Keynotes by Katrin Becker
Walking Backwards in to the Future: Ensuring the Success of Games for Learning
"Most of us pre... more Walking Backwards in to the Future: Ensuring the Success of Games for Learning
"Most of us prefer to walk backward into the future, a posture that may be uncomfortable but which at least allows us to keep on looking at familiar things as long as we can." ~ Charles Handy
Formal education moves at geological speeds, and that's lucky for us, because games for learning really aren't ready for prime time, and it's not for the first time. During the 'Edutainment Era' of the late 1980's and early 1990’s computer games were proclaimed as the modern solution to all our educational ills. In order to take advantage of this great technology, all we needed to do was wrap a game around a lesson, and it would magically become fun. This, of course, is not true, and the resultant fall from grace left many educational game proponents reeling.
We now have a second chance, and we need to make sure we don't fall into the same trap again. The game evangelists are valuable to be sure, but we need to be realistic, and if we don't have enough games out there that live up to the hype, the idea of using games to teach will once again become a pariah, and the likelihood of a third chance is slim. This keynote will look at what went wrong last time around, where we are now, and what we need in design, research, and support to make sure that we have it right this time so we are ready when formal education catches up with us.
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IASTED International Conference on Modelling and Simulation (MS 2013), Jul 2013
""There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm." Willa Cather (1915)
In thi... more ""There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm." Willa Cather (1915)
In this community, the claim that all games are simulations, but not all simulations are games does not seem especially radical. When you look under the hood of a modern simulation or videogame, you see pretty much the same stuff. It hardly seems worth a second thought. We all know that simulation has been at the very core of computer development since the very beginning, and we’ve applied what we know to games for almost as long. Nevertheless, with a very few exceptions, what the rest of the world knows of simulations is very much like the elephant described by the famous blind monks. This was not a big handicap in the early days when simulations were primarily created for fairly specialized applications, but thanks to the Internet, videogames, and mobile technology, things have changed. One of the places where things have changed the most is in education and professional development (training of all sorts).
In education, simulations are said to be about real life systems, while games are about fantasy and often times educational simulations have nothing at all to do with computers. Educationists make sweeping assumptions about how simulations get used, including notions that fidelity and realism are requirements for effective learning, and that winning always takes precedence over exploration in games. These notions end up being more limiting than liberating. Clearly, recognizing that games are in fact merely a subset of a larger category of simulations affords opportunities for a fruitful exchange of knowledge, which includes the sharing of methodologies and tools.
Join me as we look at the claim that all games are simulations in more detail. We will examine the dichotomy between modern digital games and the more traditional view of simulations, and what implications this has for the design and development of both ‘pure’ simulations as well as games for learning."
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Books by Katrin Becker
This book is a 'no programming required' introduction to simulation. Most intro simulation books ... more This book is a 'no programming required' introduction to simulation. Most intro simulation books are written for people in CS. Our book offers technical details on what simulations are and how they are built that are written for someone who is not (and may not want to become) a programmer, but who still needs or wants to know about the inner workings of a simulation. The focus will be on educational simulations (and games).
Both authors have many years of 'hard-core' technical expertise in simulations but there is a real need for a book on simulations that is accessible for people outside of computer science. Writing a book like this requires people with a deep technical understanding of simulations but also with the educational expertise to know what educators need to know. We have that.
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Ultra-brief Summary
(Single Sentence Summaries:)
Introduction (area of study)
In order to desig... more Ultra-brief Summary
(Single Sentence Summaries:)
Introduction (area of study)
In order to design educational games that remain effective as both games and as learning objects, it is necessary to understand how successful games teach.
The problem (that I tackle)
However, the best games are designed for entertainment and not education, and while they teach effectively, their designs are not expressed in educational terms that could be used by designers of instructional games.
What the literature says about this problem
Although current literature often cites examples from COTS games to support claims about how games teach and there is a growing body of research on the use of games in formal learning situations, the main focus has been on the learners and there have been no comprehensive detailed examinations of how specific games teach.
How I tackle this problem
By treating the COTS game as though it had been deliberately created as an educational game, it becomes possible to identify the learning requirements for the game as well as the strategies used to support that learning in a form suitable for examination as instructional design.
How I implement my solution
Using methodology adapted from reverse engineering called 'instructional decomposition', both macro and micro design elements can be identified.
The result
This work will contribute to the body of knowledge on elements important in the design of educational games by identifying specific strategies employed in top-rated games to facilitate specific learning requirements.
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Book Chapters by Katrin Becker
Gaming & Cognition: Theories and Perspectives From the Learning Sciences., 2010
Serious Games are digital games designed for purposes other than pure entertainment. This categor... more Serious Games are digital games designed for purposes other than pure entertainment. This category includes educational games but it also includes a great deal more. A field that was unheard of until Ben Sawyer referred to it as Serious Games in late 2002 (Sawyer, 2003) has already grown so large that one can only hope to keep track of a very small part of it. The time is rapidly coming to an end when literature surveys of even one branch of Serious Games can be considered comprehensive. This chapter will examine the current state of the discipline of that part of serious games that intersects with formal education, with a particular focus on design. The work begins broadly by looking at games in order to define the term but then narrows to a specific focus on games for education. In this way, it provides an educational context for games as learning objects, distinguishes between traditional, (i.e. non-digital; Murray, 1998) and digital games, and classifies games for education as a subcategory of serious games while at the same time still being part of a larger group of interactive digital applications.
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Digital Simulations for Improving Education: Learning Through Artificial Teaching Environments, 2009
This chapter provides an introduction to digital simulations for those interested in using or des... more This chapter provides an introduction to digital simulations for those interested in using or designing them for instructional purposes. There has been some disagreement in various circles about how to define simulations and digital games and this issue is addressed. The two most common categories of simulation (discrete and continuous) are also described as well as their basic structure. Reasons to use simulations and how they may be used in educational applications are outlined. After having read this chapter, readers will have a clearer picture of what simulations are and how they can be used.
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Books, film, television, and indeed every other medium that came before them has been used and so... more Books, film, television, and indeed every other medium that came before them has been used and sometimes studied as media for the delivery of instruction. Outstanding examples of each medium have been applied to educative purposes with enduring results. Digital games are now also receiving attention in this context. A first step to gaining an understanding for just how a particular medium can be used in education is to study the outstanding examples, regardless of their original purpose. This chapter examines numerous well-known and commercially successful games through the lens of several known and accepted learning theories and styles, using the premise that “good” games already embody sound pedagogy in their designs even if the incorporation of those theories was not deliberate.
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Springer Publishing, 2008
Predicting the Future from Multiple Perspectives: Current Problems and Future. Potentials for Edu... more Predicting the Future from Multiple Perspectives: Current Problems and Future. Potentials for Educational Games, (Ch. 9, pp 219-249), in Games: Their Purpose and Potential in Education edited by Christopher T. Miller,
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Games and Simulations in Online Learning: …, Jan 1, 2006
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Handbook of Research on Effective Electronic Gaming in Education, 2008
Before researchers can perform studies using commercial games, they must choose which game or gam... more Before researchers can perform studies using commercial games, they must choose which game or games to study. The manner in which that choice is made and justified is the focus of this paper. Ideally, research informs pedagogy and when looking at game education it is important to be able to justify and defend conclusions drawn from game studies so they can inform best practices in design and development. As the number and sophistication of titles released in a given year continues to rise, it becomes even more important to look more seriously at how we are choosing the games we study, the criteria we use for those studies, how we support our claims about the suitability of the game for our purposes, and how generalizations to other games should be limited or qualified. This paper is a report on a qualitative meta-analysis of the methods used in choosing games for study and the implications that holds for both researchers studying games and educators teaching about games and game development.
