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- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker; Scott Nicholson
- Date issued
- 2016
- Description
- The term “gamification” is relatively new, but its exact origins are not known. The first recorded use was in the digital media industry in 2008 and it has become popular in the last couple of years (Deterding, Dixon, Khaled, & Nacke, 2011). A search performed in October 2012 on Google Scholar using the term “gamification” turned up over 1,000 publications, and the same search in May 2014 produced over 7,000 publications. 80,000 people were registered in the Coursera Gamification course in Sept/Oct 2012 (Werbach, 2012). The attention that gamification gets from industry, as well as from the public, makes it one of the newer concepts of the use of games in the real world to surface in...
- Type
- book chapter
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker; Elisa Gopin
- Date issued
- 2016
- Description
- Digital games are being used more and more often as teaching resources in the classroom (Habgood & Ainsworth, 2011). Some are games designed specifically for educational purposes, and others—commonly known as COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) games—are commercial games that were designed for entertainment, but have educational value as well. Some of these, like The Sims, Civilization, and Portal, have come to be seen as educational games despite having commercial success outside of education. COTS games may be free to download or play, or games that must be purchased. They can be for any platform, including mobile. While there appears to be a gradually growing acceptance of the use of games...
- Type
- book chapter
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Suzanne Freyjadis; Katrin Becker
- Date issued
- 2015
- Description
- In recent years, the video game industry has been embroiled in in various issues of gender bias and minority representation, both in the games that are published and among those who work in the industry. The GamerGate controversy, which exploded on social networks in August 2014, was ostensibly about nepotism and a lack of reporting integrity in videogame journalism but very quickly descended into unprecedented harassment and threats that primarily targeted women in the game industry. This is an extreme example of the issues faced by many women and minorities in the STEM professions, and the barriers that these situations create. How does game education plan to dig itself out of the...
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker; Darlene Gunson; Haboun Blair; Louis Cheng; Michelle Hayden-Isaak; Christine Miller
- Date issued
- 2015
- Description
- This paper is about the collective experiences of a graduate level education course that had been partially gamified. A common model for graduate level Education courses uses a seminar approach where participants complete various readings and then respond to them in short editorials or blogs. This course gamified that component by requiring students to complete numerous small to medium sized activities that included these typical ones in order to accumulate points. These points contributed to their final grade. Students gave feedback on their experience with gamification throughout the course which included increased ownership and control of learning and grades, as well as unwanted...
- Type
- conference publication
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker
- Date issued
- 2015
- Description
- In his landmark paper describing what the new post-industrial paradigm of instruction should look like, C.M.Reigeluth outlines 8 core ideas: 1. Learning-focused vs. sorting focused. 2. Learner-centered vs. teacher-centered instruction. 3. Learning by doing vs. teacher presenting. 4. Attainment-based vs. time-based progress. 5. Customized vs. standardized instruction. 6. Criterion-referenced vs. norm-referenced testing. 7. Collaborative vs. individual. 8. Enjoyable vs. unpleasant. (Reigeluth, 2012) Most of us can agree that people learn at different rates and have different learning needs, but most of our courses continue to enforce a lock-step progression of topics and assignments that is...
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker
- Date issued
- 2008
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker; J. R. Parker
- Date issued
- 2008
- Description
- Before researchers can perform studies using commercial games, they must choose which game or games to study. The manner in which that choice is made and justified is the focus of this paper.
- Type
- book chapter
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker
- Date issued
- 2008
- Description
- This work sought to help inform the design of educational digital games by the studying the design of successful commercial videogames. The main thesis question was: How does a commercially and critically successful modern video game support the learning that players must accomplish in order to succeed in the game (i.e. get to the end or win)? This work takes a two-pronged approach to supporting the main argument, which is that the reason we can learn about designing educational games by studying commercial games is that people already learn from games and the best ones are already quite effective at teaching players what they need to learn in order to succeed in the game. The first part...
