Digital Game-Based Learning - Hardcover

Marc Prensky

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0071363440 ISBN 13: 9780071363440

Publisher: McGraw-Hill, 2000

Synopsis

Recognizing that people respond more effectively to speed, fun and graphics, Prensky’s revolutionary approach melds the engagement of fast-paced video games with serious business content to create better and more engaging training. Digital Game-Based Learning expands on his technique by explaining what digital game-based learning is, why it is different and better, why it’s not just another fad, where it can be used, and how to implement it. Brimming with case studies based on on-site visits to companies who have already successfully utilized this revolutionary training methodology, readers will discover new ways to better motivate and educate. A Web site — www.twitchspeed.com — linked to the guide will bring together the various people and companies involved in the game-based learning field and become a forum for the exchange of ideas.

About this title

About the Author

Marc Prenskyis the founder, CEO and Creative Director of games2train.com, a pioneer in the field of Game-Based Learning. Prior to launching games2train.com, he was the vice president at the global financial firm Bankers Trust, where he founded what was then named Corporate Gameware as an internal startup. He was instrumental in getting Bankers Trust to adopt Game-Based learning to address the needs of its under-30 workers. Prensky also spent six years as the vice president of a Boston-based software company, where he developed the first Game-Based Learning applications for Harvard Business School, JP Morgan, The Boston Consulting Group, and many other clients. He has personally created over three dozen Game-Based Learning software games, including Internet and Corporate Gameware products, business simulations and trading games. His latest creations, Straight Shooter! (for Bankers Trust) and The Monkey Wrench Conspiracy (for think3 software) are the world's first fast-action videogame based training systems. His Internet Game-Based Learning products, Learning Solitaire, The Challenge, Learning Cube-Dude and other, break the mold of what is typically available as Internet training.Prensky holds a BA from Oberlin College, an MBA from Harvard Business School with distinction, and masters degrees from Middlebury and Yale. He is a frequent contributor to magazines and journals, and considered a noted authority in the learning field. He speaks extensively in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. For the past ten years, he has been speaking on the issues treated in this book at training, education and computer conferences. He has delivered talks at Organizational Learning conferences sponsored by The Conference Board in Chicago and by IBM in Tokyo. Additionally, he has keynoted conferences on Generational Change in the U.S. and in Europe.

From the Back Cover

The time has come for Digital Game-Based learning. Thanks to the Internet, video games, and increasingly accessible cutting-edge technology, new learning styles have emerged. The Nintendo and MTV generation process information more rapidly than ever before, prefer graphics to text, and work on several fronts at once, making them champion multi-taskers. As a result, today's new work force is eager for new challenges. But so far, the traditional mainstream business world has done very little to accommodate them, particularly apparent in the realm of training sessions. The question arises: How do you train today's bright young business people for the rules of corporate life in ways that will effectively tap their learning potential--and won't put them to sleep?

Written by former vice president of Human Resources at Bankers Trust and present founder, CEO, and Creative Director the groundbreaking games2train.com Web site, this timely and innovative book defines digital game-based learning, explains it advantages and benefits far into the future, where it can be used­­and how.

From derivatives trading to policies on sexual harassment, here are numerous practical ideas and examples of this revolutionary approach to motivating and educating twenty-something workers. Ranging from the use of simple card games and quizzes to twitch-speed games modeled on such popular PC games as Doom and Quake, Digital Game-Based Learning leads the way in melding business conventions with the highly successful ways individuals learn today.

In addition to an array of training ideas, contained here are the views of experts such as Bill Gates, Alan Kay of Disney, J.C. Herz of the New York Times, and many others. Also included are fascinating and informative case studies, based on on-site visits, of many companies and institutions utilizing game-based learning tools and techniques.

Now employees--and their companies--can gain the full benefits of both today's sharp minds and advanced technologies.

IS YOUR COMPANY TRAINING TODAY'S CUTTING-EDGE LEARNERS WITH YESTERDAY'S METHODS?

"[Marc Prensky] has systematically analyzed the contexts and events of training and has synthesized a logical framework for digital game-based learning."
­­From the foreword by Sivasailam "Thiagi" Thiagarajan, President, Workshops by Thiagi

"A 'must read' for business managers and HR directors as well."
­­Mark Bieler, EVP, Human Resources, Bankers Trust Company (1989-1999)

"This is a breakthrough book that looks at learning as a high activity, high engagement and high intensity process. Marc Prensky has written a must-read book for our field!"
­­Elliott Masie, The MASIE Center, Editor, TRENDS, e-Letter, and Learning Decisions

Today's up-and-coming workforce is quicker, sharper, more visually oriented, and more technology-savvy than ever before. In order for the business world to truly benefit from the MTV generation's learning power and enthusiasm, traditional training session methods must step into the 21st century by adapting teaching methods to the way individuals learn today. Written by the founder of games2train.com, this innovative book, from the leading creator of cutting-edge training methods and games drawn from his impressive business career, is filled with examples and information to meet the demands of both employees and employers--in ways that are effective and enjoyable. From simple card games to those based on sophisticated PC games, here you'll find information on a variety of relevant and intriguing issues, including:

• An introduction to the digital game-based learning revolution--how and why it works
• Real-life case studies from a range of companies utilizing game-based tools and techniques
• How to combine computer games and learning
• How to select a game style and what types of technology are available
• New roles for trainers and teachers
• What about the older generations?
• Overcoming barriers

. . . plus, the perspectives and opinions of such leading business experts as Bill Gates, Alan Kay of Disney, J.C. Herz of the New York Times, Seymour Pappert of Lego Mind Storms, Roger Schrank, Neil Postman, and many more. Get equipped to tackle everything from stock picking methods to proper corporate attire to racial sensitivity and sexual harassment policies, with the book and the strategies that will take the business world far into the future--starting today.

