g-Learning: Is this the learning term that we have been looking for?

In a previous blog (A Games Based Learning Manifesto: 10 Thoughts for Discussion), we stated “Use the “G” word sparingly”. Using games in the title is great if we want to sell to the innovators and early adopters, which as developers we probably are doing. But - and it is big but, I won’t lie - is that innovators and early adopters often need to get buy-in from others who don’t quite get it.

At pixelfountain, we have been selling games since 1998 and have needed to avoid the G word. In the early days we used the term Virtual Training. This seemed to fit nicely with what we were doing which were exploratory adventure style games where users interacted with characters and objects in simulated organisations and sites. As it happens, we now use Situated Training for this type of product / pedagogy as it is built on the theory of Situated Learning. By the early noughties, we had started developing resource management games or simulations. Thus, we started using the term Learning Simulations. To date we still use this term for this type of game, but the problem is that it is a subset of all learning games of which there is no overall nomenclature in the way there is for entertainment games (simulations, first person shooters, platform and so on).

In a terrible spoiler, I have already stated my preferred term g-Learning in the blog title - note to self, must create more suspense if I am ever to make it big as a novelist. But, let me appraise the current contenders, before announcing g-Learning as my winner (doh, I’ve done it again).

Games Based Learning: For me, this term conjures up education and includes the G word. We called our blog Games Based Learning as we had originally planned to just talk about education, but we have partially drifted away from that narrow focus.

Serious Games: “Serious Games” has gathered some traction but is somewhat of an oxymoron - games are supposed to be fun. I appreciate it is the outcome that is serious not the game, but that is not clear from the term. Also confused with serious games meaning hardcore commercial games.

Learning Simulations: As previously stated, this is my preferred term for simulations (obviously) but it doesn’t encompass the array of game styles.

Learning Games: Too vague (doesn’t imply digital) and contains the G word. So in the tradition of judging recent UK Eurovision song entries; that will be nil points from me.

Gamification: The term of the moment, but it is too encompassing describing everything from badges, leader boards through to complex simulations.

The case for g-Learning:

• It only sneakily hints a games - it is the Assassins Creed of learning terms.
• It sounds like advanced e-Learning, which I guess it is.
• It fits in with the learning nomenclature: e-Learning (electronic learning), m-Learning (mobile learning).
• It sounds techie and sounds like a category (see bullet above).
• It is succinct.

So, I Googled g-Learning to see what I could find: a few people are using it in the same way that I am suggesting; there is a training company in the UK trading with the name (they don’t do games); a blogger is using g-Learning as in Google learning and another is using it to mean Green Learning. So with that little amount of research, I don’t think there is a reason why we shouldn’t annex the term, what do you think?

The Role of Learning Simulations in Learning & Development Strategies

In September, we (pixelfountain) held a workshop in partnership with Virtual College.  The delegates were professionals from a wide variety of sectors who were invited to discuss the role of serious games/games based learning in learning and development strategies.  For more of an introduction and to see footage from the day (and to appreciate more how our workshops work), watch the video below.



After playing the learning simulation, the delegates discussed using serious games for learning and development.  Various applications were suggested, including:

• Inductions
• Management training
• Partnership working and relationship building
• Staff engagement days/away days
• Stakeholder collaboration
• Team building
• Assessment centres
• Training needs analysis
• Community/resident groups

Barriers to adoption were also discussed.  These were fewer in number, but included:

• The term ‘game’ and misconceptions about games for training
• Access to technology
• IT literacy
• Cost

One of the main aims of the day was to discuss the delivery method of the games and the positives and negatives of different methods.  For example, workshop-based, facilitator-led, collaborative delivery as opposed to individually played, online delivery.  There was a bias in favour of the games being workshop based, but that is likely to have been because the simulation used on the day was designed for that purpose, which could have skewed opinion.

The delegates had a fantastic day and really loved our newest simulation, Planit-Housing, which was developed in partnership with The University of Northampton.   For more information about Planit-Housing, click here and to learn more about our other products and how our workshops work, click here.

To download the full Virtual College report, click here.

