http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/games/workshop08/levine.html#discussion http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/games/workshop08/levine.html#post2433
That points to the need for gaming environments that can be easily customized by individual faculty. Second Life's focus on 'creating stuff and spaces' certainly speaks to this. But there are lots of other games that are more canned.

Have folks seen/experience/expressed faculty resistance/reticence about adopting games because they can't be modified to exactly fit the local curriculum.

Is this an issue?]]> Sean Fox 1208876820 http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/games/workshop08/levine.html#post2433 http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/games/workshop08/levine.html#post2436
simulation game, simulator, serious game, massively multiplayer game, puzzles, avatar... ]]> Mike Kelly 1208877960 http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/games/workshop08/levine.html#post2436 http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/games/workshop08/levine.html#post2449
How do you deal with the issue of learning something vs doing work for "a grade" ? I encourage group learning, but i always worry about how to award credit. Maybe those should not be a worry ? Sam ]]> Sam Swanson 1208879520 http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/games/workshop08/levine.html#post2449 http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/games/workshop08/levine.html#post2450 Cathy Manduca 1208879700 http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/games/workshop08/levine.html#post2450 http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/games/workshop08/levine.html#post2474
In academia one of the successful models I've seen for development of software is where a faculty member and a staff member (usually on soft money, i.e. grants) with computer abilities collaborate to develop educational software. The faculty member has good (grandiose?) ideas but little time; the staff member often has educational yearnings not satisfied by the gruntwork of grantwork and is happy to do this sort of thing 'on the side.' Now that NSF actually asks for "broader impacts" in proposals, this sort of on-the-side work needn't be as illicit and covert as it once was.

For those not lucky enough to have grant money and staff, the holy grail of easily adaptable software that would allow faculty to create software easily would be great.

When I was a post-doc at Columbia a decade ago, I worked with a local college professor (Sam Borenstein) who used the software Neuron from Asymetrix Corporation to do pretty sophisticated simulations in a short amount of time. I've lost touch with Sam and his links don't work anymore, but I thought I'd see if anyone else had heard of this software.]]> John Knox 1208883120 http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/games/workshop08/levine.html#post2474