I'm an Assistant Professor of Behavioral Sciences at City University of New York, with joint appointments in Neuroscience and Cognitive Neuroscience. I also have an appointment as a Visiting Scholar at New York University.
My research interests include cognitive neuroscience, functional magnetic resonance imaging, glaucoma, neurodegenerative disorders, attention, learning, memory, educational technology, pedagogy, and developing games for education.
Onlineuniversities.com has rounded up 18 major universities in the US and abroad that offer graduate programs with an interest in game-based learning. While there are many programs that focus exclusively on game development (e.g., DigiPen), this list is interesting because (1) it is clear that universities from around the world recognize the merits of game-based learning and (2) these institutions are incorporating game-based learning into graduate programs.
Noted game designer and theorist Raph Koster presented a recapitulation of his book “A Theory of Fun for Game Design” to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its publication. The talk was presented at the Game Developer’s Conference in Austin and is available online at the GDC Vault. Koster reviewed the content of the book from a historical perspective, and he described the book’s continuing relevance for today’s game designer. He elaborated on the relationships between games and learning, and he provided meaningful data from the cognitive neuroscience literature to support his theories. Even if you have read the book, it’s worth watching because Koster goes into depth about the deep thinkers that influenced him, and he addresses some of the concerns that have arisen since the book was first published.
Games for Change has recently posted a list of game development tools for students. The list includes a wide variety of tools to teach game design and the rudiments of programming to students. Entries include RPG Maker, a universal system for generating digital role playing games with user-generated content; Microsoft’s Kudo, a visually based programming language and game engine; and Gamestar Mechanic, a unique platform that emphasizes the principles of game design. We are lucky to have so many tools available for making games.
However, there are several tools available to educators and students that do not appear on the list provided by Games for Change. Valve has recently released a version of their proprietary game engine to educators at teachwithportals.com. I just received my licenses for the software, and I can’t wait to see what my students start making. Adobe Flash is a popular platform for making 2D games. The academic version of the software is affordable, and there are excellent resources available for students on the Internet. An important game engine to consider is the same engine used by many professionals, the Unreal Engine. Yes, the manual for this game engine is daunting, but teenagers are already developing mods of popular games using this platform. The game is free if you don’t publish a commercial version of your software, and the visual scripting language (Kismet) allows students to build levels without having any coding experience. Similarly, Unity3D is a complete game engine with visual scripting languages for sale in their Asset Store. The Unity GUI is simple enough for high school and college students to understand, and the tutorials are an excellent way to learn Javascript or C#. Some of my students have been developing in Unity3D, and I’m going to make it a requirement for joining the lab. There so are many lessons to be learned by using a sophisticated environment like Unity3D that I don’t think we should ever limit a student’s potential by not exposing them to professional tools.
Educators coming together to explore how the principles of games promote learning
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Onlineuniversities.com has rounded up 18 major universities in the US and abroad that offer graduate programs with an interest in game-based learning. While there are many programs that focus exclusively on game development (e.g., DigiPen), this list is interesting because (1) it is clear that universities from around the world recognize the merits of game-based learning and (2) these institutions are incorporating game-based learning into graduate programs.