- Type
- thesis
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker
- Date issued
- 2008
- Description
- We have always appropriated whatever technologies are available to us for use as technologies for instruction. This practice may well date back as far as human communication itself. The practice of “studying the masters” is also an old and respected one, and using this perspective we can take advantage of the opportunities afforded us in studying outstanding examples of commercial digital games as “educational” objects, even if they weren’t produced by professional educators. By examining successful games through this lens we can progress towards an understanding of the essential elements of ‘good’ games and begin to discuss the implications this holds for the deliberate design of...
- Type
- book chapter
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker; D. Michele Jacobsen
- Date issued
- 2007
- Description
- Games literacy for all
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker; J. R. Parker
- Date issued
- 2007
- Description
- There has been significant recent interest in computer games in University and College curricula as a way to teach early computer science, to attract more students into the program, to teach advanced concepts, and to help lend vocational weight to a curriculum. In this article we discuss several ways that games can contribute to an undergraduate CS program, and illustrate specific ways that the use of games has influenced learning, the students, the faculty, and the institution where these courses have been implemented.
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker; D. Michele Jacobsen
- Date issued
- 2007
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker
- Date issued
- 2007
- Description
- Not sure if games are good or bad for us? Not sure how much of what you hear is hype and how much is real? Want to know what it is that has your students so pre-occupied? For many of today’s generation, digital games are replacing television as leisure activity and hype about games for learning in school settings is once again increasing. Digital games have become at least as much a part of our culture as television was to previous generations and so, it behoves us to become familiar with the medium, but where can a novice go to get some experience? Games are no longer trivial so how are we to know where to start?
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- J. R. Parker; Katrin Becker; K. D. Loose
- Date issued
- 2007
- Description
- In the past 3-4 years there has been a significant interest in computer games in University and college curricula, as a way to teach early computer science, to attract more students into the program, and to teach advanced concepts and lend vocational weight to a curriculum. In this article we discuss many ways that games can contribute to an undergraduate CS program, and illustrates specific ways that the use of games has influenced the students, the faculty, and the institution. Our claims are supported by numbers based on actual observation and study. We also show how the inclusion of games can add to research aspects and the reputation of a computer science department.
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker
- Date issued
- 2007
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker
- Date issued
- 2007
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker
- Date issued
- 2007
- Description
- The author designed and taught the first course on digital game based learning at the author’s institution which was also one of the first of its kind in North America. The course has been taught twice: once in the spring of 2005 and again in the summer of 2006. The design of the course is outlined and participant reaction is profiled. Topics discussed in the class included violence in games, up-to-date research on gaming and gamers, and how games might be used effectively in classroom settings. Also included in the paper are comments on some of the games that were examined, as well as the nature of the projects completed by the participants. Key elements crucial for teacher preparation...
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Becker, Katrin
- Date issued
- 2007
- Description
- Presentation given at The Montreal International Game Summit, Serious Games Canada Symposium, November 27-28, 2007.
- Type
- Presentation
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker
- Date issued
- 2007
- Description
- no additional resource requirements. A key feature of this approach is a mechanism that allows for a thorough assessment of students’ work, while still permitting what is typically classified as failure with respect to the production of research results. A brief review of some of the literature along with its benefits and concerns is presented first, followed by an outline of a model for implementing a student-centered research project that can be offered within the context of most traditional courses, at no extra costs in terms of manpower or funds. The focus of this approach is on helping students
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker
- Date issued
- 2007
- Description
- One way to understand how a particular medium can be used effectively in education is to study its outstanding examples, regardless of their original purpose. The argument can be made that many of the most successful commercial games already embody sound pedagogy in their designs even if that incorporation was not deliberate. The following paper will examine two games: one a commercial and critical success and the other designed deliberately as an educational game. The analysis seeks to answer the two questions: What do players need to learn in order to win the game?, and How does the game support that learning? A comparative analysis of both games reveals that although they are very...
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology