Found a Predictive Probabilities Analysis software for download at the Dept of Biostatistics and Applied Mathematics (BAM Software Download Site), maintained by the MD Anderson Cancer Center of the University of Texas.
This is primarily a software to support clinical trials in which the endpoint is binary or time-to-event (TTE).
There will be a new Games for Learning Institute (G4LI) in New York University. The institute is a new joint research endeavor of Microsoft Research, New York University, and a consortium of universities, including: Columbia University, the City University of New York (CUNY), Dartmouth College, Parsons The New School for Design, Polytechnic Institute of NYU, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and Teachers College at Columbia University.
Microsoft Research is providing $1.5 million to the Institute. NYU and its consortium of partners are matching Microsoft’s investment, for a combined $3 million. Funding covers the first three years of the G4LI’s research, which will focus on evaluating computer games as potential learning tools for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects at the middle-school years (grades 6–8). The institute will work with a range of student populations, yet focus on underrepresented middle-school students, such as girls and minorities.
The aim is to identify which qualities of computer games engage students and develop relevant, personalized teaching strategies that can be applied to the learning process.
Effectiveness of Video Games. Again!
“While educational games are commonplace, little is known about how, why or even if they are effective,” said John Nordlinger, senior research manager for Microsoft Research’s gaming efforts. “Microsoft Research, together with NYU and the consortium of academic partners, will address these questions from a multidisciplinary angle, exploring what makes certain games compelling and playable and what elements make them effective, providing critically important information to researchers, game developers, and educators to support a new era of using games for educational purposes.”
How do they plan on doing it?
The G4LI also will evaluate game prototypes and introduce them, along with accompanying curricula, to an existing network of 19 New York City area schools; results in the classroom will be tracked. Based on the findings, the institute’s goal is to expand its research and game development to all K–12 grades. Resulting scientific evidence will be shared broadly with researchers, game developers and educators.
Original article: here.
I am one who don’t think qualitative tracking will work. So I can only hope they are not going down that path. I can only guess (since it is NYU) at what methodology they will be using…
Come across a ModSim World Conference: Decision Making in Complex Environment [http://www.modsimworld2008.com] from September 15-18, 2008, at Virginia Beach, VA.
The conference looks to be small to medium size (as compared to AECT and AERA, of course). But I wonder how is it when compared to Ed-Media and E-Learn? No doubt the computer science and engineering people are getting into these kind of things fast! (Selected presentations will be published in ACM digital library, so go figure.) 
And something new for my radar: there is Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC) at Old Dominion University, perhaps I should “look around more”? The VMASC is a multi-disciplinary modeling, simulation and visualization collaborative research center managed through the Office of Research at Old Dominion University.
There are several tracks in the conference. but the tracks include:
Education & Training
This track focuses on the development and preparation of modeling and simulation professionals and specialists, and issues related to the development and enhancement of the 21st Century modeling and simulation workforce. This includes high school, community college, undergraduate, and graduate level education; modeling and simulation as content and methodology; professional development; and continuing education.
Education and training are broadly defined to include instruction, instructional-related issues and techniques, curricula, standards, certification, accreditation, and resources. The education and training track serves as a forum for (1) the exchange of knowledge; (2) interchange among individuals and parties; and (3) for the presentation, discussion, and resolution of issues pertaining to pedagogy and modeling and simulation.
Day 1: M&S in Engineering & Technology 1: Aerospace (Charles Camarda), M&S in Engineering & Technology 2: Science (William Dunn), Emerging M&S Capabilities in 2030,
Day 2: Vertical Panel on M&S in Eng & Tech: K-12, CC, University, Industry; M&S in Engineering & Technology 3: Civil & Naval Design (Alexander Kott), Game-Based Learning,
Day 3: M&S in Program & Project Design & Management - Part 1
And, no kidding! They have a track for serious games, too. This is getting really “serious”…
Cross-Cutting Track - Game-Based Learning (Serious Games)
In addition to the core areas of concentration, MODSIM will explore some of the conceptual and technological threads that run between these various disciplines. Our cross cutting secessions will focus on the exciting world of Game-Based Learning (serious games) as it applies to each of the focal tracks. By exploring these topics we will begin opening the door to revolutionary new solutions.
This track embraces the full spectrum of thought from theory and practice, research and experimentation, development, to test and evaluation of game-based learning (GBL) and its application across a variety of disciplines and communities of practice.
