Can we learn socially and academically valuable concepts and skills from video games? How can we best teach the ''gamer generation?'' This accessible book describes how educators and curriculum designers can harness the participatory nature of digital media and play. The author presents a comprehensive model of games and learning that integrates analysis of games, games cultures, and educational game design. Building on over 10 years of research, Kurt Squire tells the story of the emerging field of immersive digitally mediated learning environments (or games) and outlines the future of education.
Kurt Squire is creative director & sr. research scientist at the Morgridge Institue of Research, an associate professor of Educational Communications and Technology, co-director of the Games+Learning+Society Initiative, and vice president of the Learning Games Network, a non-profit network expanding the role of games and learning.
An internationally recognized leader in digital media in technology, Squire has delivered dozens of invited addresses across Europe, Asia, and North America and written over 50 scholarly articles on digital media and education. His research investigates the potential of digital game-based technologies for systemic change in education. Kurt's work integrates research and theory on digital media with theories of situated cognition in order to understand how to design educational environments in a digital age. He was recently awarded an NSF CAREER grant to study embedded assessments in online role playing games, and a grant from the MacArthur Foundation to study mobile media and learning in youth culture.
Previously, Kurt co-directed the Education Arcade, a partnership between higher education and the Entertainment Software Association. He also led the Augmented Reality Gaming Project, a collaborative project with MIT and Harvard University funded by the Department of Education to develop and study augmented reality games for learning which have been used by thousands of students across the US. Kurt also co-founded Joystick101.org, and for several years wrote a column with Henry Jenkins for Computer Games magazine.
