"Most of us prefer to walk backward into the future, a posture that may be uncomfortable but which at least allows us to keep on looking at familiar things as long as we can." ~ Charles Handy
Formal education moves at geological speeds, and that's lucky for us, because games for learning really aren't ready for prime time, and it's not for the first time. During the 'Edutainment Era' of the late 1980's and early 1990’s computer games were proclaimed as the modern solution to all our educational ills. In order to take advantage of this great technology, all we needed to do was wrap a game around a lesson, and it would magically become fun. This, of course, is not true, and the resultant fall from grace left many educational game proponents reeling.
We now have a second chance, and we need to make sure we don't fall into the same trap again. The game evangelists are valuable to be sure, but we need to be realistic, and if we don't have enough games out there that live up to the hype, the idea of using games to teach will once again become a pariah, and the likelihood of a third chance is slim. This keynote will look at what went wrong last time around, where we are now, and what we need in design, research, and support to make sure that we have it right this time so we are ready when formal education catches up with us.