Topics of interest include learning theory; comparative research in human and synthetic learning; the application of GBL to the “teaching and learning” of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at all levels; and the technical, social, and logistical challenges associated with implementing GBL.
This track is also a forum for fostering research, information exchange, and for individuals and groups interested in curriculum and professional development, tools and user applications, infrastructure and integration, and assessment and evaluation.
No presentation???
Took a quick look at their contacts: Alicia Sanchez.
I will be presenting “Assessing What Players Learned in Serious Games: In Situ Data Collection, Information Trails and Quantitative Analysis”at the 10th International Conference on Computer Games: AI, Animation, Mobile, Educational & Serious Games (CGAMES 2007) on July 25th - 28th, 2007, in Louisville, KY.
This would be my first foray into the computer games conferences outside of the field of instructional technology, it would be interesting to see what others think of Information Trails, and in situ data collection methodology.
The paper can be downloaded here: cgames2007.pdf
I have finally come across the first report about folks “using Neverwinter Nights 2 for learning and/or research.” I am pretty sure the folks at Heriot-Watt University are somehow “inspired” by the success at West Nottinghamshire — since both Judith Good and Judy Robertson also hailed from the United Kingdom.
But whatever the things they are doing with NWN2, the most important aspect (to me) is the last question on the interview: How are you going to measure the benefit (i.e. learning progress) of the game-based learning project?
Read on…
Hitting the Play Button : HERO
It’s part of a research project at Heriot-Watt University, where researchers are exploring how school pupils can learn through building their own video games. Using a toolkit adapted from the fantasy role-playing game Neverwinter Nights 2, it aims to engage pupils with a range of curriculum activities in literacy, IT and design. Below, Keiron Nicholson, software developer with the project at Heriot-Watt University, explains how it all works. Questions by Charlie Peverett.
How does the concept of Adventure Author go down initially in schools? Do teachers need much persuading that it’s ‘real work’ as well as popular?
There can be initial resistance from teachers, who haven’t grown up with video games in the way that most children have. We did some trial sessions at a typical primary school in Dundee and initially met with quite a cynical response from the teachers, but within a few weeks they’d become very enthusiastic about the project, largely because they saw how much it motivated the children.
In terms of persuading them that it’s ‘real work’, there’s a lot of links to the curriculum that they were keen to pick up on – since a big part of the design is coming up with a story and writing interactive dialogues, it feeds into their literacy and storytelling abilities. They also learn a lot about problem-solving and collaboration, and the teachers in Dundee particularly noted the kids’ willingness to ‘redraft’ their work, which is usually very difficult to get them to do.
Naturally they’re also keen on getting the children excited about an ICT package, since computer skills are a big focus nowadays. I think they feel that anything educational that actually gets kids motivated is a good thing. The teachers even chose to tie it in to additional areas of the curriculum, like getting them to make artwork and adverts to accompany their games.
Neverwinter Nights 2 is pretty warlike. Do pupils playing Adventure Author follow that lead? Do you find pupils are more likely to bring murder and military stuff into their games than, say, if they were doing a creative writing exercise?
The game sticks strictly to largely non-violent fantasy combat as seen in the Lord of the Rings films. Naturally, the game toolkit has plenty of resources for fantasy monsters and swords and sorcery stuff, as this can be a fun aspect of the gameplay. However in story terms, their writing has shown a lot of imagination, and doesn’t seem to be bound by the setting – in fact, they use the restrictions of the fantasy artwork very creatively. They use what’s available to them for what they want to do, so we’ve had stories where werewolves are cast as train conductors, and zombies hang about outside Blockbuster Video! In particular, the girls are less interested in the fantasy combat aspect, and more focused on the possibilities for storytelling and art design – it’s quite possible to leave the ‘warlike’ stuff out of the game altogether.
Have any designs particularly impressed you?
One of the kids at our workshops did a satirical game in which you had to interact with various famous political figures like George W Bush and Tony Blair, culminating in a duel with Jacques Chirac! We thought that was pretty inventive.
If pupils want to go on designing games beyond the time allowed by Adventure Author, what opportunities are there for doing so (either within formal education or outside it)?
The Neverwinter Nights 2 software is commercially available, and will probably be selling at below full price by the time the project is finished. We’ll be providing the Adventure Author software on our website free of charge for anybody who wants it, along with tutorials and teachers’ resources to help things along. In formal education, there’s a rapidly growing selection of courses and even institutions which specifically teach game design and programming. There’s also plenty of stuff on the web that pupils will find useful.
