The Research

The U.S. Navy measured both the increase in skills learned experientially at NAS Fallon, the U.S. Navy’s “Strike University,” and then the decay rate of skills from the moment the pilots left.  The results are plotted on this chart.  They found that just six weeks after the pilots left the training program, their skills had decayed to almost the same level as pre-training.

The Implication

It is true that learning through “theory + doing + debriefing” changes behavior.  It works. It increases capacity.  And it also true that learning, if not used, goes away.

The implication to me is that education programs now and in the future have to increasingly be both experiential and flexible to deploy.  It is no longer enough simply to have a great sim, for example.  The sim itself has to be engaged by the student within weeks of the planned use of the content.   This creates a bias towards single player and against multi-player in some situations (where it may be hard to gather critical mass), and a bias towards accessible and off-the-shelf rather than dedicated hardware.

Finally, it makes the case that education has to be refreshed in individuals.  For important skills that are not frequently used, programs have to be deployed periodically to keep skills sharp.

Welcome to the first entry on our new blog.

First, let me say that I am so excited about our August conference, Serious Play. It will once again be hosted at DigiPen in Redmond, Washington.

Last year’s event was focused on the no-nonsense goal of creating educational simulations and serious games. (No one hates hype more than I do.)

This year we will shift to the CxO’s perspective, with again the same non-nonsense, practical approach. We will be figuring out: What is the role of sims in an effective strategy? This is critical question for organizations involved in not just learning, but marketing and even software design. When do these approaches make sense, and how should they be executed?

I will be writing this blog as we lead up to the big event. And yes, I will be using it for updates and big announcements,

But I have a much more exciting goal for it as well. In each post, speakers including myself will be presenting one documented fact or study that they believe is relevant to understanding the new necessity of serious games and simulations. (No inspirational quotes or witticisms are allowed!) Then we will provide some context around why the fact is so important.

I would like to start with one of my favorites. I used in The Complete Guide to Simulations and Serious Games. And it is a little wonky, but bear with me.

The research

In a now-classic experiment, Held and Hein (1963) exposed two newborn kittens to nearly identical visual information. This was done by placing one of the kittens (designated the passive kitten) in a little gondola, and linking it up to a harness worn by the other (designated the active) kitten). As the active kitten moved around and explored its environment, the passive kitten was moved in exactly the same manner.

The result was that only the active kitten developed normal depth perception. The passive kitten, even though its visual sensory input was had been nearly identical, did not.

[Held, R., & Hein, A. Movement-produced stimulation in the development of visually guided behavior. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1963, 56, 872–876] http://peterdeli.com/files/handouts/2010-2011/unige/71131/02_HeldHein1963.pdf

Why is this so important?

This experiment demonstrated that active participation with content is necessary for learning. Once again, learning has to be an active process. It is not enough to passively be exposed to educational material, no matter how inspiring or accurate or well crafted.

This is problematic for anyone who champions education programs that lean heavily on traditional approaches. Up until a few years ago, most real-world implementations of education programs relied on methodologies that are passive, including asking students to read, sit in lectures, watch videos, and even author passive content themselves through written tests.

Now, however, we are in the midst of an education revolution. We know how to make pedagogically rigorous active content that both transforms the competence and conviction of students, but is cost-effective and scalable.

I can’t wait to see you in August in Redmond, Washington. And come by next week for the next post (a more modern fact, I promise), as we continue to build the scaffolding for why understanding how critical educational simulations and serious games have become for the success of any education or engagement program.

Air Medic Sky One, from University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands, Wins Best of Show at Serious Play Award Competition

Serious Games Win Gold, Silver, Bronze Awards

In International Serious Play Award Conference Competition

SEATTLE – Aug. 25, 2011 – Twenty serious games were chosen by a panel of experts, as medal winners at the 2011 International Serious Play Awards, a program distinguishing superior examples of corporate, military, healthcare and school/at home learning titles. The winners were selected at the Serious Play Conference, Tuesday – Thursday, August 23 – 25, 2011 at DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Wash.

Air Medic Sky One, created by University Medical Center Utrecht, was awarded Best of Show.

The award program received submissions from commercial organizations, seasoned and emerging development studios as well as students. This year’s entries included 13 international submissions.

“Games for learning are moving onto every platform, from iPads to Smart phones,” said Clark Aldrich, conference director.