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10 Resources on Creating your Own Learning Game

Image Courtesy of Ian Dick on Flickr.

I hope you all enjoyed our previous post (our very own infographic: “Quick Guide to Developing a Learning Simulation”).  I thought I’d follow up this week by sharing with you a list of resources to help you further in designing and developing your own learning game.  The resources cover cognitive flow, feedback loops, making games engaging, common usability testing mistakes and so on.  The list is obviously not exhaustive and some of the more academic papers may warrant something closer to ‘skim reading’, but these are just some of the best and most useful articles, papers etc. that I have found.  The first one is particularly interesting and definitely worth a read.

1. Cognitive Flow: The Psychology of Great Game Design 
2. Improving The Way We Design Games for Learning by Examining How Popular Video Games Teach 
3. Learning Game Design Series, Part 1: Play and Evaluate Games 
4. Creating Flow, Motivation, & Fun in Learning Games 
5. Designing Learning Games That Don’t Suck 
6. Designing Mobile Games For Engagement and Learning 
7. Games For Learning 
8. ‘Narrative’ in Serious or Learning Game Design Research 
9. Feedback Loops in Games and Learning 
10. Five Common Mistakes in Game Usability Testing and How to Avoid Them 

And for good measure, you might want to have a read of our post “Three ‘Games Based Learning’ Development Tools Explored”, if you are thinking about developing your own learning game.

Please follow @paulladley on Twitter, games-ED on Pinterest and like games-ED’s Facebook and Google+ pages for blog updates and interesting games based learning findings.

Quick Guide to Developing a Learning Simulation

It's been a long time coming, but as promised, here is our very own infographic.  It is a quick guide to the process of developing a learning simulation.  Feel free to use our infographic, but please credit us and direct people back to us if possible because they might be interested in our other posts.  Click image for larger PDF version.  Enjoy and let us know what you think in the comments section!  

How and Why Learning Simulations Work

pixelfountain design and develop learning simulations, so we thought we’d share some pixelfountain expertise, which is equally applicable to adults as children, rather than our usual games-ED and education focused bloggery.  Not every subject lends itself to a simulation approach and not every learning need or outcome requires such a comprehensive method.  However, learning simulations can be extremely powerful learning tools and this blog article should help explain what learning simulations are and why they are used.

What are Learning Simulations?

First, they are different to games and models, although there is some overlap:

	Games	Learning Simulations	Models
Atmosphere:	Fun	Serious yet fun	Serious
Purpose:	Entertainment	Learning / Knowledge	Information / Knowledge
Accuracy:	Fantasy / Randomness	Real enough	As accurate as can be
Usage:	Open-ended / Flexible	Flexible	Specific
Audience:	Gamers	Learners	Technicians
Usability / User Interface:	Hard in more detailed games	Easy to use	Can be hard
Engagement	Obsessional	Engaging	Boring

Research into Learning Simulations

A 2010 meta-analysis study conducted by researchers from University of Colorado Denver Business School reported that workers trained on simulation games versus formal classroom or web based tutorials, do their jobs better with greater skill and higher retention of relevant information. Workers not only had higher attainment of declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge at 11% and 14%, but more importantly they developed self-efficacy at a significantly higher rate - 20%. This is one’s belief in their own ability and competence to perform effectively in challenging situations with the intrinsic motivation to attain the desired goal or outcome.

Where Can Learning Simulations be Used?

Learning simulations also have various features that match to learning outcomes, but the subject area has to be appropriate:

  