After the trials in Dundee, we found that a majority of the kids were asking for the game for Christmas so they could carry on working on their games, and that many parents then bought it on the recommendation of the teachers. The original Neverwinter Nights can be picked up for under £10, and it provides a fairly gentle start to game design for those wanting to get stuck in immediately.
How are you going to measure the benefits of Adventure Author for pupils’ development?
In educational terms, we’re going to be looking closely at the links between their progress in other areas of the curriculum and their experiences with the software. We’re most interested in the impact on literacy skills, since our results so far have indicated that a lot of kids will engage far more in creative writing within the context of game development, when ordinarily it wouldn’t interest them so much. We’ll also be gathering the opinions of professional game designers, teachers, and other pupils to judge how successful the kids have been at creating a well-rounded and fun video game.
The Game Developer Conference will soon be here (March 5-9, 2007). Although serious games initiative is relatively young (3 years?), the assessment aspect of serious games is obvious an important topic. Below are this year’s run down of the Assessment and Result track in the Serious Game Summit (SGS) section:
- Erasing The Delta: Creating Games Where There is No Gap Between Play and a Specific Task (Leighton Read, Larry Holland, Jane McGonigal, Ross Smith)
- Ten Things We Want from the Industry (Serious Games Summit Advisory Board)
- Testing Assumptions: Creative Approaches to Gathering Evidence of Serious Game Impacts (Carrie Heeter, Brian Winn, Richard Van Eck, Caitlin Kelleher, David Williamson Shaffer)
- Two Reports but What Now? (Michelle Lucey-Roper, Alicia Sanchez)
- What We Know: Eliminating Noise with Simple Truths (Howard Phillips)
Several group meet-ups have also been planned. This should tell us about what sectors are currently interested in pursuing serious games:
- Group Meeting: Business Development (Gerard LaFond)
- Group Meeting: Educational Game Designers (Jim Parker)
- Group Meeting: Health (Beth Bryant)
- Group Meeting: Research & Assessment (Alicia Sanchez)
- Group Meeting: Social Change (Suzanne Seggerman)
Although the following quotes are from an older article: Game Plan, from Technology and Learning (Vol 26, No. 3), some of the problems faced in implementing games in education remain relevant… (sadly, this means nothing much has changed since 2005). The full article can be found here: Techlearning (October 15, 2005)
Educators are on the brink of new and exciting possibilities. Pairing highly qualified educators with the knowledge and skills to guide students through empowering, epistemic learning experiences is a worthwhile goal and one whose time has come.
Even as early as 2005, a number of schools has step up to the plate as pioneers in the field of serious games. The first list includes:
Harvard, MIT, Georgia Tech, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Carnegie Mellon, international institutions such as Oxford and the University of Copenhagen, and numerous private companies and research labs are lending undeniable legitimacy to the serious game genre through the increasing funding of research and classroom pilot studies.
The obstacles we educators faced in using digital game for learning in classrooms remain the same. Sweeping systemic changes may come (one of these days), but it is slow in coming. Teachers are still struggling with limited class time, policy-makers, parents and other stakeholders are still questioning the merits of video games in learning… and of course, some game publishers only muddy the water even more by releasing controversial titles (yes, they have to make a sale; and no, they are not helping).
The current barriers of scheduling constraints, lack of clear assessment strategies for higher-order thinking skills, “digital immigrant” teachers who are unfamiliar with games, and the general inability for educational games to compete with slick consumer offerings all suggest that the incorporation of this new genre goes hand in hand with more sweeping school reform efforts.
And the 1 million dollar questions for all policymakers is, of course, “How do we know digital game-based learning is effective?” Is there even a way to measure the effectiveness of DGBL? How do one even approach the problem of video games assessment?
A lack of management features, such as progress reports and evaluation components, made accountability difficult. And perhaps most significant, it took a trained, motivated teacher to identify the game’s direct tie-in to curriculum objectives – an exercise often necessary to convince administrators and parents of instructional time well spent. In recent years, teachers are finding that additional pressures brought on by the testing requirements of NCLB means even less time to experiment with innovative learning games.
For now I will leave you to ponder this matter for a little longer. (After all, it is the 1 million dollar question!) 
