Play’s Republic

Early on in the course, we covered learning within games, primarily as a function of gaining faculty within a semiotic domain. We have never, not once, discussed games as learning devices used to learn about a specific type of content, however, and we especially didn’t talk about “edutainment” games. In the name of such things, I thought I’d draw your attention to this article over at Reuters about how some educators think that video games could provide a viable way of learning about “real world” stuff, like, oh, math. We’ve had these games all along and some have even managed to stick around for a very, very long time. But, games-for-learning have changed. Here’s one that UNC’s Division for Continual Learning put together to teach microeconomics at a college level. I participated in a presentation with these guys back when I worked within textbook publishing and they’re pushing a real, new pedagogy.

But, the real questions is: Will the XO play Halo?