Subject Area	Learning Need / Outcome
Big picture: ·         The subject can be thought of in terms of PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal & Environmental). ·         Individuals act according to drivers.	Strategic thinking: ·         Allowing learners to understand how differing PESTLE drivers can impact on direction and requirements. ·         Allowing learners to see issues from other people’s perspective. ·         Providing learners with the skills to make more strategic decisions or understand that decisions have a strategic dimension.
Complexity - components of the system (organisation / community / environment) need to be understood in terms of their relationship to other components.	Systems thinking: ·         Allowing learners to understand and deal with complexity. ·         Allowing learners to think of the machine rather than the cogs within it. ·         Providing learners with a mental map of the system enabling them to make better networks and improve decision making.
Cause and Effect - Decisions can have impacts throughout the system. If this then that and that and that, which makes …	·         Decision making - allowing learners to think about the impact of decisions.  ·         Joined-up thinking - allowing learners to think about multiple variables rather than linear thinking - typical of traditional training. ·         Providing an implementation mind set: this is how things work, this is how I can get things done.
Authenticity (situational understanding): ·         The subject is best understood in context. ·         The conduct of individuals is best understood in context.	Situational / Behavioural Understanding: ·         Allowing learners to test hypotheses and make mistakes. ·         Allowing learners to experience pressure and develop techniques to deal with it. ·         Allowing learners to understand that their decisions and behaviours impact on others and the system. Practice makes perfect. ·         Providing learners with a robust set of skills and behaviours (collaborative mind set). ·         Providing trainers with an integrated approach (testing skills and behaviours).

What Makes Learning Simulations so Powerful?

Sitting behind a simulation is an algorithm. This is a set of equations that “model” a situation. These equations are impacted by variables that change due to decisions made by the learners. What happens in a simulation is dependent on the actions of learners and is not buffeted by the vagaries of the coin toss or a Chance Card. That is not to say that randomness has no place whatsoever in a simulation. For example, when calculating the temperature at a given moment in a climate change simulation might require a degree of randomness (say 20%), which makes the simulation feel more real; i.e. the weather is not totally predictable.

Real Enough

Whilst the simulation “models” a situation, it is not a model in the strictest sense. A learning simulation needs to be real enough to allow learners to quickly explore a situation without getting too bogged down in detail.

Ensuring the Algorithm is Real Enough:
[Italics show input form client and subject matter experts (SME)].
• Analysis & Initial Design:
   o   Scoping with client.
   o   Interviews with subject matter experts.
   o   Initial design created and is signed off.
• Detailed Design:
   o   Look and feel + user interface.
   o   Algorithm developed with input from SME.
   o   Incidents developed.
   o     Detailed design created and is signed off.
• Build:
   o    Media and interface.
   o    Incorporate algorithm.
• Testing & Tuning.
• Piloting:
   o    User group plays the simulation and provides feedback.
   o    The simulation is then tweaked.
• Train the Trainer and roll out of the programme.

We will discuss more about how to develop a learning simulation in a couple of weeks with our very own infographic.

Please follow @paulladley on Twitter, games-ED on Pinterest and like games-ED’s Facebook and Google+ pages for blog updates and interesting games based learning findings.

25 Games Based Learning Articles (and Infographic)

The past few weeks I have been discussing the merits and practicalities of teaching children to program (Part 1: Why is Teaching Children to Program so Important?).  This is a topic close to our hearts and is obviously related to games based learning.  However, it is coming at it from a very different angle.  So this week I thought I’d offer you a round up of 25 more traditional games based learning articles (and an infographic).

Infographic courtesy of The Knowledge Guru. Click here for full sized image.

