next »

[SUMS_Online]

I was interested to see Graham's comment in the post reporting the study that knocked Brain Training.

"Beyond Brain Training and other games of similar ilk the real action in game based learning is in the use of titles such as Little Big Planet, Nintendogs, Guitar Hero, Spore, etc. in the form of, to quote Derek Robertson, "contextual hubs"

Are simple curriculum based approaches like our own SUMS Maths excluded from the party?  They run on phones and games consoles like the Sony PSP - and probably even the Nintendo DS once it gets an SD card and browser. They are also already chosen by many schools - we have added hundreds of schools in the last few weeks alone.

Unless of course we are included in Graham's phrase "of similar ilk". I do hope not.

Best wishes,

David

david@sums.co.uk
www.sums.co.uk

NB Download 8 free samples for your Learning Platform from
www.sums.co.uk/scorm.htm

[Graham]

Hi David

I remember we had a very spirited discussion on this forum about this very subject last year.

While we're in the process of integrating the sites I'd be pleased if you would also re-post this question in the Game Based Learning Community forum at:

http://www.gamebasedlearning.org.uk

You'll find that your existing log-in details are the same.

We've discovered since hosting these two communities that in addition to our existing HHL constituency we are attracting new members to the GBL forum from the "serious games" development / publishing community as well as education professionals focused not so much on the delivery device but the learning outcomes derived from video game and social media related software.

In regards to your question you may find the article by James Paul Gee and Elizabeth Hayes on the GBL forum insightful:

http://www.gamebasedlearning.org.uk/content/view/59/

I'd say that your delightful products are included in the Game Based Learning genre in much the same way that serious games are.

My point about commercial off the shelf games is that they have £ multi-million production budgets and are being sold in their millions to people young and old. This consequently sets a level of expectation particularly amongst the majority of young learners not generally met by traditional educational software whether it uses what the developer believes are game techniques or not.

To quote Stephen Heppell:

A good teacher can [as has been shown by the likes of Derek Robertson, Dawn Hallybone, Steve Bunce and many others] watch children playing games and draw out of it a whole lot of learning outcomes

Using Brain Training is no better than playing soduko or Scrabble?

Personally I think the research from the University of Renne reported in the papers is really a non-story on a slow news day. It could equally be levelled at your software or almost any software that has a leaning towards learning.

The question should surely be what do learners enjoy and therefore can enhance, enrich or maybe even transform their educational experience?