There are now some interesting papers and conference proceedings available from the recent Games for Health Annual Conference that took place September 28-29 at the Medical School Teaching Facility in Baltimore, MD. Games for Health is part of the Serious Games Initiative, which seeks to use “cutting-edge entertainment technologies to solve problems in areas as diverse as education, health-care, national defense, homeland security, analytics, and corporate management.”
The conference brought together researchers, medical professionals, and game developers to share insights on how games can impact health care and policy, learning, and healthy lifestyles in general. Interesting presentations include an “Aids Education with Games presentation, a teacher who used the Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) video game to address the widespread obesity problem and to promote fitness with her students, and a student who used Second Life for medical training purposes. Click here to view the presentations.
The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) recently published a report following the Serious Games Summit that concludes video games can provide skills useful in the job market. An excerpt is as follows: “The success of complex video games demonstrates games can teach higher-order thinking skills such as strategic thinking, interpretative analysis, problem solving, plan formulation and execution, and adaptation to rapid change. These are the skills U.S. employers increasingly seek in workers and new workforce entrants. These are the skills more Americans must have to compete with lower cost knowledge workers in other nations. Games and simulations can also serve as powerful hands-on tools for teaching practical and technical skills, from automotive repair to heart surgery. In addition, today’s students who have grown-up with digital technology and video games are especially poised to take advantage of the features of educational games.”
The challenge seems to be how to effectively leverage games for education and how to do it right. The FAS is asking for additional government funding for research in educational games. This news is another example of how educational games is finally starting to gain traction in academic circles. Click here to read the FAS games report.