From the Inside Flap

The time has come for Digital Game-Based Learning. Thanks to the Internet, video games, and increasingly accessible cutting-edge technology, new thinking styles have emerged. The Nintendo and MTV generation processes information more rapidly than ever before, prefers graphics to text, and works on several fronts at once, making them champion multi-taskers. As a result, today's new workforce is eager for new challenges. But, so far, the traditional mainstream business world has done very little to accommodate them, particularly apparent in the realm of training sessions. The question arises: How do you train today's bright, young businesspeople for the rules of corporate life in ways that will effectively tap their learning potential - and won't put them to sleep?

Written by former vice president of human resources at Bankers Trust and present founder, CEO and Creative Director of the groundbreaking games2train.com Web site, this timely and innovative book defines Digital Game-Based Learning, explains its advantages and benefits far into the future, where it can be used - and how.

From derivatives trading to policies on sexual harassment, here are numerous practical ideas and examples of this revolutionary approach to motivating and educating twenty-something workers. Ranging from the use of simple card games and quizzes to twitch-speed games modeled on such popular PC games such as Doom and Quake, Digital Game-Based Learning leads the way in melding business conventions with the highly successful ways individuals learn today.

In addition to an array of training ideas, contained here are the views of experts such as Nicholas Negroponte of MIT, Bran Ferren of Disney, J.C. Herz of the New York Times, and many others. Also included are fascinating and informative case studies, based on on-site visits, of many companies and institutions using game-based learning tools and techniques.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Excerpts from DIGITAL GAME-BASED LEARNING by Marc Prensky

(c) 2000 Marc Prensky. Please reference all citations, examples, quotations and ideas from these excerpts to Digital Game-Based Learning, by Marc Prensky.

From Chapter 2: The Games Generations: How Learners Have Changed

"The Games Generations -- others use the terms N-[for Net]-gen or D-[for digital]-gen -- are native speakers of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet. Those of us who were not born into this world but have, at some later point in our lives, become fascinated by and adopted many or most aspects of the new technology are, and will always be, compared to them, "digital immigrants." And like all immigrants, as we learn some better than others to adapt to our new environment, we always retain, to some degree, our "accent," that is, our foot in the past. The digital immigrant accent can be seen in such things as turning to the Internet for information second rather than first, or in reading the manual for a program rather than assuming that the program itself will teach us to use it. We older folk have not been "socialized," to use Patricia Greenfield's term, in the same way as our children. Remember, a language learned later in life goes into a different p! art of the brain."

From Chapter 5: Fun, Play and Games: What Makes Games Engaging?

"WHY GAMES ENGAGE US

Games are a form of fun. That gives us enjoyment and pleasure. Games are a form of play. That gives us intense and passionate involvement. Games have rules. That gives us structure. Games have goals. That gives us motivation. Games are interactive. That gives us doing. Games have outcomes and feedback. That gives us learning. Games are adaptive. That gives us flow. Games have win states. That gives us ego gratification. Games have conflict/competition/challenge/opposition. That gives us adrenaline. Games have problem solving. That sparks our creativity. Games have interaction. That gives us social groups. Games have representation and story. That gives us emotion."

From Chapter 8: Digital Game-Based Learning for Adults

"Here's a way to design a customer service simulation as more of a game. You, the player, get to design your customers, from millions of possibilities. You decide what they look like, what their personality is, what mood they are in that day. You also decide what mood you are in that day happy, depressed, wanting to be somewhere else, hung over, and so on. Then you set the game on play and it randomly generates customers. The customers are computer animations -- not realistic, but exaggerations. If you piss them off, they trash the place. If you do the right thing they kiss you, or give you good stuff, or money, and so on -- outrageous, memorable stuff. You have a goal -- accumulate as much success as possible, become the top salesperson, or the bartender with the most regulars, or keep your cool meter at a certain level no matter what they customer does. But you don't have to get there right away; in fact it's hard to get there. You can explore the whole range of bad scenario! s, which you do immediately because you've already heard, by word of mouth, that they are so much fun. In each situation, there is not just a list of three choices but a gallery of the most creative (and outrageous) things to say in that situation that you can even add to, and they will show up (after being vetted) in other games later. Prizes are offered for the cleverest phrases and approaches that work. Unexpected diversions occur, such as holdups or amorous interludes. There is also a multiplayer mode, where live players run the customers, and their role is to make you lose your cool as they continually interrupt you. You do learn the right things to do and say, because there's something personally fun in it for you -- the whole list we saw about what makes games engaging, including winning on the game's terms or on your own. It's fun -- not like learning a lesson is fun, but like having the best city, or theme park, or sim family is fun. This is the design approach that l! ed to the creation of a game called 'Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego's Luggage?' rather than a simulation called 'Customer Service at SAS Airlines.'"

Edition details

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0071363440
• ISBN 13: 9780071363440
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 442