Danyl Grose Jason Hoch Darlene Kowalski INTC 5001 – Summer 2011 Dr. Ackerman

 Entertainment melds with education.  Can include television, radio, music, & video games.  Games focus on learning first, entertainment second. Edutainment

1943 Plato TICIT ’s-1990’s 1990’s Today System Type 19 Flight Simulator on analog computer Educational software for Main-frame computers Oregon Trail (no graphics) Apple II platform for educational software Math Blaster (drill & practice) PC Software Reader Rabbit and simulation games like SimCity2000 Internet based educational games like Nick Jr., PBS Kids, Disney, etc. Edutainment Timelines

BackSkinner Reasons for behavior are environmental or extrinsic. Operant conditioning—The frequency of a behavior will increase if it is rewarded. Any age-appropriate skill can be taught using five principles to remedy the problems: Give the learner immediate feedback. Break down the task into small steps. Repeat the directions as many times as possible. Work from the most simple to the most complex tasks. Give positive reinforcement.

Back Piaget’sPiaget’s Theory of Equilibration: People learn through assimilation and accomodation. An effective educational game illicits extensive critical thinking and problem-solving skills through engaging play. Go play a video game you whippersnappers!

In games it’s referred to a “attract mode”. It’s when the game appears to be playing itself. Learning skills from a game and building on them either from level to level or game to game. Players must know how they are doing or there’s no incentive to continue. Scores, questions, verbal feedback. Without appropriate feedback, the players can’t know if they are progressing towards their goal. Responding to the game, which is the essence of any game. Learning how to play is accomplished within the game, not by reading manuals. Hints are sometimes given along the way. Includes the “back story” and describes how one wins the game. Each level of the game requires players to build on knowledge and skills acquired in the previous level. Part of the game that provides encouragement and challenge. Back Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction (applied to games…)

-Created by Don Rawitsch, a history professor in 1971, it combined strategy gameplay while giving players an understanding of what early pioneers had to survive during the long journey. Back

-Developed by Jan Davidson, it incorporated drill and practice with positive and negative reinforcement. Back

Robert Mager HOW TO WRITE GREAT LEARNING OBJECTIVES Criterion Reference Instruction Click on this lovely chart to learn more about learning theories!

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Becker, K. (Director) (2005, June 15). How are games educational? Learning theories embodied in games. DiGRA 2005 Conference. Lecture conducted from Digital Games Research Association, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Egenfeldt-Nielsen, S. (2007). Third generation educational use of computer games. Journal of Educational Media and Hypermedia, 16(3), Green, M., & Nell-McNeese, M. (2007). Using edutainment software to enhance online learning. International Journal on E-Learning, 6, Rice, J. (2007). Assessing higher order thinking in video games. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 15(1), Sources