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Papers by Katrin Becker
Several ways to address learning are: 1) through learning theories, 2) through learning styles (t... more Several ways to address learning are: 1) through learning theories, 2) through learning styles (treated as distinct from learning theories here), and 3) through instructional design theories and models. This paper looks at the second approach to examine how modern games support various learning styles in their design and gameplay. Four well-known learning style models are examined in the context of computer game design. These are: the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, the Gregory Style
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An important step towards gaining an understanding of how a particular medium can be used most ef... more An important step towards gaining an understanding of how a particular medium can be used most effectively in education is to study its outstanding examples, regardless of their original purpose. It is assumed that “good ” games already embody sound pedagogy in their designs even if that incorporation is not deliberate. The work described here is intended as a proof of concept for a larger study in progress. The following paragraphs will examine two games: one is commercial and a critical success, and the other is designed deliberately as an educational game. The commercial game will be viewed as though it had been designed as a learning object. Through this perspective, it is possible to identify and classify built-in learning objectives and from there to associate the mechanisms and strategies employed to teach them. A significant outcome of the final work will be to describe how the existing strategies used to promote “learning objectives ” in commercial video games can be used i...
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Proceedings of the 2009 Conference on Future Play on @ GDC Canada - FuturePlay '09, 2009
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international conference on modelling and simulation, Jul 1, 2013
"""There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm." Willa Ca... more """There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm." Willa Cather (1915) In this community, the claim that all games are simulations, but not all simulations are games does not seem especially radical. When you look under the hood of a modern simulation or videogame, you see pretty much the same stuff. It hardly seems worth a second thought. We all know that simulation has been at the very core of computer development since the very beginning, and we’ve applied what we know to games for almost as long. Nevertheless, with a very few exceptions, what the rest of the world knows of simulations is very much like the elephant described by the famous blind monks. This was not a big handicap in the early days when simulations were primarily created for fairly specialized applications, but thanks to the Internet, videogames, and mobile technology, things have changed. One of the places where things have changed the most is in education and professional development (training of all sorts). In education, simulations are said to be about real life systems, while games are about fantasy and often times educational simulations have nothing at all to do with computers. Educationists make sweeping assumptions about how simulations get used, including notions that fidelity and realism are requirements for effective learning, and that winning always takes precedence over exploration in games. These notions end up being more limiting than liberating. Clearly, recognizing that games are in fact merely a subset of a larger category of simulations affords opportunities for a fruitful exchange of knowledge, which includes the sharing of methodologies and tools. Join me as we look at the claim that all games are simulations in more detail. We will examine the dichotomy between modern digital games and the more traditional view of simulations, and what implications this has for the design and development of both ‘pure’ simulations as well as games for learning.""
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All introductory programming students must learn the syntax of the language they are to use. The ... more All introductory programming students must learn the syntax of the language they are to use. The problems that students have learning syntax are described, and a teaching methodology is suggested. Two types of exercises are explained which will help the students learn syntax, and the reactions of the students who have used them are outlined.
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Much attention has been paid in recent years to finding more flexible and less prescriptive appro... more Much attention has been paid in recent years to finding more flexible and less prescriptive approaches to the design of instruction than those put forward during the latter part of the twentieth century. A view of instruction as causal and largely behaviouristic has given way to one that is guided and primarily constructivist. In his current research, David Merrill outlines five fundamental principles of instruction which have broad implications for teaching computer science (CS). These five principles are: 1) solving real-world problems, 2) activating existing knowledge to build new knowledge, 3) demonstrating new knowledge to the learner, 4) allowing learners to apply new knowledge, and 5) integrating knowledge into the learner’s world. The following paper describes these principles and discusses how they related to instruction in CS. M. David Merrill’s career in instructional technology, with a career has spanned 40 years, and include numerous significant contributions to the fie...
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Keynotes by Katrin Becker
"Most of us prefer to walk backward into the future, a posture that may be uncomfortable but which at least allows us to keep on looking at familiar things as long as we can." ~ Charles Handy
Formal education moves at geological speeds, and that's lucky for us, because games for learning really aren't ready for prime time, and it's not for the first time. During the 'Edutainment Era' of the late 1980's and early 1990’s computer games were proclaimed as the modern solution to all our educational ills. In order to take advantage of this great technology, all we needed to do was wrap a game around a lesson, and it would magically become fun. This, of course, is not true, and the resultant fall from grace left many educational game proponents reeling.
We now have a second chance, and we need to make sure we don't fall into the same trap again. The game evangelists are valuable to be sure, but we need to be realistic, and if we don't have enough games out there that live up to the hype, the idea of using games to teach will once again become a pariah, and the likelihood of a third chance is slim. This keynote will look at what went wrong last time around, where we are now, and what we need in design, research, and support to make sure that we have it right this time so we are ready when formal education catches up with us.
