Gaming for Learning and Training

1. Gaming for Learning and Training • "Enjoyment and fun as part of the learning process are important when learning new tools since the learner is relaxed and motivated and therefore more willing to learn." (Bisso and Luckner, Journal of Experimental Education, 9,2, 1996, pp 109-110.). • "In simple terms a brain enjoying itself is functioning more efficiently. So there’s a scientific basis for using art, drama, color, emotion, social learning and even games to learn." (Rose and Nicholl, Accelerated Leaning for the 21st Century, 1998, p. 30.) • "Game-based courses have produced superior learning to case-based courses." (Knotts and Keys, Simulation and Gaming, 28:4 1997 p. 378)

2. Effective Learning:1% Inspiration, 99% Perspiration? • Effective learning includes the ability to ask and answer questions, make mistakes in safety, and have multiple senses stimulated. • "How do we make learning successful and enjoyable? Through creating low-stress environment-one where it is safe to make mistakes, yet expectation of success is high." (Rose and Nicholl, p. 63.) • "Students move toward the right answer by making mistakes and correcting them." ( Pappert, Seymour, cited in Postman, Neil "The End of Education," p.123.)

3. Simulation/Training Market • The U.S. military is by far the largest buyer of game simulations, accounting for roughly half of the $20 million to $40 million market. • But Dunnigan and other industry boosters say these games could soon command a significant chunk of the $100 billion corporate and industrial training industry as the level of technological sophistication increases.

4. Educational/Training Games • Games can be: • Self-paced • Individualized • Infinitely patient • Infinitely forgiving • Seamless, invisible assessments • Multi-modal (e.g., visual, auditory, text-to-speech, speech-to-action)

5. Gaming for Training • HazMat:Hotzone • http://www.etc.cmu.edu/projects/hazmat • Firefighters use to learn how to respond to a chemical-weapons attack • Forex Trader • http://www.inusa.com/tour/forex.htm • George Soros wannabes can learn the ins and outs of currency trading • Virtual U • http://www.virtual-u.org • college administrators can wrestle with angry professors and meddlesome state legislators.

6. Military Gaming • America's Army (http://www.americasarmy.com) • recruitment for the U.S. Army, • takes players from the rifle range to bombed-out desert cities. • It ranks as one of the most popular online games, with more than 7 million registered players. • Rapid Tactical Language Training System • Arabic language and etiquette. • stumble through conversations with animated computer characters, rather than actual Iraqi citizens who might take offense at the wrong hand gesture. • "Instead of shooting people, you're talking to them and trying to win their trust," -Hannes Vilhjalmsson, a research scientist at the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute who helped develop the game.

7. Interpersonal Skills • Will Interactive Inc.'s releases (http://www.willinteractive.com) focus on leadership skills, putting players in situations where there is no clear right or wrong answer. Players must decide what to do if they don't have enough chemical suits for their troops, how to get a wounded soldier to safety, or how to defuse a tense hostage situation. • Realism is key to the games' effectiveness, CEO Sharon Sloane said: "Until you engage someone emotionally as well as cognitively, you cannot effect behavior change."

8. Mobile Gaming • One project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (news - web sites) challenged participants to stop a biological attack spreading rapidly across campus. Using Internet-connected handheld computers, players could determine who was "infected" and search for vaccines to stop the spread of the virus. • In Zurich, Switzerland, students at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology used handheld computers to find an imaginary bomb that had been planted on campus, but things turned ugly when they locked up other players suspected of sabotaging their progress.

9. Other “Serious” Examples • Revolution • colonial America online multiplayer game • built on BioWare Inc's Neverwinter Nights technology, • developed with the assistance of Colonial Williamsburg. • Star Chefs • http://www.starchefs.com/about_us/html/games.html • distance-learning program for hospitality and foodservice operators enhanced with numerous game-based models and simulations focusing on three areas: food safety, restaurant profitability, and sexual harassment. • Clients include American Express, Maytag, and Evian. • September 12th • Political statement • http://www.newsgaming.com/newsgames.htm

10. Educational Game Principles • 1. Data reporting, graphing, and exporting • 2. Teacher’s assessment tools • 3. Experimental design features • 4. Direct access and modification of the simulation engine • 5. Allowing debate on simulation assumptions • 6. Integration with larger curriculums • 7. Integration with tools to support group work • 8. Professional development and support opportunities for teachers

11. Educational Game Principles • Admit that games don't teach, they illustrate. • make a game that shows rather than tells and turns knowledge into visceral understanding. • Don't make games that are too much fun. • Don’t demonstrate the principles of flight using a combat flight simulator. The students will spend all their time fighting and ignore the basic concepts they're supposed to be learning. • Don't make games that aren't fun enough. • They're often poorly-disguised drills, or are insulting to a child's intelligence ("Quick! Mr. Spock needs to know the sum of 2 and 2!"). You must find a way to meaningfully and above all coherently incorporate the educational content into the gameplay. • Don't make games that take too long. • Commercial games are designed to last from 20-40 hours or more; an educational game needs to get straight to the point and move along steadily. • Don't make games that obscure the principles you want to illustrate. • Games like Sim City require the player to manage a whole series of problems at once. Rather than illustrating a single idea clearly, they illustrate many ideas complicatedly. The student must be able to hold all other variables constant and observe the effect of changing just one. • Include advisors. • An advisor is a computerized character that pops up from time to time to highlight problems and suggest courses of action to the player. • Don't forget the value of creative play. • Creative play has educational value too. You can learn about the principles of mechanical engineering by designing and testing bridges, as in Bridge Construction Set • Don't try to serve chocolate-covered broccoli. • A computer game can't make someone take an interest in a subject purely by dressing it up with fancy graphics and audio. Furthermore, educational software cannot ever compete with multimillion-dollar commercial games.

12. Resources • http://www.seriousgames.org/ • http://www.educationarcade.org/ • http://www.gamesforhealth.org/ • http://www.socialimpactgames.com/ • http://www.gamequarium.com/ • http://www.funschool.com/