Commercial Organization/Development Studio Awards:

Gold Medal Winners:

• Air Medic Sky One, University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands (Games for Health)
• Aircraft Marshalling Virtual Trainer, Heartwood Inc. (Government/Military)
• Gamestar Mechanic, E-Line Media (Education)
• RoboMath, Project Whitecard Inc. (Education)
• Motion Math HD, Motion Math (Consumer Game)
• RiggleFish, Texas A&M University (Education)

Silver Medal Winners:

• McGraw-Hill Education Practice Marketing, McGraw-Hill Education International and Muzzy Lane SW (Education)
• Fate of the World, Red Redemption Ltd. (Games for Good)
• Play True Challenge, World Anti-Doping Agency (Games for Good)
• SpaceChem, Zachtronics Industries (Consumer Game)
• Emergency Birth, Engender Games Group Lab – University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (Games for Good)
• Treadsylvania, New Mexico State University Learning Games Lab (At Home Learning)

Bronze Medal Winners:

• Distraction Dodger, Web Courseworks (Education)
• MiddWorld Online Language Roleplay Game, Middlebury Interactive Languages and Muzzy Lane SW (Education)
• Waterkeeper, First Nations Education Steering Committee (Education)
• Game for Science, CREO (At Home Learning)
• Primaires à gauche, Le Monde (Games for Good)
• Virulent, Morgridge Institute for Research (At Home Learning)
• International Racing Squirrels, Playniac (Consumer Game)
• Devil’s Advocate, UCF Retro Lab (Government/Military)

The Serious Play Student Award was sponsored by Microsoft Corporation.

All commercial entries were also reviewed for Serious Play Certification, which assures that a serious game offers a high standard of performance. Certified games are given Serious Play Certification and a 2011 Seal of Approval. Certification is valid for three years.

For more information, visit www.seriousplayconference.com

Contact:

Samantha Owyang/Robert Brown
The Bohle Company for Serious Play
(310) 785-0515 ext. 232/231
Samantha@bohle.com / robert@bohle.com

Plenary Sessions at Serious Play Conference
To Tackle Major Challenges of Serious Games 

SEATTLE – August 2, 2011 – Some of the best minds in serious games are coming together to discuss the major challenges facing the use of games for training and learning at Serious Play Conference, Tuesday – Thursday, August 23 – 25 at DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Wash.

Speakers in three plenary sessions will discuss tough questions facing project managers and developers across all serious game markets — education/at home learning, business/corporate training, military/government sims, health and games for good.

Tuesday’s plenary session will look at the market size and opportunity for games and simulations for the next five years. Panelists include:

• Alan Gershenfeld, Founder and President, E-Line Media
• Tom Grant, Ph.D., Senior Analyst, Forrester Research
• Tyson Greer, CEO, Ambient Insight
• Kevin Oakes, CEO, i4cp

Wednesday’s plenary will examine the current state of serious game platforms and the best use of each technology. Panelists will include:

• Sam Adkins, Chief Research Officer, Ambient Insight
• Laure Casalini, Dean, Supinfogame
• Nick Berry, President, Data Genetics
• David Metcalf, Researcher, Institute for Simulation and Training, University of Central Florida

Thursday’s opening plenary session will discuss the implementation of measurement strategies during the design process, as well as how to determine and get relevant results, using a mix of traditional education analysis and new approaches made possible by technology.  Panelists will include:

• Alex Games, Ph.D., Education Design Director, Microsoft
• Patti Phillips, Ph.D., President, ROI Institute, Inc.
• Zoran Popovic, Ph.D., Associate Professor in Computer Science at the University of Washington
• James Portnow, CEO, Rainmaker Games, and writer of Extra Credits, the game design column at The Escapist
• Jon Twing, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Chief Measurement Officer, Assessment & Information Division, Pearson

For more information, or to register for the preconference pricing of $450 for all three days (faculty $399), click through to www.SeriousPlayConference.com.

Contact:

Lorraine Lee/Samantha Owyang
The Bohle Company for Serious Play
(310) 785-0515 ext. 224/232
lorraine@bohle.com / samantha@bohle.com

Register Now!

Project Leads, Developers of Serious Games for Government and Military Units To Tackle Tough Questions about Creating Effective, Measurable Programs

SEATTLE – July 27, 2011 – Seasoned veterans who have developed games and sims for government or military use will take on the tough questions about how to create effective, measurable programs at this year’s Serious Play Conference Tuesday – Thursday, August 23 – 25, at DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Wash.

In addition to plenary sessions on market size, tools and technology and assessment strategies, the conference offers an impressive set of speakers and sessions for the government/military games track:

• Christopher R. Hardy, Ph.D., Director, Global Learning and Technology Center, Defense Acquisition University
  How to Create an Effective Sim/Game Strategy
• Sharon Sloane, CEO, WILL Interactive
  Simulations for the U.S. Military: Design and Implementation
• Zack Larson,  CSO, design3
  Utility and Blender: Serious Game Development
• Jon Aleckson, CEO, WebCourseWorks
  Rigorous Methodologies and Skill Sets for the Sim/Game Development Process
  MindMeld – Collaboration with SME’s and the Value of Rigorous Processes
• Jim Hadley, Instructional Designer, The Boeing Company
  Modeling Content: ISD for Instructional Simulations
• Alicia Sanchez, Games Czar, Defense Acquisition University
  An Enterprise Approach to Casual Games for Learning
• Bob Hone, Creative Director, Red Hill Studios
  Games for Compliance Training
• Talib Hussain, Senior Scientist, Raytheon BBN Technologies
  Techniques for Achieving an Effective Blend Between Engagement and Learning in Games
• Brayden Olsen, CEO, Novel
  The Top 5 Ways Gamification Can Save Your Organization Money
• Ross Smith, Director of Test, Microsoft
  A Case Study of Quality Control