1. Mario Kart in the Classroom: the rise of games-based learning - A great article from a converted sceptic of games based learning.
2. Why Game Based Learning = Good Classroom Practice - Why the rules that govern well designed learning games apply equally well to good classroom practice, including four principles incorporated into most powerful learning games.
3. The School Where Learning is a Game - A case study of Quest, a school in America that uses games to teach.
4. 7 Reasons for Games Based Learning - Reasons why games should be incorporated into children’s learning experience, including narrative, emotional engagement and freedom to fail.
5. How do you Teach Empathy? Harvard Pilots Game Simulation - A group of Harvard education researchers develop a game that enables players to develop their understanding of other people’s perspectives and empathy.
6. Mediocrity versus Mastery: The Case for Game-Based Learning - Explains how games based learning makes sense in the 21st century and how games can train children to get excited about driving their own education.
7. Embalm Your Own Egyptian Mummy On-line! - a game that teaches children about the processes involved with embalming a mummy.
8. Why Learning Games Succeed Where Traditional Learning Fails - Including that they are realistic and social.
9. Using Fantasy in Instructional Games - Research that shows that fantasy can aid learning.
10. Learn to Play and Play to Learn: The Secret to Games That Teach - Some of the merits of games based learning, including the more motivating nature of a Game Over screen than an F on a test, as well as the importance of good design in educational games.
11. CHERMUG mini-games for research methods and statistics - Games to teach university level students research methods and statistics.
12. Games Teach! - A retort to an article, ‘Games Don’t Teach’.  Contains some good pieces of research that show the merits of games, including “Wolfe (1997) found a game-based approach produced significant knowledge level increases. (7 studies)”
13. Teaching Like a Game Designer - A checklist for teachers to design learning games (not just computer games), including defining the goal and rules and how the player receives feedback.
14. Mobile Game Get Water Teaches About Water Scarcity with Good Gameplay and Narrative - A fun game to teach children about social issues such as water scarcity, gender inequality and educational problems.
15. Game based Learning – Why Does it Work? - Defines what fun can mean in games, essential elements for learning and how game elements meet learning needs.
16. Cognitive Flow: The Psychology of Great Game Design - looks at how game design can lead to cognitive flow which is the ideal state for learning.
17. Playful Learning: Computer Games in Education - A presentation from Microsoft Education that explains the merits of games based learning, making games, overcoming challenges and so on.
18. Games For Good - Tired of simply defending games and explaining why they aren’t bad, the author tries to explain how games can actively lead to good.  Includes a run down of what some popular games such as Civilisation and Assassin’s Creed taught them (e.g. history, geography, navigation, Italian…).
19. The Big Five: Five Reasons Why Educational Games Work - Includes less talked about reasons such as the fact that they allow players/learners to continually practice complex concepts, that proper utilisation of avatars can reduce barriers like self confidence, that games can lead to affinity groups and so on.
20. Game-Based vs Traditional Learning – What’s the Difference? - Includes factors such as authenticity and creativity.
21. Lame-based Learning - The author despairs about how people view games based learning.  For example, how they see it as an adjunct to a serious curriculum.
22. APPitic - Not an article, but a site that lists educational apps by age, topic etc.
23. Game Design: The Key to Education? - How to make learning environments more engaging using principles of game play e.g. solving problems builds expertise, learning happens by doing and so on.
24. 10 Ways Teachers Are Using MMORPGs In The Classroom - Including for behaviour management, science, to promote collaboration etc.
25. 50 Awesome Videos for Gaming Teachers - a collection of videos about using games in education.

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Part 2 - The 70/20/10 Learning Model: Lessons for Education

This blog post is the second part of a series.  To see the first part, ‘The 70/20/10 Learning Model and Games Based Learning’, click here.

Image courtesy of blogefl (Graham
Stanley) on Flickr

Given the 70/20/10 Learning Model that I discussed in part one is true of adults, might it also be true of children?  Could this model be used to inform the education system?  By definition, schooling is formal learning and you cannot really decide the destiny of a child from a young age and treat them as an apprentice.  However, elements of the model could perhaps be useful.

Currently, the education system may be more like 10/20/70.  Schools, colleges and universities provide formal learning; however, there may be ways to make this seem less formal and be more appealing.  On the job learning is difficult to achieve for children, however, on the job could be understood more as learning by doing, as this is what happens at work.  You are not formally taught skills, but must adapt and learn them on the job.  For a child, you might not formally be taught information or skills, but might have to discover them for yourself (Project Based Learning for example).  Learning from others (the 20%) could also be more important in education and could be facilitated by Flipped Learning or collaborative learning simulations for example.

Project Based Learning (PBL) is where learning is structured around a project and the children must learn what they need to complete the project.  ‘The Future of Learning, Networked Society’ video in this blog post suggests that in the 21st century, what is important is not telling children to memorise facts and answers to questions we already know the answers to, but to tell them the project and let them figure it out for themselves.  The children are allowed to learn by doing and to collaborate which can be very motivating, however, it is obviously not possible for teaching the basics.  For more information about PBL, see our article '10 Benefits of Project Based Learning’ and our ‘Learning’ Pinterest board.

