Assessment and Teaching of 21st-Century Skills (ATC21S) using Serious Games

The ATC21S project is a multi-stakeholder research project lead by the University of Melbourne and sponsored by Microsoft, Intel and Cisco. The project aims to use assessment as a foundation for change. To make effective changes at the classroom level it is important

We’re turning into attention junkies, looking for our next big hit.

We’re now well on the way to being blasé about the term gamification. It’s certainly grabbed peoples attention in a way the term Serious Game never did. I’m glad to see some more balanced discussions about the topic too but there’s still so much that concerns me and so I believe its important to continue the dialogue (beyond purely commercial motivations) and look at the psychology behind the idea. So I thought I’d re-post my response to a recent blog on the power of Gamification, feel free to continue the dialogue, but I certainly won’t be awarding you any points for doing so

Gamification is something that fascinates and concerns me right now. As a psychologist

Is technology changing the way you educate students or the way you may learn as a student: The six trends identified by Horizon Report in Education.

The recently release NMC Horizon Report: 2012 Higher Education Edition looks at emerging technologies that will impact education through adapting the way in which education is delivered and received.

Categorised into time-to adoption – when they are expected to enter the classroom – these technologies will look to enhance learning experiences, engage the learner, introduce

Changing Attitudes to Dating Violence

PIXELearning are proud to announce the development of a serious game designed to raise awareness of violence in young people’s relationships.

The game, currently called Green Acres High

Gamification makes it into Deloitte’s Prediction of the Top 10 Technology Trends for 2012

Deloitte’s “Tech Trends 2012″ distinguished the technologies in two categories: “(Re)emerging Enablers” and “Disruptive Deployments.” (Re)emerging Enablers are five technologies that many CIOs have spent time, thought and resources on in the past, but deserve another look this year. Disruptive Deployments are five additional technologies that

Brain studies show why games engage us!

New research published by on the Yale Daily Bulletin by Yale researchers suggests the human brain devotes a lot of resources to the outcome of games. New studies show the whole brain

Fancy joining the Autumn Hackathon?

The Autumn Hackathon in partnership with Central Working and Milamber Digital is the first in a series of technology hack days, bringing together developers to pool their talents to create new ideas and applications.

Judges including leading entrepreneurs & developers will be awarding prizes including £2000 worth of legal services from a top technology law firm. Entries will be judged on innovation, commercial potential, usefulness & fun factor. To encourage greater involvement of those in further & higher education, teams are limited to three members but allowed a fourth member who is a full time student. Sign up for two days of coding and creativity with Javascript, JSON and Node.js!

London, 22–23 October 2011

eLearning Innovation Seminar- The Presentations

As promised the presentations from, a very successful seminar if we do say so ourselves, are freely available.

The first presentation you see here is from Andy Hasoon, Director of Strategy for Intellego introduced the

Viagra for marketers? MSG for consumerism? Solution to all our woes? Erm…I don’t think so! Why Gamification bugs me…

The hype around ‘Gamification’ has been gaining momentum for the best part of this year and seems to be more acceptable than Serious Games ever was/is as an industry label. However; as with all fads, they don’t all stick, and they’re not all good for us. And yes, at the moment I see Gamification as a fad, similar to the early days of social networking. In my mind it is yet to be proven to be anything more than a slick buzzword. Now social networking has taken off, in a big way, but will gamification do the same?

As a serious game designer I love the idea of more game mechanics in our lives and it looks like gamification is becoming an ‘acceptable term’ where serious games has failed to gain a footing. However; without trying to be melodramatic there may be

Microsoft gives $15M to schools for games and cloud

 

The President of the United States hosted an education roundtable with business leaders, Secretary Duncan, Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes, America’s Promise Alliance Chair Alma Powell and Founding Chair General Colin Powell to discuss building upon strong industry-led partnerships that are working to transform the American education system. Other corporate partners in attendance include representatives from the Business Roundtable, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Coalition for Student Achievement, the Business-Higher Education Forum, and the United Way.

Fred Humphries, senior vice president at Microsoft, met with Pres. Barack Obama in a Monday roundtable on education reform with other business leaders from State Farm, Intel, AT&T, Time Warner, Accenture and others.

“A world-class education is the single most important factor in determining not just whether our kids can compete for the best jobs but whether America can outcompete countries around the world. America’s business leaders understand that when it comes to education, we need to up our game. That’s why were working together to put an outstanding education within reach for every child,” said President Barack Obama.

“Around the world, every day, students are engaged in playing games. These digital exercises provide us insight into their motivations and passions. And yet, our classrooms and content take little advantage of this information,” Anthony Salcito, vice president for Microsoft Worldwide Education.

New commitments announced during the round table included Research and Development for Next Generation Learning Models and Resources for Students and Teachers: Building on its history of commitment to education and recent $25 million STEM Scholarship grant program in Washington State, Microsoft Education is announcing a new $15M investment in research and development for immersive learning technologies including game based instruction and the creation of a lifelong learning digital archive. Through the creation of these innovative solutions, the disengaged can become passionate problem solvers and the struggling student can be offered other pathways to success.  Rooted in this investment is the understanding that technical innovation alone will not help. Therefore, over the next 3 years, Microsoft is committing to train over 150 thousand educators and leaders and provide access to professional learning communities and training to every teacher in the United States through the new Partners in Learning Network.

The full White House press release can be found here.