For more information visit Serious Play Conference, on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/SeriousPlayConf or www.seriousplayconference.com

Contact:

Lorraine Lee/Samantha Owyang
The Bohle Company for Serious Play
(310) 785-0515 ext. 224/232
lorraine@bohle.com / samantha@bohle.com

Register Now!

Game Education Summit Re-Scheduled to August 24-25 at DigiPen, Co-located with the Serious Play Conference

SEATTLE, Wash. – June 29, 2011 – Game Education Summit (GES), an annual gathering of faculty from university, college and vocational schools that offer game development courses, has been rescheduled to Wednesday – Thursday, August 24 – 25 at DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Wash, just outside Seattle.  GES will be co-located with Serious Play Conference, allowing faculty that currently offer or are planning to introduce a serious game development curriculum to take advantage of the sessions of both conferences for the same price — $349.

GES sessions will cover core curriculum courses, teaching methodologies that enhance student performance, opportunities for research collaboration, guidance on helping students manage the transition from college/university to working in a studio, starting a university game development program and how to increase class diversity, and will include panels by industry professionals discussing their human resource requirements.

Serious Play, a practical three-day conference on serious game development starting a day earlier –Tuesday – Thursday, August 23 – 25 — will feature sessions by serious game developers, analysts covering serious games, authors of the latest books on game design and project directors already leveraging games for corporate and military training, healthcare and education/at home learning.  Speakers will offer guidelines on setting up a serious game program; creating and measuring the effectiveness of games; and design and production tools; as well as the market for various types of serious games.

For more information, go to www.seriousplayconference.com.

Game Education Summit attendees will have access to all sessions at the Serious Play Conference and the co-located events will offer enhanced networking opportunities for attendees, speakers, exhibitors and sponsors.

GES is open to educators and industry professionals, including professors heading game studies programs, instructors, industry executives and game professionals interested in a teaching career. Registration for the two-day event is available online.

Game Education Summit is produced by Game Path LLC, an independent conference management company that provides high-value professional events for the video game industry. Game Path events deliver critical information that helps companies grow and gives professionals opportunities for development of technical and management skills, career advancement and networking opportunities.

For more information, visit www.GameEducationSummit.com.

Contact:

Robert Brown
The Bohle Company
310 785 0515 ext. 231
robert@bohle.com

Register Now!

Assessing the Value of Games for Schools/At Home Learning To Provoke Thought at Serious Play Conference

SEATTLE – July 14, 2011 – Educators, digital publishers and seasoned developers will assess the value of games designed for the school and at home learning environments, give guidance on setting realistic learning objectives for games and offer tips on lessons learned at Serious Play Conference, Tuesday – Thursday, August 23 – 25, at DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Wash. A plenary session Thursday, August 25, led by David Samuelson, executive vice president of games and augmented reality, Pearson, will explore the topic of assessment.  Panelists will include:

• Alex Games, Ph.D., Education Design Director, Microsoft
• Patti Phillips, Ph.D., President, ROI Institute, Inc.; Chair and CEO, The Chelsea Group, Inc.
• Zoran Popovic, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Computer Science, at the University of Washington
• James Portnow, CEO, Rainmaker Games
• Jon S. Twing, Ph.D., EVP and Chief Measurement Officer, Assessment & Information Division, Pearson

The Games for School/At Home Learning track will also feature an impressive set of session speakers including:

• Joan Mazur, Ph.D., Professor, University of Kentucky
• Ted Henning, Associate Faculty, National University
• Susan Meek, Education Strategist, Breakway Ltd.
• Thomas Vaidhyan, CEO, Aten Intelligent Educational Systems, Inc.
• Michael Golden, CEO and Founding Partner, Educurious
• Art Graesser, Ph.D., Professor in Psychology, Adjunct Professor in Computer Science; Co-Director of the Institute of Intelligent Systems, The University of Memphis
• Scot Osterweil, Research Director, Comparative Media Studies/MIT; Creative Director, Learning Games Network

For more information visit Serious Play Conference, on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/SeriousPlayConf or www.seriousplayconference.com

Contact:

Robert Brown
The Bohle Company
310 785 0515 ext. 231
robert@bohle.com

Register Now!

