Game-Based Learning Has Practical Applications for Nontraditional Students
Can game-based learning help nontraditional students improve outcomes? That’s the central question behind a report released today by Muzzy Lane Software, a Newbury, Mass.-based game development platform.
Game-based experiences like role-playing scenarios and puzzles can let students test competencies in a safe environment. The new report shows the potential for these learners to benefit from modular, game-based approaches that fit within their lives and their instructors’ workflows.
“We hope that this [research] leads to educators and curriculum designers and game-makers thinking about approaches to games that can overcome hurdles of cost and fit that have been holding things back,” says Bert Snow, principal investigator and vice president of design at Muzzy Lane. The company pivoted its own approach to game design based on two key lessons from the study: educators don’t want all-encompassing game-based courses; and they see opportunity for affordable, flexible “learning moments” from games if tools are easy to implement.
The study, “The Potential for Game-based Learning to Improve Outcomes for Nontraditional Students,” is based on research funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and includes insights from a survey of 1,700 students, 11 in-person focus groups and interviews with teachers and school leaders. Educators said games could be especially helpful in several areas: auto-assessing whether students can apply what they’ve learned, building employment competencies and improving study skills.
Who Are Nontraditional Learners?
While the definitions of nontraditional student varies, Muzzy Lane characterizes them as learners who meet two of the following criteria: returning to school after pausing their education, balancing education with work and family responsibilities, lower-income, English as a second language learners, or the first members of their families to attend college.
Nontraditional students, who make up the majority of post-secondary learners, cram in study sessions during the work commute or after they put the kids to sleep. The in-person and online classes they take often lack opportunities to practice the employment skills they need. Many of these adult learners want to know that what they’re learning has concrete applications in the real world. “You are not going to learn the stuff you need to survive in nursing school in [my school’s] online classes,” one pre-nursing student told Muzzy Lane researchers. “A lab practical needs to have practice in it.”
Muzzy Lane’s observations led the company to challenge some of its assumptions about the efficacy of game-based learning. While it had previously approached GBL as a standalone solution, it learned that games are only one part of a holistic--and flexible--curriculum. “World of Warcraft is wonderful, but a game that’s big and all-encompassing isn’t going to fit in with the life of a student who has limited time,” Snow says. “We really see relevance for GBL in pure practice, being able to apply what you’re learning.” Role-playing games, for example, set the context for nursing students to try interacting with patients in a safe environment.
Overcoming Challenges
Even if instructors wanted to implement game scenarios into their coursework, they’ve faced major hurdles. Those challenges to adoption include the often prohibitive cost to develop and maintain custom game-based coursework and finding ways to fit games in with existing curriculum.
Muzzy Lane has reassessed its own approach to game design based on feedback from students and teachers. Instead of building full, game-enabled courses, the company is focusing on modular, flexible GBL experiences that address specific needs. It released an authoring solution that let educators develop and deploy dynamic game-based content. Snow says that Muzzy Lane has started working directly with several schools that serve nontraditional students and that the company expects to be collaborating with many more soon.
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Schools encouraged to adopt 'VR marketing' at EUK conference
The one-day conference, held at the Etc. conference centre in Bishopsgate East London, featured an opening plenary by international marketing consultant Jacqueline Kassteen, who challenged English UK members to adopt the latest technology - including Virtual Reality (VR) - in order to market their schools more effectively to the current generation of students.
She emphasised that the X and Y generations expected instant information, and online visual techniques were the best way of providing a virtual experience of what their life would be like while studying at the school. Even the smallest language school was effectively changing students' lives by bringing them into the UK and current marketing techniques needed to address this. "Does our marketing speak to that or is it all about courses and accommodation?" she asked. "It's time to think what we're offering and what students need."
Other sessions throughout the day included a talk by StudentMarketing's Samuel Vetrak who argued that the ELT industry was entering a mature phase of the market and increased competition between schools would influence the marketing activities of institutions in the future.
