Babysteps in Using games for learning

It may be difficult to see the slow steps forward but this is one quite interesting event. At Eschool News they recently did a feature on using games for education based on new interesting report from MIT . The really interesting thing is that the Eschool feature was the third most read article in december 2009. So there definitely is interest in harnessing the power, but nevertheless progress seems quite slow.

I still believe that even if we have a number of major challenges as mentioned in the report we must also acknowledge that the game-based-learning on the market currently is probably not good enough to meet the expectations of educators interested in the. At Serious Games Interactive it has been a slow and painful journey with Global Conflicts series, and I believe that it is only with the latest episodes that we are really getting it right. It is really interesting to compare how we have changed it from the first Global Conflicts: Palestine (late 2005) until Global Conflicts: Bangladesh (late 2009). It may not be major changes but in total it adds up.

I am most excited about our Playing History game though. It is the sum of the lessons we have learned so far. You should not be surprised if you see it in a shop near you in the first half year of 2010. Right now we are focusing on expanding the educational experience around the game, but overall it is already a more than worthy partner for Global Conflicts-series.

Lets just hope we have the patience and stomach to hang on to the market as it begins to mature.