SEATTLE – May 23, 2011 – The leading serious game developers, analysts covering serious games, authors of the latest books on game design and senior project directors already leveraging games for corporate and military training, healthcare and education are heading to Serious Play Conference Tuesday – Thursday, Aug. 23 – 25, 2011 at DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Wash.

Sessions at Serious Play, a high-level, practical conference already drawing an international list of speakers, will provide advice on every step of the development path, from design and production to measurement and assessment. Attendees will also see presentations on market size for each serious games segment, including the growing importance of the mobile platform.

Developers will be introduced to new technologies allowing faster, more effective game creation and hear lessons learned from mature studios.

“We plan to elevate the discussion on serious games to the productive, practical level,” Clark Aldrich, conference director, said. “We want attendees at the conference to walk out with actionable strategies they can use to start a development program at their organization or helpful input to improve their business plan.”

Confirmed speakers include:

• Tom Grant, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research
• Alicia Sanchez, Games Czar, Defense Acquisition University
• Claude Comair, Founder and President, DigiPen Institute of Technology
• David Edery, CEO, Fuzbi, Author, Changing the Game
• Randy Hinrichs, CEO, 2b3d; Author of Engaging the Avatar and Transforming Virtual World Learning, coming out this fall
• Tyson Greer, CEO, Ambient Insight
• Brayden Olsen, CEO, Novel
• Julián Alberto Martín Alonso, Commercial Director, One Click, Spain
• Alan Gershenfeld, Founder, President, E-Line Media
• Jon Aleckson, CEO, Web Courseworks; Author of MindMeld
• Sharon Sloane, CEO, WILL Interactive
• Jon Twing, PhD, EVP and Chief Measurement Officer, Assessment & Information Group, Pearson
• David Metcalf, Researcher, Institute for Simulation Training, UCF
• Jim Hadley, Instructional Designer, Boeing
• Lilli Thompson, Game Developer Advocate, Google
• Patti Phillips, CEO, ROI Institute
• Chuck Hamilton, Learning and New Media Program Manager, IBM
• Ashraf Ahmad, Chair, Computer Graphics, PSUT, Jordan
• Donald Brinkman, Program Manager, Microsoft Research, and Games for Learning Institute
• Brock Dubbels, Project Manager, Computer Based Training at United Health Group
• Robert Hone, Creative Director, Red Hill Studios
• Raymond de Villiers, CEO, Wisdom Games
• Volker Kunze, Learning Consultant, Munich, Germany
• Robert Bell, Multimedia Coursewriter, Enspire Learning

For more information, visit www.seriousplayconference.com

Contact:

Katherine Chang
The Bohle Company
310 785 0515 ext. 223
Katherine@bohle.com

Register Now!

A Boot Camp for Learning Everything About Serious Games

SEATTLE — April 13, 2011 – The first Serious Play Conference is seeking speakers experienced in creating and delivering cutting-edge serious games to audiences worldwide. The conference will be held Tuesday – Thursday, Aug. 23 – 25, 2011 at the DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Wash.

Serious Play aims to push serious game development to a higher competency – building games that deliver predictable results. Attendees will include heads of corporate, military and health care programs; senior educators, top simulation and education developers; strategic hardware and software vendors and industry leaders.

Over the course of the three days, attendees will spend time in both keynotes and small sessions, aligned by interest and project. Speakers offering information and techniques valuable for multiple tracks are sought and will be given two sessions.

To submit a speaker proposal, please use the following link:

http://www.seriousplayconference.com/speakers/

The topics organizers plan to offer are displayed below:

Register Now!

SEATTLE — April XX, 2011 – Serious Play Conference today announced the International Serious Play Awards , a program to recognize and certify exemplary products for training or learning in the education, corporate, government/military, healthcare and consumer markets.

Any organization or individual that has created or contracted for a serious game or simulation using commercial off the shelf (COTS) platforms is eligible to enter the awards program. Universities may also submit student projects.

“Our aim is to create an award program for serious games that is the high watermark of success,” said Clark Aldrich, conference director. “We’re looking for programs that deliver a high level of engagement to their audience, superior learning and demonstrate measurable results.”

In addition to being eligible for the competition, all titles entered into the 2011 Awards Program will be eligible for Serious Play Certification.  This program is designed to offer customer assurance that a serious game offers a high standard of performance, having passed a rigorous examination by an advisory panel of experts. All games certified will be given a Serious Play Certification certificate and 2011 Seal of Approval. The certification will be valid for three years.

Winners will be announced during Serious Play Conference Tuesday – Thursday, Aug. 23 – 25, 2011 at DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Wash.

To submit a sim or game created for the education or at home learning environment; government or military use; medical training or consumer health care; corporate training or marketing; or a game developed for the consumer/games for good market, use the following link:
http://www.seriousplayconference.com

Register Now!