Another form of ‘on the job’ learning for children could be through learning simulations.  Learning simulations are computer based serious games, which simulate a real situation or event.  They can be highly successful, safe, inexpensive learning tools and can teach a broad array of topics (for some examples, visit games-ED.co.uk).  The important words here are safe and simulation.  Children (and adults, see Part 1) are allowed to experience an event or situation that might be unsafe, impractical or impossible in reality.  Simulations are also more simplified versions of real-life and therefore, can act as better learning tools.  While learning simulations are formal training, they don’t seem like they are (and aren’t as ‘formal’ as most classes) and offer some of the advantages of on the job learning i.e. learning by doing.  Some simulations also help breach the 20% and encourage collaborative learning.

I am sure many of you will have heard of The Kahn Academy.  The Academy basically outsources most of what you would expect from lessons (lecturing, questions and so on) to videos which students can watch online.  This frees up lesson time for more focused and personalised help and instruction from teachers as well as demonstrations, projects, experiments and so on.  This is a form of Flipped Learning.  Please watch the video from Salman Khan on our previous blog post for a better explanation.  While the videos and class time are used for formal learning, there is more scope for hands-on, experiential and collaborative learning than traditional methods.

I think that what is important is the blend.  This is exactly Lombardo and Eichinger’s argument.  They believe that learning occurs best when there is a blend of different approaches.  Learning from experience, from others and from formal training can be extremely powerful.  I just think that education could do more to tap into the 70% and 20%.  This is especially true if they are going to be expected to learn in a completely different way as adults.

Another important aspect of the model which is worth mentioning is that learning occurs due to the realisation of a need to learn and the motivation to do something about it.  A problem with schools (which was mentioned in some of the videos in a previous blog post, ‘The Future of Learning’) is that they tell the children to learn because it will be important in the future and to trust that the teacher knows best.  The child is never fully informed of why they need to learn (and often they are learning things they will never need), so they can lack motivation.

Children are quick to ask, “when will I need / use this?” and they are often spot on.  Not many people will need to remember names and dates of historical figures and battles or be able to recite a poem or know the periodical table off by heart.  21st Century Skills such as problem-solving, collaboration and creativity are increasingly important as well as numeracy skills, literacy skills and so on.  As Mark Prensky argued, "too many teachers see education as preparing kids for the past, not the future".

Lombardo, Michael M; Eichinger, Robert W (1996). The Career Architect Development Planner (1st ed.). Minneapolis: Lominger.

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Adult Games Based Learning and sim-uni

I thought I’d talk about something a little different this week.  In general, our blog posts talk about how games based learning can be used in schools to teach children a whole host of things.  However, obviously games based learning is not limited to children.  The benefits of games based learning that we have discussed in the past (motivation, meeting the needs of different types of learners, collaboration and so on) are just as true and relevant for adult learners.

According to the Entertainment Software Association: 

• The average gamer is 37 years old and has been playing for 12 years.
• Eighty-two percent of gamers are 18 years or older.
• Today, adult women represent a greater portion of the game-playing population (37 percent) than boys age 17 or younger (13 percent).
• Twenty-nine percent of game players are over the age of 50, an increase from 9 percent in 1999.

As adults seemingly have so much experience of games and play them so frequently in their recreation time, why can they not be trained using games?  Games based learning is for everyone, not just the youngest portion of society.  People like learning through games because it is fun; you don’t stop wanting things to be fun when you reach a certain age!  Pike’s Five Laws of Adult Learning say that learning is directly proportional to the amount of fun you have.  This is partly because the more fun you’re having, the more relaxed you are and the more open you are to the learning process.  For more information, visit this website.

This blog is brought to you (as you can see on the right) by games-ED.  games-ED produces games based learning (learning simulations) specifically for the education market (from people of primary school age up to university age).  However, the parent company, pixelfountain, designs, develops and delivers learning simulations (games based learning) to adult learners.  Therefore, we have a pretty strong background in this arena.

The following table measures our pixelfountain learning simulations against Pike’s Five Laws of Adult Learning.  This also can be applied to learning simulations (and games based learning) more generally.