In this community, the claim that all games are simulations, but not all simulations are games does not seem especially radical. When you look under the hood of a modern simulation or videogame, you see pretty much the same stuff. It hardly seems worth a second thought. We all know that simulation has been at the very core of computer development since the very beginning, and we’ve applied what we know to games for almost as long. Nevertheless, with a very few exceptions, what the rest of the world knows of simulations is very much like the elephant described by the famous blind monks. This was not a big handicap in the early days when simulations were primarily created for fairly specialized applications, but thanks to the Internet, videogames, and mobile technology, things have changed. One of the places where things have changed the most is in education and professional development (training of all sorts).
In education, simulations are said to be about real life systems, while games are about fantasy and often times educational simulations have nothing at all to do with computers. Educationists make sweeping assumptions about how simulations get used, including notions that fidelity and realism are requirements for effective learning, and that winning always takes precedence over exploration in games. These notions end up being more limiting than liberating. Clearly, recognizing that games are in fact merely a subset of a larger category of simulations affords opportunities for a fruitful exchange of knowledge, which includes the sharing of methodologies and tools.
Join me as we look at the claim that all games are simulations in more detail. We will examine the dichotomy between modern digital games and the more traditional view of simulations, and what implications this has for the design and development of both ‘pure’ simulations as well as games for learning."
Books by Katrin Becker
Both authors have many years of 'hard-core' technical expertise in simulations but there is a real need for a book on simulations that is accessible for people outside of computer science. Writing a book like this requires people with a deep technical understanding of simulations but also with the educational expertise to know what educators need to know. We have that.
(Single Sentence Summaries:)
Introduction (area of study)
In order to design educational games that remain effective as both games and as learning objects, it is necessary to understand how successful games teach.
The problem (that I tackle)
However, the best games are designed for entertainment and not education, and while they teach effectively, their designs are not expressed in educational terms that could be used by designers of instructional games.
What the literature says about this problem
Although current literature often cites examples from COTS games to support claims about how games teach and there is a growing body of research on the use of games in formal learning situations, the main focus has been on the learners and there have been no comprehensive detailed examinations of how specific games teach.
How I tackle this problem
By treating the COTS game as though it had been deliberately created as an educational game, it becomes possible to identify the learning requirements for the game as well as the strategies used to support that learning in a form suitable for examination as instructional design.
How I implement my solution
Using methodology adapted from reverse engineering called 'instructional decomposition', both macro and micro design elements can be identified.
The result
This work will contribute to the body of knowledge on elements important in the design of educational games by identifying specific strategies employed in top-rated games to facilitate specific learning requirements.
Book Chapters by Katrin Becker
Papers by Katrin Becker
"Most of us prefer to walk backward into the future, a posture that may be uncomfortable but which at least allows us to keep on looking at familiar things as long as we can." ~ Charles Handy
Formal education moves at geological speeds, and that's lucky for us, because games for learning really aren't ready for prime time, and it's not for the first time. During the 'Edutainment Era' of the late 1980's and early 1990’s computer games were proclaimed as the modern solution to all our educational ills. In order to take advantage of this great technology, all we needed to do was wrap a game around a lesson, and it would magically become fun. This, of course, is not true, and the resultant fall from grace left many educational game proponents reeling.
We now have a second chance, and we need to make sure we don't fall into the same trap again. The game evangelists are valuable to be sure, but we need to be realistic, and if we don't have enough games out there that live up to the hype, the idea of using games to teach will once again become a pariah, and the likelihood of a third chance is slim. This keynote will look at what went wrong last time around, where we are now, and what we need in design, research, and support to make sure that we have it right this time so we are ready when formal education catches up with us.
In this community, the claim that all games are simulations, but not all simulations are games does not seem especially radical. When you look under the hood of a modern simulation or videogame, you see pretty much the same stuff. It hardly seems worth a second thought. We all know that simulation has been at the very core of computer development since the very beginning, and we’ve applied what we know to games for almost as long. Nevertheless, with a very few exceptions, what the rest of the world knows of simulations is very much like the elephant described by the famous blind monks. This was not a big handicap in the early days when simulations were primarily created for fairly specialized applications, but thanks to the Internet, videogames, and mobile technology, things have changed. One of the places where things have changed the most is in education and professional development (training of all sorts).
