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Games and Simulations in Online Learning: Research and Development Frameworks

Games and Simulations in Online Learning: Research and Development Frameworks
Author(s)/Editor(s): David Gibson (University of Vermont, USA), Clark Aldrich (SimuLearn Inc., USA)and Marc Prensky (games2train, USA)
Copyright: ©2007
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-304-3
ISBN13: 9781599043043
ISBN10: 1599043041
EISBN13: 9781599043067

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View Games and Simulations in Online Learning: Research and Development Frameworks on the publisher's website for pricing and purchasing information.


Description

Nearly all early learning happens during play, and new technology has added video games to the list of ways children learn interaction and new concepts. Although video games are everywhere – on Web sites, in stores, streamed to the desktop, on television – they are absent from the classroom. Computer-based simulations, a form of computer games, have begun to appear, but they are not as wide-spread as email, discussion threads, and blogs.

Games and Simulations in Online Learning: Research and Development Frameworks examines the potential of games and simulations in online learning, and how the future could look as developers learn to use the emerging capabilities of the Semantic Web. It presents a general understanding of how the Semantic Web will impact education and how games and simulations can evolve to become robust teaching resources.



Reviews and Testimonials

"[…] a great compilation of foundational readings on the topic of online games and simulations!"

– Lisa Dawley, Ph.D., Boise State University, USA

Games and Simulations in Online Learning is the real deal, packed with practical information on hot new education designs. The volume promotes increased serious use of games and simulations in online learning by offering new possibilities for framing research and development efforts. It contributes to readers' thinking by presenting themes for educational games and simulations from a variety of perspectives, stretching them in new ways, or confirming their own creative ideas and insightful hypotheses about how games and simulations are changing education.

– www.SirReadaLot.org, November 2006

This collection ranges wide over the whole field of games and simulations to try to draw lessons specific for possible work with learners.

– British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (2007)

This book is a heavyweight contribution to the games in education debate.

– British Journal of Educational Technology, Vol.39, No. 6 (2008)

Author's/Editor's Biography

David Gibson (Ed.)
David Gibson is research assistant professor in the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, University of Vermont and Executive Director of The Global Challenge (www.globalchallengeaward.org), a team and project-based learning and scholarship program for high school students funded by the National Science Foundation that engages small teams in studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics in order to solve global problems. His research and publications include work on complex systems analysis and modeling of education, web applications and the future of learning, and the use of technology to personalize education. His books include Games and Simulations in Online Learning, which outlines the potential for games and simulation-based learning, and Digital Simulations for Improving Education, which explores cognitive modeling, design and implementation. He is creator of simSchool (www.simschool.org), a classroom flight simulator for training teachers, currently funded by the US Department of Education FIPSE program. His business, CURVESHIFT, is an educational technology company (www.curveshift.com) that assists in the acquisition, implementation and continuing design of games and simulations, e-portfolio systems, data-driven decision making tools, and emerging technologies.

Clark Aldrich (Ed.)
Clark Aldrich is the co-founder of SimuLearn and the author of two books. He recently lead the international team that created SimuLearn's Virtual Leader, the first-ever learning experience to follow the development cycle of a modern computer game. Virtual Leader has been featured on CNNfn, on CNet, in The New York Times, and in U.S. News and World Report, and it has been sold to some of the largest enterprises in the United States.

Marc Prensky (Ed.)
Marc Prensky is an internationally acclaimed speaker, writer, consultant, and designer in the critical areas of education and learning. He is a published author, the founder and CEO of Games2train (whose clients include IBM, Nokia, Pfizer, and the US Department of Defense), and creator of the sites www.dodgamecommunity.com and www.socialimpactgames.com . Marc has created over 50 software games for learning, including the world's first fast-action videogame-based training tools and world-wide, multi-player, multi-team on-line competitions. He has also taught at all levels. Marc has been featured in articles in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, PBS, and the BBC, and was named as one of training's top 10 visionaries by Training Magazine. He holds graduate degrees from Yale and Harvard.

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