Digital Games and Interaction Design for Active Learning

Last week I was invited to give a talk at the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) East England Event - Technology Enhanced, Active Collaborative Learning: Challenges & Solutions.

I decided to speak about the appropriation of commercial digital games (i.e., games not explicitly designed for educational purposes) in learning and teaching. Some of this build on an earlier talk I gave on how games use failure as a motivator (also shared in an older post). After receiving some requests for my slides, I shared them on Twitter, but I’ll pop them in here too, just to give my old blog some much needed attention.

Abstract

In this session we will explore the use of off-the-shelf commercial digital games as tools for creating dynamic social interaction, providing assessment for learning and improving student engagement. Examples will be provided from multiple domains, from language learning and the development of media skills to history and scientific research. We will explore the underlying theories behind play and game-based learning and contrast these with gamification. We will look at what makes games distinct from other forms of media and see how contemporary pedagogical theory is expressed through game design.