Progression: Advancing the Development and Adoption of Games for Learning
Rich Halverson · Moses Wolfenstein · Susan Millar · Nathan Patterson · Eric Bauman
Wed., June 09, 2:00–3:00, Browsing Library
In this session we will engage in an open discussion on how the pedagogical affordances of games and simulations can advance scientific knowledge among the general public, as well as aid students, researchers, and practitioners. While the conversation will begin with a focus around health care and medical science games based on recent work by the facilitators, we invite attendees to extend the conversation into other disciplines as well. Several of the essential elements needed to advance the field of game-based research include the development of tools for assessment and dissemination, as well as methods, and theory that facilitate more effective use of games for learning. Health care, self care and clinical training have begun to advance the development of serious games, and yet effective evaluation of these tools and deployment to a larger audience remains relatively untested. Nonetheless, the accumulation of health care games and related research makes this particular area advantageous for considering the future of games and learning.
Consideration of health care and medical science games is particularly timely because today’s patient population as well as future researchers and clinicians are well positioned to embrace digital media platforms including games and simulation. In fact, it has already become evident that those institutions that fail to integrate game-based learning into their curricula and outreach efforts will fail to attract the most competitive students and researchers. Furthermore, clinicians who either do not have access or fail to embrace game-based patient education strategies may find it increasingly difficult to promote self-care among their patients for similar reasons.
Recent efforts by both the Morgridge Institute for Research and the Games and Simulations for Healthcare Library and Database at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are in the process of establishing a translational research agenda. By translational we mean an agenda that applies game-based learning to immediately serve the community by changing practices to effectuate better outcomes. By combining this approach with a design philosophy that aims for the sweet spot between genre-based and content-based game development, we have begun to outline one productive avenue for advancing the future of games and learning. In this session we will share our work in making health care games and games based on contemporary scientific research more generally accessible to a wider audience. There will also be discussion on advancing the relationship between scientific research and game design and evaluation. Participants will be encouraged to develop a dialogue with the presenters and each other that identifies both potential obstacles and solutions inherent to advancing the game-based learning movement in the contexts of research, practice and teaching.
References
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