The one-day conference, held at the Etc. conference centre in Bishopsgate East London, featured an opening plenary by international marketing consultant Jacqueline Kassteen, who challenged English UK members to adopt the latest technology - including Virtual Reality (VR) - in order to market their schools more effectively to the current generation of students.
She emphasised that the X and Y generations expected instant information, and online visual techniques were the best way of providing a virtual experience of what their life would be like while studying at the school. Even the smallest language school was effectively changing students' lives by bringing them into the UK and current marketing techniques needed to address this. "Does our marketing speak to that or is it all about courses and accommodation?" she asked. "It's time to think what we're offering and what students need."
Other sessions throughout the day included a talk by StudentMarketing's Samuel Vetrak who argued that the ELT industry was entering a mature phase of the market and increased competition between schools would influence the marketing activities of institutions in the future.
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Transformational Technology in Higher Education Attendees to Explore Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Wearable Technologies and More
Higher-ed tech decision makers will explore new and emerging technologies when they attend the Transformational Technology in Higher Education conference March 24 – 25 in Denver. Attendees will follow this rapidly evolving environment which is vital in developing and sustaining a culture of innovation that accelerates positive change within and beyond institutions.
(PRWEB) February 09, 2016
Hundreds of higher education technology decision makers – including chief information officers and campus IT administrators – will gather in Denver at the Transformational Technology in Higher Education (TTHIED) conference from March 24 – 25, 2016. Attendees will explore the latest digital solutions, discover best practices being employed on campuses and participate in collaborative learning with colleagues and industry leaders.
Formerly Campus Technology Forum, TTHIED will include a variety of keynote and concurrent sessions that feature new and emerging technologies. Program tracks include Leading Campus Transformation, Technology Pedagogy in the Digital Age, Designing a Connected Campus and Technology Solutions.
“New platforms for experiential learning, such as wearable tech, are creating innovative pedagogical opportunities within higher education,” said Daniel Gephart, Higher Education Events Manager, LRP Conferences, coordinator of TTHIED. “Why is it vital that higher education leaders follow this rapidly evolving environment? Because campuses can develop and sustain a culture of innovation that accelerates positive change within and beyond their institutions, and TTHIED works to inspire attendees to bring this culture of innovation back to their campuses.”
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Transformational Technology in Higher Education Attendees to Explore Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Wearable Technologies and More
Higher-ed tech decision makers will explore new and emerging technologies when they attend the Transformational Technology in Higher Educationconference March 24 – 25 in Denver. Attendees will follow this rapidly evolving environment which is vital in developing and sustaining a culture of innovation that accelerates positive change within and beyond institutions.
(PRWEB) February 09, 2016
Hundreds of higher education technology decision makers – including chief information officers and campus IT administrators – will gather in Denver at the Transformational Technology in Higher Education (TTHIED) conference from March 24 – 25, 2016. Attendees will explore the latest digital solutions, discover best practices being employed on campuses and participate in collaborative learning with colleagues and industry leaders.
Formerly Campus Technology Forum, TTHIED will include a variety of keynote and concurrent sessions that feature new and emerging technologies. Program tracks include Leading Campus Transformation, Technology Pedagogy in the Digital Age, Designing a Connected Campus and Technology Solutions.
"New platforms for experiential learning, such as wearable tech, are creating innovative pedagogical opportunities within higher education," said Daniel Gephart, Higher Education Events Manager, LRP Conferences, coordinator of TTHIED. "Why is it vital that higher education leaders follow this rapidly evolving environment? Because campuses can develop and sustain a culture of innovation that accelerates positive change within and beyond their institutions, and TTHIED works to inspire attendees to bring this culture of innovation back to their campuses."
Bryan Alexander, president of Bryan Alexander Consulting, LLC, will open TTHIED 2016 with his keynote "Halfway Through the Tsunami: Higher Education and the Digital Revolution." Alexander will propose answers to the question "How is education changing under the impact of ever-advancing technologies?" by surveying social, economic and policy contexts while examining how education is changing under their impact and exploring leading trend lines for the digital world.
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