Pike’s Law	Learning Simulations
Law 1: Adults are babies with big bodies	Learning simulations are games that allow delegates to learn quickly, on a relevant exercise, without the pressure of the day job.
Law 2: People do not argue with their own data	Learning simulations based workshops allow delegates to construct their understanding.  The workshop is not about telling people what to do; instead it is showing them what they could do.
Law 3: Learning is directly proportional to the amount of fun you are having	Learning simulations (serious games) are fun.  We pride ourselves on the fact that people leave our workshops with a smile.  But, the real proof of the pudding is that we have  had individuals do the same simulation a number of times!
Law 4: Learning has not taken place until behaviour has changed	Learning simulations accelerate understanding and shift thinking.  Long-term evaluation of our programmes shows that learning outcomes have been sustained and changes incorporated.  Follow on work, in the organisation, enables the delegates to take the learning forward.

One journal article that I have come across gives a good summary of some of the themes that occur across the research on games based learning (Foster and Mishra, 2009).  The reported effects of games are split into several sections:

• Physiological – such as coordination and motor skills but also aggressiveness and obesity
• Practical skills – innovation / creativity, data handling and technical literacy etc
• Cognitive skills – systemic thinking, critical thinking and memorising etc
• Social skills – collaboration, interpersonal skills and informed citizenry etc
• Motivation – confidence, immediate feedback and exploration etc

The reported positive effects of games definitely outweigh the negatives. There are many positive examples of how games can be used in training and development programmes to teach and develop specific skills and expertise. For example, IBMs Innov8 is a serious game that explains business process management to non-technical people.   However, training games also have wider benefits, which is one of the reasons they work so well.

For these reasons, we continue to be active in this market.  pixelfountain’s latest learning simulation, sim-uni, has just recently been piloted with our partners, The University of Manchester’s Staff Training and Development Unit, at their institution.  The learning simulation is used to train staff across the university, to reduce silo thinking and understand that collaborating across functions can benefit the university much more than working alone.  The pilot was a great success and a short case study of the day can be found here: http://www.sim-uni.co.uk/case-study.html.

This is what Paul Dixon, head of the University’s Staff Training and Development Unit had to say: “The University of Manchester were attracted to working with pixelfountain on their particular style of business simulation as it doesn’t become an exercise in mastering the technology or reducing the learning experience to all huddling around a PC. Instead sim-uni facilitates a rich experiential learning experience and can be used flexibly to achieve a variety of learning outcomes as dictated by the user – be it planning and strategy appreciation, team work and communications or decision making. Our early experience of sim-uni suggests it can be used effectively as a learning vehicle in its own right or as an adjunct to leadership and management development programmes.”

For more information about sim-uni visit our website or download our flier.  You can also follow us on Twitter: @sim_uni.  If you want to learn more about pixelfountain and our portfolio of products, visit: www.pixelfountain.co.uk.

And as ever, please follow @paulladley on Twitter, games-ED on Pinterest and like games-ED’s Facebook and Google+ pages for blog updates and other interesting games based learning things.

Outstanding Lessons and Games Based Learning

For anyone who doesn't know, or who doesn't live in the UK, ‘Ofsted’ stands for The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills.  They essentially inspect schools (and other children’s services) and grade them based on various criteria.  This has a considerable effect on the school’s reputation.

The top ‘grade’ you can achieve through Ofsted is outstanding and teachers and schools all over the UK are striving to achieve ‘outstanding lessons’.  But what does this mean exactly?  How can games based learning help more lessons to be outstanding?

Outstanding lessons will obviously vary greatly depending on the lesson being taught.  However, what is common to achieving this standard is the quality of teaching and learning.  Ofsted say that outstanding teaching includes “a focus on pupils making exceptional progress as a result of inspiring teaching, from teachers having excellent subject knowledge and the innovative use of new technology” (information from http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/outstanding-lesson-11943).

In other words, one of Ofsted’s main criteria for outstanding lessons is the innovative use of new technologies.  This, in itself, would be a good reason to use games in lessons.  However, if we look at the criteria more closely, we can see how games based learning can tick more than one box.

