The Top 5 Platforms for Creating Educational Video Games

Several games out there claim to be educational. Some are more or less so, depending on how one defines “educational.” The list of potential platforms for creating educational videogames is long. Many a fine game has been coded in a variant of BASIC or C, for instance. This list tends to focus on platforms for games created by university researchers and governmental organizations. In that regard, I make a value judgment by inferring that, in general, a game created by a governmental entity, a museum, or university personnel tends to be more “educational” than others.

Anyway, that’s my bias in creating this list. I’d love to hear additional ideas or justifications for inclusion regarding a platform I’ve left out.

1. Neverwinter Toolkit

Commentary: Many solid educational videogames have been developed to run on one of the iterations of Neverwinter Nights using the Aurora Neverwinter Toolkit. Many of these have been designed by teachers for their classrooms, and not released to the general public.
The game itself is completely modifiable, making it fairly easy to manipulate for desired educational outcomes. Teachers can insert dialogue, send students on quests to hunt for artifacts or other virtual ephemera, and set up pedagogical situations within the game. Although it’s a full 3-D virtual interactive environment (VIE), complete with anthropomorphically correct avatars, its runtime requirements are relatively light.

Example: Revolution continues to be the defining mod for Neverwinter Nights, showing what’s possible on the platform. Although it’s getting old (ca. 2004), Revolution continues to draw interest from academics and others.

Main Site: http://nwn.bioware.com/builders/

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2. Civilization III

Commentary: Professors and teachers have long been enamored with the idea of using games in the Civilization series for teaching history and social studies. Even better is the idea of modifying the game so that students can garner specific objectives. Nebulous concepts such as characteristics leading a people group toward dominance over their neighbors, as well as more concrete concepts such as locating settlements near water to help ensure success, are transmitted to players in the game. Modifying Civilization III is encouraged by its parent, Firaxis Games, with players urged to upload their maps and mods to the main site.

Example: The History Canada Game from Canada’s National Historical Society and The Historica Foundation shows how a country’s history can be explored through gaming.

Main Site: http://www.civ3.com/mods.cfm

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3. Flash

Commentary: When it comes to creating an educational game for a museum or government agency’s online site, Flash is the program of choice. As popular as it is, there are beaucoup sites with Flash games, some purporting to be educational. Unfortunately, many are very low on learning quotients, requiring little more than thoughtless arcade skills. On the other hand, many museums and governmental agencies have added excellent educational games to their sites that teach kids something, and promote the organizations’ goals at the same time.

Example: America’s CryptoKids is a collection of Flash games and activities from the US National Security Agency. The site shows how government and museum sites can create games in Flash to attract younger audiences online.

Main Site: http://www.adobe.com/

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4. Java

Commentary: If you’re going to make a serious game for the Web or other applications, and you don’t want to use Flash, then Java, the cross-platform language from Sun, remains an excellent choice. A major plus is the language is ideal for mobile phones and other devices, as well as for many types of computing platforms.

Example: The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives from Utah State University offers a variety of online Java applets designed to convey mathematical concepts. Originally funded with an NSF grant, the site now offers a CD version by mail.

Main Site: http://java.sun.com/

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5. XNA for the Xbox & Windows

Commentary: A relative newcomer to this group, Microsoft’s XNA is designed to create games for Windows and the Xbox. In a huge usage boost late last year, Microsoft released XNA free to universities and college students. According to their promotional department, over 300 universities worldwide have adopted XNA as a platform for teaching programming skills. Although it has only been freely available for a few months, look for this platform to become heavily used by universities to create educational games in the future.

Example: The XNA Creators’ Club has a role playing starter kit, Role-Playing Game, that allows developers to easily drop in content.

Main Site: http://www.xna.com/

Microsoft Offers DreamSpark Suite Free to Students; Includes XNA

Microsoft has jumped on the “free” bandwagon in the last few years. I remember when Dungeon Siege was opened to modders after the runaway success of Neverwinter Nights. Internet Explorer was eventually made free, as were several other products.

Now, PC World reports Microsoft is giving away tools for teaching programming to high schools and colleges. The DreamSpark program is to be unveiled today at Stanford, and will be available to 35 million students worldwide. I was not the least surprised at seeing XNA in the offering:

Software available to students through DreamSpark includes Microsoft’s development environment, Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition, and its Web and graphic design toolset, the Expression Studio. Microsoft also is making available XNA Game Studio 2.0, SQL Server Developer Edition, Windows Server Standard Edition and other software and resources through the program.

Students who learn in the programs will probably more willing to continue coding in those programs after they join the workforce. This is a shot across the bow of Linux and other freely available open source products out there students might otherwise have been willing to turn to in order to get their feet wet programming.

