Games for Learning @ Games for Change
Last week, New York City played host to the 12th Annual Games for Change Festival. For the first time, the event featured the Games for Learning Summit, hosted by the U.S. Department of Education.
A few things resonated with us:
1. Marketplace: No one entity dominates the learning games marketplace right now. If we look to the music industry—and the ways that consumers are now in the driver’s seat through mechanisms like iTunes and Spotify—we can imagine what the marketplace could look like if educators controlled it and used their buying power to demand quality games.
2. Impact and Effectiveness: How much proof will be enough to show the value of game-based learning? It’s the question our entire community must keep top of mind. The learning games industry can start to define impact in ways that can only be uniquely measured through games. (Read about early findings from our latest learning game After the Storm.)
3. Empowering Educators: Games do not replace the teacher. In fact, learning games have the potential to do the exact opposite. Imagine being able to look at a dashboard and watch students—in real time—make decisions and solve problems. The teacher could immediately pose specific challenges, directing them to different paths and activities. The opportunities, if designed right, are infinite.
Read the full post.
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