Outstanding teachers must fulfil the following criteria:

• Subject expertise and flair
• The involvement of every pupil in the learning process
• Intelligent questioning involving every pupil
• The use of a wide variety of resources as appropriate including new technology
• Involving pupils in the learning process and developing independent learning.

For me, it goes without saying that teachers should have a reasonable level of subject expertise.  However, subject flair is a little more interesting and perhaps more difficult to prove.  One cannot impose passion for a subject on teachers but a good way to exhibit it may be to use a related game in lessons.  Being up-to-date on goings on in their field and finding new ways to instil knowledge that they find interesting is impressive and games exhibit this.

Good learning games should also involve every pupil in the learning process.  Games can tap into multiple learning styles (‘Games Based Learning Supports Multiple Learning Styles’) meaning that all children should be able to access the learning at some level.  Collaboration is also a great benefit of learning games.  Although some technology limits the amount of players, the ideal situation is for all pupils to be learning collaboratively from one game (see the pedagogy page of our corporate website).

The next criterion is intelligent questioning involving every pupil.  In my blog post ‘Unorthodox Uses of Games in Education’, I talked about a teacher using Angry Birds to teach his pupils.  Pupils built catapults to launch real life angry birds and all the while the teacher asked them questions about the physics behind what they were doing.  This can also be done with computer based learning games.

The final criterion involves developing independent learning.  This is really about motivating and inspiring pupils.  It is unlikely that children will become enthused about a topic if the lesson is uninspiring and involves a dull presentation with written exercises to follow.  This is the bulk of most education.  Children can become enthused by a topic and want to learn more about it on their own.  If you make something fun, i.e. by using a learning game, surely they are more likely to do this.

Outstanding lessons are judged on teaching practices, but they are also judged on how the students behave in a lesson.  The key factors (from http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/outstanding-lesson-11943) include:

• Are the pupils highly engaged?
• Do they move from listening to being positively motivated?
• Do they learn and make progress?
• Do they obviously enjoy the lesson and have fun, and are they keen to discuss what they have learned and what they might be doing in the next lesson?
• Do the pupils ask appropriate (and challenging) questions?
• Do they show a keen interest in the tasks?
• Are they proud of their work?
• Are the pupils involved in deciding any part/content of the next lesson on the topic?

Most (if not all) of these criteria can be met with the use of games based learning as part of the curriculum.  Games are excellent for engaging and motivating students and providing fun and enjoyment (see blog post: ‘Motivation, Motivation, Motivation').  A teacher observing one of our games-ED lessons said:  “The children were fully engaged for all the session and the ‘buzz’ in the room was one of real active learning” (from 'Marrying up to the Situated Learning Theory').  Children also talked to their parents following the session about how much they had enjoyed the learning simulation and what they had learned.  This is obviously a step up from the usual question of “What did you do today at school sweetheart?” being met with the response, “Stuff”.

Games are also a great way of showing progress.  Many games have some sort of score, ratings, badges, achievements and so on to show progress.  A teacher overseeing one of our games-ED lessons commented: “[The children] were genuinely interested to see the impact their purchases had made on the town. They were disappointed to see the results/consequences of their purchases in Year 2 and were keen to rectify them in Year 3!”  One of the pupils in the primary school also commented, “I liked finding out what score you got at the end and looking at the improvements.”  Playing a game multiple times enables you to clearly see skill / knowledge development.

From our experience of running our learning simulations in lessons, all of these criteria can be met.  If you want more of an idea of how learning games can help you achieve outstanding lessons, have a look at these previous blog posts, ‘Marrying up to the Situated Learning Theory’, ‘Proof of the Pudding’ and ‘Proof of the Pudding Part 2’ and have a look at our corporate website: games-ed.co.uk.  There are some demos of our products on there too, if you are interested.

There are obviously other factors that are important for outstanding lessons and using learning games in every lesson would be considered inappropriate.  However, it is extremely easy to see how using games in lessons can show evidence of outstanding teaching.  And more than simply providing evidence, games could achieve these outstanding outcomes for students and make real improvements to the standard of lessons and their learning.

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