Co-sponsored by: WIE10345

What really is a game? Many of us can list a number of examples ranging from physical games like golf to traditional board games such as Monopoly and even digital games like app based games. What is it that distinguishes games from other techniques often employed in educational settings? Games are unique in that they provide players with a goal, a set of rules or instructions for reaching this goal and then immediate feedback on the player’s performance. In addition, the feedback provided within the game is meant as a learning experience for the player to help them achieve the goal which in turn motivates the player to attempt to reach this goal once again. Another form of game-based learning is gamification. Gamification has been applied in multiple different contexts including company loyalty programs, exercise initiatives, and corporate training, as a means for increasing motivation towards specific outcomes.

Although many types of games have been used in education, it has only been recently that game based learning within engineering education has caught on. Currently, there are a number of faculty members at institutions across the United States that are choosing to employ game based learning as a means to help engage their student population and help them learn the difficult and sometimes “dry” technical content related to engineering. This presentation will provide an overview of the benefits of game based learning for education and then provide examples of different implementations of game-based learning that were used to improve student academic motivation within engineering education.

Speaker(s): Dr Cheryl Bodnar,

Location:
Room: 2110
Bldg: (Bell Works Complex)
101 Crawfords Corner Road
Holmdel, New Jersey
07733