Simulations and Gaming Technologies for the Classroom Online

Catalog description

This course will familiarize teachers with contemporary gaming technologies, enable them to understand the pedagogical models behind games, and show how these gaming models may be used for learning. Video games provide today's youth with new kinds of learning experiences - like leading a virtual civilization or running a virtual guild with hundreds of other participants from around the real world. Through gaming, children engage in complex problem solving, sophisticated collaboration, and creative expression. However, there is some doubt about the effectiveness of gaming as a learning tool when restricted by old learning models. Today's youth must contend with this dichotomy: life outside school - open access to information, opportunities for deep expertise, multiple pathways for learning - and the learning inside school - traditional learning models, limited access to technology. With growing momentum, a new generation of educators is embracing games for learning. Some are already using learning games like Civilization, a commercially produced game, in the classroom. Promising research shows that games can - and will - become powerful learning environments for children (Barab et al, 2007; Squire & Jenkins, 2003; Squire, 2003). Combining the interactivity inherent in video games with complex learning models, a new generation of games is becoming readily available. Will the education system be ready for this new mode of learning? (A Performance Learning Systems online course)