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Showing posts from March, 2014

Google Play For Education: New Revenue Model For Serious Games Large Scale Buy-In

On my prior post Serious Games Large Scale Buy-In Requires New Revenue Models I quoted Clark Aldrich’s following statement from the article Serious Games vs. the Industrial Education Complex :  “Serious Games can transform the entire education system, aligning it with the rest of the world.” It was then my belief that to effect this sort of discontinuous change, we would need massive buy-in for the proliferation of advanced learning communities. People who benefited from early Serious Games business models would need to embrace new revenue models, or wait for others to disrupt. Google Play for Education has the potential to become a major vehicle for Educational Serious Games large scale institutionalization. Announced during Google I/O 2013 Conference and launched in November 2013 as a curated market aimed at the K-12 audience,  the   Google Play for Education Store  makes it simple to distribute apps and games across an entire classroom or school's sto

iCivics 2013 Report: Serious Games Reaching 35,000 Educators Across 9,000 Schools

Since 2009, iCivics has been dedicated to reinvigorating civic learning through interactive and engaging learning resources, among them 19 award-winning Serious Games . These resources have now been proven effective by independent evaluations from Arizona State, Baylor, and Tufts Universities. The 2013 iCivics Annual Report shows that iCivics teacher network tripled this year, reaching 35,000 educators across 9,000 schools while students across the country played iCivics Serious Games an astonishing 5.9 million times, preparing themselves for civic participation. Approximately half of all middle school social studies teachers in the U.S. rely on iCivics – a significant milestone to reach in four years. Driven by focus groups and rigorous evaluation measures, iCivics secured, with their partner Filament Games, two U.S. Department of Education grants to pilot game-based assessment tools and iPad simulations. They partnered with EverFi, a venture-backed education startup

4th Annual Serious Play Conference @ USC Announcement

Serious Games main gathering examines value of games for Engagement, Learning and Retention The fourth annual Serious Play Conference will be held at the USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles Tuesday – Thursday, July 22 – 24, 2014. Here is the official press release: LOS ANGELES – March 12, 2014 – The Serious Play Conference ,  a gathering of game industry luminaries and game-based learning enthusiasts, is moving to University of Southern California (USC)’s School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles, July 22-24. Now in its 4th year, the annual conference brings together school leaders who want to see game-based learning brought into more educational curricula; chief learning officers from the corporate sector; and training directors from nonprofit, healthcare and the military/government -- along with the top games publishers, researchers and developers.  The conference focuses on the use of games as a tool to promote engagement, retention and higher achievement in

Serious Play Conference Moves TO USC

Serious Play Conference, the leadership gathering for people creating and heading Serious Games initiatives for their schools, companies, healthcare organizations, military or government training programs, is moving to USC in Los Angeles in 2014. The conference will be held July 22-24 and housed in the School of Cinematic Arts on the campus of the University of Southern California (USC), co-hosted by Viterbi School of Engineering. You can also check the conference website at http://www.seriousplayconf.com/

Serious Games Providing Real-World Spanish Language Practice

Practice , the line of 3D, multiplayer Serious Games developed by Muzzy Lane for McGraw-Hill Education, which already includes Practice Operations , Practice Marketing and Government in Action , has got a new addition:  Practice Spanish, Study Abroad. Practice Spanish: Study Abroad is a multiplayer, personalized Spanish language Serious Game that provides college students with an immersive "study abroad" experience. Designed to be played on mobile devices and computers, the game enables players to practice Spanish vocabulary, grammar, reading, and conversation, while allowing them to explore the Spanish language in real-world cultural settings. Conceived by McGraw Hill Education to accompany any Introductory Spanish title or as an independent practice tool for students interested in putting their developing language skills to the test, Practice Spanish: Study Abroad takes students to Colombia, where they will problem solve, communicate, and navigate through a varie

An Online Formative Assessment Math Serious Game For Preservice Teachers

PlatinuMath by Triad Interactive Media, Inc. Solution , is as a professional development tool for middle school Math teachers and a supplemental classroom activity for middle school Math students. Designed to improve mathematical understanding among preservice and inservice teachers, the PlatinuMath suite is packaged in the form of a narrative action-adventure Serious Game consisting of 20 mini-games. The games cover 24 standards-relevant topics and will supplement any preservice or inservice curriculum or training course. Additional components of the games include content that adjusts to the level of a user, an administrative dashboard and reporting feature that presents results to users and their instructors or facilitators, and a backend database to store all records. Case for Action Source: White Paper PDF Assessment of Preservice Teachers Needed According to the developers, national organizations and centers including the U.S. National Committee on

Serious Games For Construction Workers With Limited On-Site Experience

The Whitecard Game brings to the table an interesting approach to deliver safety training to construction workers with limited on-site experience. The game creates an ideal context for learning for the targeted group – workers with low levels of traditional literacy skills due to non-English speaking backgrounds or other sociocultural considerations. The first-person RPG immersion promotes an increasing awareness building, as the three different game levels unfold and players face unexpected, and often dramatic, consequences mostly derived from HSE “near misses”.    The project is a collaboration between  Victoria University and  Oztron Media , and is funded by the  National VET E-Learning Strategy . Gameplay Through a first person perspective the goal of the game is to identify, control and report workplace hazards on a construction site without getting injured or causing the death of workmates. By creating a virtual experience of being on a building site, the game

Serious Games Improving Communications That Impact Patient Safety

Glimpse Web Dashboard Glimpse ( G ame to  L earn  I mportant  C ommunication  M ethods for Patient  S afety E nhancement) is a web-based, transmedia game and storytelling platform designed to teach healthcare professionals strategies for improving ineffective inter-professional communications that can impact patient safety. Developed by the University of Texas at Dallas , Glimpse introduces an educational curriculum through episodic narrative and gameplay. Players are afforded opportunities to learn about and experiment with situational awareness and power-gradient barriers that harm effective communications. Players learn from feedback on game choices by using a “glimpse” mechanic to gain insight into a character’s behavior. In Glimpse you gain or lose points depending on how well you communicate. Individual and team performances are scored and displayed on a web dashboard to foster game competition. The game is intended for physicians and nurses who work toget