Serious Games and Immersive Learning Simulations for learning and development
March 6, 2012 Leave a comment
are pleased to announce they have been awarded the highest honour of a Platinum Seal from EMF – The Forum of e-Excellence. This prestigious European and global award honouring ICT and Digital Media companies is awarded to those demonstrating an excellent track record in innovative marketing.
Announced today at CeBIT in Hanover, Germany, the ceremony see’s 42 winners from 18 countries Read more of this post
July 19, 2011 1 Comment
PIXELearnings Business Simulations have received the 2011 “Best in Tech” Award from Scholastic Administr@tor Magazine. Our US based partner Realityworks, Inc entered the products into the prestigious competition earlier this year. The RealCareer Business Education Simulations reinforce classroom lessons with hands-on experience in
running a business.
The national awards were presented at the 2011 International Society for Technology Education (ISTE)
conference in Read more of this post
January 5, 2011 Leave a comment
It’s a new year with plenty to look forward to and not just the numerous world cups (cricket and rugby) or the London 2012 Olympic ticket sales but also many opportunities to meet new people and work on new projects. That’s right PIXELearning have dived head-first right back into work to make 2011 our year.
So we thought we would take a moment to pause and reflect back across 2010 after all it has been an action-packed and unpredictable year!
Projects
It was certainly an eventful year for us where we saw projects with Ernst & Young, the return of an existing client (a leading US Defence Contractor) for two new projects, the development of a Finance Simulation and Virtual Town for the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) and doing our bit for the planet, an EU project for Energy Awareness. 2010 also saw the official release of Our Worlds of Makrini by our partners Global Novations.
We also saw a shift in our client base which up until now has roughly been 90% USA v 10% EU which in 2010 shifted to more like 60% USA v 40% EU. There has been a notable pique in interest in serious games from this side of pond in recent months with a noticeable increase in enquiries and projects! It’s looking like Europe are catching on to this little thing we call Serious Games.
Awards
We’ve seen a few awards here and there…
PIXELearning in general
As you may know 2010 also saw a change in PIXELearnings management team with Richard Smith taking the helm after Kevin Corti and Suraj Rana decided to pursue new adventures with Kevin releasing a new Facebook game Village Raffles.
Social networking became more important with PIXELearning starting this very blog (born in February). Our very own Facebook group (PIXELearning) and twitter accounts @PIXELearning were also created and we’ve seen a great community grow!
With the acquisition of new projects over 2010 PIXELearning opened up our graphics department to a selection of incredibly talented West Midland’s based graduates and placement students looking for industry experience – Some excellent talent worth looking out for!
PIXELearning … on a personal note
2010 saw Richard add to his family with Ramsey the cheeky spaniel. It saw Helen Routledge become Helen Stark, ‘Chopper’ (Helen Axe’s nickname) go virally stateside and PIXEL adopting the ‘Jiawenian coding model’ (devised by our lead developer Jiawen Liang) to its day to day business.
Looking to 2011
Our first day back and things are already hotting up! It was the close of voting for Makrini at the Learning Without Frontiers Awards for Innovation in Inclusion. The category winner will be announced next week (10th Jan) and we’ll keep you posted!
January 15th sees Helen and Chopper’s first joint authored chapter (Practical Applications of Serious Games in Education) published in the Handbook of Research on Improving Learning and Motivation Through Educational Games: Multidisciplinary approaches.
And we will be heading down to the Learning and Skills Exhibition on the 26th and 27th January.
Our goal for the year ahead is to continue pushing the boundaries of serious games design and development tools, to acquire new projects from US and European and worldwide clients, and ultimately expand our team and partner opportunities. By looks of it already 2011 is already shaping up to be one wild ride!
December 16, 2010 2 Comments
Voting at Learning without Frontiers has now opened and we invite you all to vote…. (for Makrini of course).
Here at PIXELearning you may be under the impression that we are constantly talking about Makrini™ and you might be right. A product developed for Global Novations, a US provider of Diversity and Inclusion, Marketing and Talent optimization services, Makrini™ is a breakthrough approach to diversity and inclusion training, being the first-ever gaming simulation on the topic.
Being the first of its kind the species of Makrini™ are wanting to get noticed, hence its entry for Innovation Award at Learning without Frontiers. For information about voting please see below.
Aimed at a wide corporate audience the simulation tasks the learner with a mission to a commercial space station where diversity and inclusion skills must be applied to interact productively with intergalactic associates, and to attain better business results than competitors.
It’s a learning simulation of self discovery based on the learners own preferences, decisions, critical thinking, opinions and beliefs.
The key learning objectives of Makrini™ are:
VOTING
There are two ways to vote for Makrini™.
For the UK: Using the code [MAKRINI] cast your votes via SMS or Skype SMS* to 07950 080 667
For the USA: Using the code [MAKRINI] cast your votes via SMS or Skype SMS* to +44 7950 080 667
Multiple votes from the same number for the same finalist will count as a single vote, so no funny business ok?
*Votes are charged at your standard network rate and votes the UK may attract an additional network charge. To make it fair each mobile vote from outside of the UK will count as 2 votes. If you’re outside the UK you may find it’s cheaper to use Skype.
Award for INCLUSION
INNOVATIONS : Worlds of Makrini, Global Novations, USA [MAKRINI]
November 18, 2010 Leave a comment
Entered at this year’s I/ITSEC Serious Games Showcase & Challenge the diversity and inclusion online serious game achieved an Honorable mention that really highlights its potential.