According to Microsoft’s MSDN developer site, students will be able to download the complete suite. This is exciting news, and I know several tech directors in Texas will be looking forward to introducing the products in their tech ed programs.

Xbox Goes to College to Help Football Players Learn Their Moves

I knew Microsoft endeavored to tap into the modding potential of the Xbox. Now comes an AP story about a company called XOS Technologies selling modified Xbox football games to Division I universities. The returning national champions Louisiana Statue University Tiger’s football team uses the game, as do the University of Tennessee Volunteers (for our friends over in Louisiana, I have to say for the championship game tonight, “Geaux Tigers.”) The game is called PlayAction Simulator, and has apparently played a role in leading the Tigers to another successful season this year.

XOS Technologies programs in all the team’s offensive plays, then all the defensive plays of their opposition. Quarterbacks and other offensive players can play the game to help learn their plays, and see how mistakes can lead to turnovers and other mishaps.

The game looks and plays just like the popular Madden NFL and NCAA football games, though all the goofy stuff such as player celebrations, cheering crowds, mascots and bands have been removed.

If LSU wins tonight, the Xbox and XOS Technologies can certainly claim part of the credit.

Update:
A victory for the Xbox: LSU beat Ohio State 38-24.

Are Social Sites Good for Educating?

After examining the convergence of MMOs with social networking sites and their game-like similarities, we are faced with the question: Should schools leverage social sites for academic purposes? In a report released this summer, the National School Boards Association indicates that school districts “may want to consider re-examining their policies and practices and explore ways in which they could use social networking for educational purposes.” The discussion continues in an online chat at NSBA’s website with Will Richardson over at the Weblogg-ed blog and Connective Learning entitled, “What are the Educational Benefits of Social Networking for Students and Teachers?”

The report released by the NSBA, “CREATING & CONNECTING//Research and Guidelines on Online Social — and Educational — Networking” came out in July, 2007. The report compiled results from three surveys. The first was online, with 1,277 students aged 9-17. The second involved 1,039 parents and was also online. Finally, 250 school district decision makers were surveyed by phone. Grunwald Associates directed the study while Hypothesis Group managed the field research. Funding for the studies was provided by Microsoft, News Corp., and Verizon.

Researchers looking for statistics of online social networking among children will find a goldmine of info here. The 12 page report is filled with charts and graphs detailing online activities and preferences among young netizens in MySpace and Facebook showing that online activities are approaching parity with television watching among the nation’s youth in total hours devoted to entertainment.

But the recommendations at the end of the report have caused social sites opponents and those against use of the Internet in classrooms to cry foul. In particular, the following recommendations have ruffled the most feathers:

- Consider using social networking for staff communications and professional development.

- Find ways to harness the educational value of social networking.

- Reexamine social networking policies [in schools].

- Encourage social networking companies to increase educational value.

The funding element has led the focus for most of the criticism. In an L.A. Times article, reporters Alex Pham and Alana Semuels note that the Judge Baker Children’s Center in Boston cast aspersions on the report due to its funding by Microsoft (part owner of Facebook), and News Corp. (owner of MySpace).

But because the report was funded in part by companies behind two of the most popular social-networking sites, the school board group should disavow its recommendations, said Susan Linn, director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood at the Judge Baker Children’s Center, which is affiliated with Harvard Medical School.

“The report reads more like a public relations tool designed to allay educators’ concerns about social networking than a serious investigation of the complex issues raised by introducing new commercialized technology into the classroom,” Linn wrote in a letter to Anne L. Bryant, executive director of the school group.

In response, Bryant indicated the funding entities had nothing to do with conducting and writing the report, and that to ignore the educational potential of social networking sites is tantamount to “putting one’s head in the sand.” The reporters conclude by suggesting most of the angst with social networking in schools revolves around online advertising on the sites.

The tug-of-war between those desiring greater access to technology and Web 2.0 tools in the schools versus those who do not, continues. As Miguel Guhlin pointed out last week, it extends down to the tech director level, showing up in various levels of attitudes. As more and more luminaries and national organizations come out in support of the idea, though, will resistance fade or strengthen?

References:
Creating & connecting//Research and guidelines on online social — and educational — networking. (2007, July). National School Boards Association. Alexandria, VA.

Pham, A., & Semuels, A. (2007, November 19). Educators weigh merits of social network sites. Los Angeles Times. [Online.] Retrieved November 24, 2007 from http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-fi-schools
19nov19,1,5428223.story?

Update:

Thanks to the folks at the LifeLongLearning Lab for pointing out the link to the report changed. I’ve updated it.