In education, simulations are said to be about real life systems, while games are about fantasy and often times educational simulations have nothing at all to do with computers. Educationists make sweeping assumptions about how simulations get used, including notions that fidelity and realism are requirements for effective learning, and that winning always takes precedence over exploration in games. These notions end up being more limiting than liberating. Clearly, recognizing that games are in fact merely a subset of a larger category of simulations affords opportunities for a fruitful exchange of knowledge, which includes the sharing of methodologies and tools.
Join me as we look at the claim that all games are simulations in more detail. We will examine the dichotomy between modern digital games and the more traditional view of simulations, and what implications this has for the design and development of both ‘pure’ simulations as well as games for learning."
Both authors have many years of 'hard-core' technical expertise in simulations but there is a real need for a book on simulations that is accessible for people outside of computer science. Writing a book like this requires people with a deep technical understanding of simulations but also with the educational expertise to know what educators need to know. We have that.
(Single Sentence Summaries:)
Introduction (area of study)
In order to design educational games that remain effective as both games and as learning objects, it is necessary to understand how successful games teach.
The problem (that I tackle)
However, the best games are designed for entertainment and not education, and while they teach effectively, their designs are not expressed in educational terms that could be used by designers of instructional games.
What the literature says about this problem
Although current literature often cites examples from COTS games to support claims about how games teach and there is a growing body of research on the use of games in formal learning situations, the main focus has been on the learners and there have been no comprehensive detailed examinations of how specific games teach.
How I tackle this problem
By treating the COTS game as though it had been deliberately created as an educational game, it becomes possible to identify the learning requirements for the game as well as the strategies used to support that learning in a form suitable for examination as instructional design.
How I implement my solution
Using methodology adapted from reverse engineering called 'instructional decomposition', both macro and micro design elements can be identified.
The result
This work will contribute to the body of knowledge on elements important in the design of educational games by identifying specific strategies employed in top-rated games to facilitate specific learning requirements.
However, when the visual design is the most significant feature of the object users of this object risk falling into the ‘decorative media trap’, which is the assumption that a pleasing, or impressive appearance implies that the artifact is well designed. From the design perspective, people fall into this trap when they believe that appearances are either sufficient or, even worse, that they can compensate for a poor or mediocre design. The challenge of integrating learning objectives with the delivery medium is far from new. The medium is more than a vehicle for delivery and it is essential for designers to understand their tools thoroughly.
The benefits underlining this principle are that, done well, the ‘decorations’ can help learners form connections by giving them visual ‘tags’ upon which to hang ideas and facts. Adding to the visual appeal can also boost the impact of what you’re trying to get across, and this sometimes works even if the connection between the decoration and the content is weak.
With the help of examples, both good and bad, this paper will discuss this principle in more depth.
Link to slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/becker/the-decorative-media-trap
This paper will outline a simple, yet effective model that can be used to help in the design of games for educational purposes, as well as in evaluating existing games for their learning potential. Further, this model can help educators formulate strategies for using an existing game within a learning context. The model will be presented along with a few examples of assessments produced using it.
This presentation will describe an analysis that was undertaken when a rare opportunity presented itself to study two sizable sections of the same introductory programming course in the same semester. Each section was given different assignments of equivalent difficulty - one section was given several game assignments and the other section was given more traditional problems to solve. The resultant student submissions were then analyzed using well-accepted, standard software engineering metrics and the results clearly indicated that students working on games created longer, and more complex solutions than those working on the more typical problems. Given that producing more complex programs is harder to do, it is reasonable to infer that the students who wrote games
This new approach to the assessment of student learning has exciting possibilities and deserves further attention.
"
This presentation outlines the preliminary findings of a team of engineering faculty using Google Docs to support collaborative document creation and group project work in a first year engineering design and communications course that consisted of five sections and a total of just over one hundred students. Each of these findings should be examined further to determine what impact collaborative tools like Google Docs could have on project work and to begin to formulate best practices. To that end, we invite collaborators and challenge others to develop this work further.