- Summer 2008 - July 7 - 18

L51 - Class # 51125
Course website: http://www.minkhollow.ca/dgbl-course/ [you are here.]
Instructor: Katrin Becker, Ph.D.

Seminar: M-T-W-R-F 1:00 - 4:00 PM
Office hrs: By Appointment

Location: EDB 252 (Also Called Education Classroom Block)

This course is an introduction to the use of digital games and gaming for instruction and learning. In it, students explore the theories; possibilities, considerations and constraints related to the design of instructional games, and the use of learning and commercial entertainment games in classroom and out-of-class settings.

The use of computer and video games for learning is an emerging area of research, and interest is growing rapidly. As a sub-field of Serious Games, digital game-based learning poses some unique problems and challenges. As more and more young people grow up with digital games as one of their primary forms of entertainment, it behooves us to become familiar with this genre, how it affects people, and how we might use it for educational goals. Computer technology has advanced to the point where it is feasible (we now have the horse-power to accomplish this) to use games in a classroom setting. “Computer pioneer Alan Kay (DARPA in the '60s, PARC in the '70s, now HP Labs) declares 'The sad truth is that 20 years or so of commercialization have almost completely missed the point of what personal computing is about.' He believes that PCs should be tools for creativity and learning, and they are falling short.”

This course is intended for masters students, from any discipline, who are interested in exploring the medium of the digital game as a vehicle for learning. No programming experience is required, and both 'gamers' and non-gamers are welcome. Participants who already have an interest in, or some experience with, the use of digital technology in education, learning, and other training situations, are at an advantage.

The following are resources and utilities we are likely to use be using during this course. None of these sites will forward your email to anywhere else, so you need not worry about spam. You are free to unregister or otherwise discontinue any or all of these when the course is over.

This registration is for this course website. You will find a login box on the left as well as a link just below the header. I administer this site myself and will check that all registrants who are actually registered in the course have access to the pages we will need. Some pages will be getting added to and edited by the class. Try here for a step by step guide for wiki registration.

I am using Facebook as our 'community' space. I have set up a separate Facebook account for my courses. It will remain active for the duration of the course, but I may 'de-friend' people afterwards - nothing personal.

Any slideshows I create will be posted here for easy access. You do not need an account to access the slides so signup here is optional but is recommended as it provides another opportunity to become familar with some of the content-sharing applications that are out there.

This is a mailing list associated with the Serious Games Initiative mailing list. You will not be required to post to this list but items of interest will be referred to.

This is a mailing list associated with The Digital Games Research Assiciation (DiGRA) mailing list. You will not be required to post to this list but items of interest will be referred to.

Gamasutra is the online version of the official magazine of the International Game Developers Association. Several of the articles I will ask you to read come from here so you will need to register in order to read them. You do not need to join the IGDA, and registration is free.

EDER 679.13 Virtual Reality and Simulation