Not using your average avatars Makrini focuses on removing our stereotypes and pre judgments that we have already set and allowing us to truly see how we should adapted our behaviour to become more inclusive. Using a variety of species ranging in look, colour, age and gender Makrini encourages learners to become more culturally aware, improve knowledge and skills thus allowing for individuals to reflect on their in-game decisions, re-assess their working behaviours and replace their previous behaviour with that which allows them to identify better with the peers promoting better working relationships.
The Serious Games Showcase & Challenge looks at promoting innovative game-based solutions to training problem and you have to agree this is an innovative and creative approach to a topic that at times can suffer from diversity fatigue. It certainly promotes itself as a fresh and unique take on diversity and inclusion training for employees of any organisation.
Congratulations! PIXELearning / Global Novations – Our Worlds of Makrini has been awarded an Honorable Mention in the I/ITSEC 2010 Serious Games Showcase & Challenge.
Press release from our partners Global Novations who are the driver behind Makrini and its content
Our Worlds of Makrini Receives Honorable Mention in the Serious Games Showcase …
PR Newswire (press release)
Finalists in the Serious Game Showcase & Challenge will be selected by a panel of serious games leaders in the military, industry, and academic fields, …
November 4, 2010 Leave a comment
Cross those fingers and send us those good luck vibes…..
Coventry-based PIXELearning has announced today that it is a finalist in the Emerging Technologies category of the ICT Excellence Awards 2010.
The Coventry company, which currently employs six people at its head office in The Serious Games Institute, Coventry University Village, achieved the shortlist for its ‘Our World of Makrini’™, game, which was designed in partnership with Global Novations to promote a wider awareness of diversity and inclusion issues within the working environment. The game is being implemented to enable staff, at all levels, to apply this knowledge in their commercial environment and deliver clear business benefits.
Along with the other finalists, PIXELearning presented its submission to a panel of judges and now awaits the announcement of the winners of the coveted technology awards in November at a prestigious awards evening.
Mike Musson, ICT Cluster Manager, comments: “The number of entries rose by over 30% this year so competition has been extremely tough. The innovation and hard-work demonstrated by this year’s entrants will make judging harder than ever.”
Helen Axe, Project and Marketing Manager for PIXELearning, said: “Being shortlisted for an award on a regional and industry related topic is an achievement in itself. For PIXELearning, it’s just as exciting, if not more so, than the product’s release. Being shortlisted for this award allows us to share and demonstrate what can be achieved through serious games and how users will benefit from the unique appearance, focus and approach to learning that ‘Our World of Makrini’™ offers. Being recognised for our work encourages us to continue pushing the boundaries of serious games and continue creating new and innovative online simulations like this one.”
‘Our World of Makrini’™ is set in a semi fictitious/futuristic world with non-human characters. The game offers a hybrid experience allowing the simulation to reinforce specific concepts, allowing users to step into a character’s shoes before being faced with tasks, judgement decisions and responsibilities that need to be completed to the best of their ability.
Through daily tasks, interaction and tackling issues and opinions that may cause conflict, this serious games solution conveys the notion of ‘behaving inclusively’. It allows the users’ key decisions to define their unique performances and its overall aim is to raise awareness and acknowledge of users’ behaviours whilst taking into consideration the values and beliefs of others.
“The awards provide a great insight into the sheer diversity and talent on offer in the West Midlands technology community and beyond,” continues Mike. “The ICT Cluster, comprising technology businesses, educational establishments and support organisations working in collaboration, is enabling the West Midlands to build a dynamic regional economy as well as compete successfully in the competitive ICT marketplace, on a global level.”
Shortlisted companies will be eligible for membership of the exclusive ICT Excellence Club. The Club was set up to encourage award-winning businesses to share knowledge, create business opportunities and accelerate growth in the region and beyond.
The Annual ICT Excellence Awards were established in 2005. They aim to showcase successful and innovative ICT companies and public sector organisations, of all types and sizes, and provide recognition to their teams for all their hard work and effort.
The winners will be announced at an evening awards ceremony following the annual ICT Conference on 25th November 2010, which is being held at the National Motorcycle Museum in Bickenhill, Solihull.
To find out more about the ICT Cluster, please follow at: Twitter/wmidlandsict, the ICT Cluster Group on LinkedIn or the ICT Cluster on Facebook.
We will let you know how we get on.
August 17, 2010 1 Comment
This summer PIXELearning entered ‘Our Worlds of Makrini’ into the awards under the category of Best Professional Game with a budget over 40,000 Euros. We received second place in the competition narrowly beaten to the top spot by Serious Games Interactive’s ‘Playing History – The Plague’.
The 1st European Best Learning Game Competition sought to expand the understanding and capabilities of developing and using Serious Game applications for learning and training and to promote a debate of Serious Games as factor of regional development.
‘Our Worlds of Makrini’ is a very ambitious and innovative online serious game aimed at tackling issues around diversity and inclusion topics – it uses a sci-fi themed context to help staff make linkages between abstract diversity issues and real world, day to day business activities and objectives.
PIXELearning and Global Novations are very proud to have achieved 2nd place in this competition and the judges had this to say about the product…
‘Our Worlds of Makrini’ has been well appreciated by the jury…Your outstanding technological and educative achievement has been promoted with a real success during the Serious Games, Education & Economic Development Conference 2010.” (Dan Baclesanu Ludus Project, 2010).
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