for the real world. The mildly apocalyptic government report from the US, A Nation at Risk,  warned that an outdated school system was unwittingly sabotaging America’s economic superiority. Year after year, major educational organizations would echo the report’s call with threats of dire consequences and pleas for sweeping reform, from the U.S. Department of Labor to the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology.

Audits of the U.S. educational system have revealed that the highest hurdle to adopting skills-based teaching practices is the lack of an easily implementable curriculum.

The picture in the UK is a similar affair, with publications Future Labs publications on games and learning confirming much of what we know to be a fact – namely the better the engagement, the better the learning.

Read the rest of this article »

Designing social games for multi-player engagement

We examine designing games for online social networks, such as Facebook or Twitter. Looking at how the design can be improved by embedding an interaction centric approach into the development process. Research into motivations and emotional dispositions of social media use, and analysing existing popular social games, help in identifying game mechanics that tap into user practices across social networks.

We attempt at developing a set of design principles and a design framework where interaction, social, service, and game design meet. The framework aims to support the inherent sociability, spontaneity, and playfulness that permeate online social networks.

Read the rest of this article »

What are Serious Games and Game Based Learning?

Serious gaming is the use of gaming technology for purposes other than primary entertainment. Digital game based learning is educational content delivered via a computer game. It goes further than e-learning packages, which simply put the textbook on the screen, to create a highly engaging, interactive virtual learning environment where the learner has complete agency to explore and react to the virtual world.

The fundamental characteristics which make computer games so entertaining also make this an ideal medium for teaching, learning and assessment. The training features of an excellent computer game are the same as the features of an excellent learning experience.