Watching my kids play World of Warcraft in 2005, I had a moment of clarity about video games and learning. At root WoW is a Learning Management System (LMS) with Orcs and dragons in the presentation layer. But grokking that potential and translating it into improved outcomes in school is…
Filament’s award winning game Reach for the Sun has a major update coming to Steam later this week. We’ve taken feedback from teachers, students, and Steam players and developed a strategy mode for the game. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgMYSC42BhU&feature=youtu.be
I’m jazzed to report that I started as Filament Games’ new CEO this week. I consider Filament the global leader in crafting learning games with an emphasis on the classroom. Over the past eight years Filament has worked with more than 40 organizations, built over 50 learning games, and won…
My guess is that if you are in the office today you aren’t all that busy. So take 7 minutes and watch this great little video, particularly if you are skeptic about video games and learning. Video – Tangential Learning His central point, that a well designed game experience tees…
In “Four years into the ebook revolution: things we know and things we don’t know” Mike Shatzkin does a great job of summarizing the state of the trade publishing business. Education Publishers take note – this is your future. In “Predicting Player Behavior and How Zynga Profits From Data Analysis”…
There are bad ideas that become iconic for every era because they were popular fads. Pet Rocks, the Pacer, Supply Side Economics, and .com groceries all come to mind. Looking back we all scratch our heads and wonder – why? Gamification, ripping the reward and recognition systems out of video…
My 17 year old son is in the other room using a kayak paddle with chain saws attached at either end to slice zombies in half. I’m sitting here minding my own business when out of the blue he says “Dad, this game is great for teaching time management skills.”…
I’ll be reviewing the findings of the white paper I wrote for SIIA on Best Practices for Implementing Games & Simulations in the Classroom today at 4 ET (corrected). The webinar and the paper are free. We interviewed teachers, administrators, and vendors who have successfully implemented edugames and distilled the…
What is good product development? The answer is deceptively simple to answer and devilishly difficult to pull off. Basically people want three things – better, faster, cheaper. All the complicated analysis in the world boils down to these three fundamentals. Get them right and your odds of success go way…
Ed Note: One of my favorite thinkers and practitioners on engaging kids deeply with Math and Science is Jim Bower. Jim is that rare combination of theorist and practitioner who is successful in both realms. He is both a Professor of Neuroscience at UTSA and the Founder/CEO of Whyville.net, arguably…