Podcast117: Engaging Brains with Games and Simulations

13th January 2007

posted in creativity, design, games, podcasts, web 2.0 |

This podcast is a recording of a presentation by Dr. Bernie Dodge at MacWorld 2007 at the K-12 Educators Market Symposium produced by California’s Computer Using Educators Inc. His topic was Engaging Brains with Games and Simulations. The theme of using games to engage students in learning is common to many educational technology conferences, but the depth of analysis which Dr. Dodge lends to this subject is refreshing. He discussed a formula for learning power (Learning Power = Attention x Depth x Efficiency) in his presentation that can assist educators attempting to use games in their instruction. He also reviewed three gaming environments for learning: Inform 7 (interactive fiction,) Star Logo TNG, and Second Life. His department at San Diego State University has its own virtual home in SL, and Dr Dodge outsourced its construction to a designer in Hawaii. Clearly we are living in the 21st century. Now our challenge is to transform our learning environments utilizing the tools of engagement available to us!

Show notes for this podcast include:

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Podcast117: Engaging Brains with Games and Simulations [51:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1304)

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 13th, 2007 at 10:52 am and is filed under creativity, design, games, podcasts, web 2.0. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

1 On January 14th, 2007, Chris Harbeck said:

I just finished listening to the presentation from Macexpo. This is amazing. Can you imagine increasing learning power by using games in the class. Thank you for sharing this. The Glassbead game is really interesting to me as a review of a unit. My students are good with gliffy and would be able to blog about the relationships they create in this game.

Thanks again for sharing this idea and presentation. I hope you get home safe and soon.

2 On January 15th, 2007, Alja SulÄiÄ said:

Thank you so much for sharing all these Macworld presentations. They all gave me many new ideas that will hopefully be turned into real and engaging learning activities.

I was also really interested in hearing about the Glassbead game and its Gliffy adaptation. Definitely an idea to try out with our students!

3 On February 15th, 2007, Teaching Generation Z » Blog Archive » The Viral Glass Bead Gameboard said:

[...] You get the idea. How did I get this activity? Well, in true digital viral form, the graphic came from Chris Harbeck in Winnipeg, Canada, who created it on Gliffy after listening to a Bernie Dodge presentation podcast, listened to and recorded by Wesley Fryer from Oklahoma, USA. Chris picked up the idea very quickly and applied his take on the “Glass Bead Game” mentioned in the presentation. Maybe I was initially resistant to this global virus but eventually the idea has taken seed here in Adelaide, Australia. [...]

4 On February 19th, 2007, Charles Cameron said: