Game-based Learning: An x-Learn Perspective Paper

Link to Game-based Learning paper (620 KB PDF file. By Kurt Squire, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Funded by the e-Learning Consortium

"(Executive Summary) Interactive digital media, or video games, have emerged as a powerful new economic, cultural, and now educational force. Games are now a multi-billion dollar industry, and new conferences, journals, and research initiatives are all competing to become the home of serious gaming. But when most people think of educational games, they think of Reader Rabbit, Math Blaster, or quiz games. Others see today's games and assume that they're primarily about fancy graphics. In truth, games are much more powerful; they provide situated experiences in which players are immersed in complex, problem solving tasks. Good games teach players more than just facts; they provide ways seeing and understanding problems and, critically, supply opportunities to become different kinds of people.

This study takes these theoretical notions of situated learning through game play and shows how a new generation of serious games coming out of (perhaps oddly) business strategy, advergaming, and entertainment gaming all share common features that point to a future paradigm for e-Learning. Most critically for instructional designers, the movement toward serious games challenges us to rethink fundamental assumptions about instructional design."
Have fun reading! Thanks Kurt Squire and the e-Learning Consortium for sharing this paper with the rest of the world!