CFP: Submissions Sought for Book on Serious Game Design

Dr. Janis Cannon-Bowers and Dr. Clint Bowers over at UCF are putting together a new chapter book on educational videogames, and sent out a call on the Serious Games listserv:

CALL FOR CHAPTERS
Proposals Submission Deadline: 9/5/2008
Full Chapters Due: 2/28/2009

Serious Game Design and Development:
Technologies for Training and Learning
A book edited by Dr. Janis Cannon-Bowers & Dr. Clint Bowers
University of Central Florida

Purpose and Goals of the Book
The use of gaming approaches for more serious purposes is not a new phenomenon. Teachers have used board games, memory games, and others in classrooms for decades. However, the advent of video gaming technologies created a host of opportunities for people to use the immersive, interactive, environments provided by such technology to deliver pedagogical content in a simulated environment that is thought to engender deeper learning in a more entertaining environment.

The use of video games for serious purposes was largely fostered by the US military, which saw the low-fidelity simulation abilities of these platforms as a low-cost way to deliver training. Buoyed by successes in this market, developers have expanded their activities to a whole range of serious applications, including K-12 education, advertising, and social change, to name a few. The increasing use of these games has now drawn the interest of various disciplines within the scientific community, who seek to understand the nature of effective games and to provide guidance for how best to harness the power of gaming technology to successfully accomplish the more serious goal.

At this point, several serious games have been fielded, with varying levels of success. Many of these games have not been formally evaluated, while others have been, but the results have not been published. Conversely, scientists are beginning to report results about effective game elements, but there is not a clear conduit to get these results to the developers who could most use them.

Our goal, therefore, is to create a volume that seeks to “bridge the gap” between development and science. Specifically, we will approach leaders in the game development community to share their successes and the area where they could benefit from scientific guidance. Similarly, we will invite prominent scientists to describe their current findings and to provide their input on the future of the field.

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
Serious Games in K-12 Education
Serious Games in Postsecondary Education
Serious Games in Business and Industry
Serious Games in Training
Serious Games and Health
Serious Games as Social Tools
Research in Serious Games
Serious Games in the Military
Serious Games and Communication

Submission Procedure
Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before September 5, 2008, a 2-3 page chapter proposal clearly explaining the mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by November 30, 2008 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by February 28, 2009. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), publisher of the “Information Science Reference” (formerly Idea Group Reference) and “Medical Information Science Reference” imprints. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit http://www.igi-global.com/.

Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically (Word document) or by mail to:

Dr. Clint Bowers
Department of Psychology
University of Central Florida
Orlando, FL 32801

sgbook at me.com