What We Do | Who We Are | Frequently Asked Questions
What We Do
We're all about learning. Really. And, games. Seriously!
The power of games as entertainment cannot be disputed. Technological advances and creative innovations have fueled the growth of an industry that's rapidly approaching $50 billion in global sales.
Across PCs, consoles, handhelds, and mobile devices, today’s games span a variety of entertainment experiences designed and marketed to appeal to a growing diversity of audiences, from the turbo-gamer who'll pay more than $6,000 for a high-end Voodoo to the retiree who might pick up a Wii controller and “bowl” a frame or two with her granddaughter at a holiday gathering.
And, while the evolution of the games has been dramatic in entertainment, it has been slow in other areas.
Like education.
As leading researchers around the globe race to define new creative educational game design, assessment and evaluation, and distribution, industry has declared development of learning games as fool’s folly. Design, development, and production are expensive. Efficacy is untested. The channel is choked.
Yet, demand for solutions is increasing on all sides. Parents want solutions. Teachers seek alternatives. And, students – well, anything that inspires them in their new digital reality is a good thing.
That's why we're here – to address these challenges, seize new opportunities.
The Learning Games Network is a non-profit organization established to spark innovation in the design and use of learning games through:
- A network of scholars, teachers, producers, and game designers committed to the development and distribution of new games informed by research in the learning sciences across a complete range of subject areas from electrostatics to Shakespeare;
- The development and distribution of model activities, informal and formal curricular, and teacher training resources to support the use of all games for learning; and
- Evangelism and business development programs to help meet growing student and teacher demand for new commercial and open tools that better support individual and collaborative learning in the 21st Century.
We can't do all of this alone. That's why we need you. Your friends. Colleagues. Students.
The Learning Games Network is just that – a network. We host events. We provide resources. We encourage conversation. And, we build bridges across wide gulfs between industry and research universities and between these and schools, kitchen tables.
The strength of our network depends on the community of researchers, designers, producers, parents, teachers, and students who work with us, each committed to unleashing the power of games for learning.
We hope you'll join us!
Check out our resources, post sample games-related activities, join our online book group, and participate in our discussion threads. We're excited to count you among the heroes charging toward the next big thing in education!
Who We Are
Andrew Blanco served as an officer in the United States Air Force and a project manager with the Raytheon Company before joining the Learning Games Network. He holds a B.S. and an M.B.A. from Cornell University, and recently completed an Ed.M. in Technology, Innovation, and Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Blanco is the Director of Program and Business Development for the Learning Games Network.
Alex Chisholm is a media research and development consultant who creates transmedia entertainment and educational properties. in recent years, he has developed and managed several projects with NBC Universal, including iCue with NBC News, and the online games for NBC Olympics. He serves as the Software and Video Gaming Judge for the National Parenting Publication Awards (NAPPA). Over the past 10 years, Chisholm has collaborated on research, product, and program development with Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Sony Pictures Imageworks, LeapFrog, NBC Universal, Children's Hospital Boston, and the Hewlett and MacArthur Foundations. He holds a B.S. from Cornell University. Chisholm is the Executive Director and a founding member of the Learning Games Network.
Eric Klopfer is an associate professor and director of the Scheller MIT Teacher Education Program. The Scheller Teacher Education Program prepares MIT undergraduates to become math and science teachers. Klopfer's research focuses on the development and use of computer games and simulations for building understanding of science and complex systems. His research explores simulations and games on desktop computers as well as handhelds. He is the creator of StarLogo TNG, a new platform for helping kids create 3D simulations and games using a graphical programming language. On handhelds, Klopfer's work includes Participatory Simulations, which embed users inside of complex systems, and Augmented Reality simulations, which create a hybrid virtual/real space for exploring intricate scenarios in real time. He is the director of The Education Arcade, which is advancing the development and use of games in K-12 education. Klopfer's work combines the construction of new software tools with research and development of new pedagogical supports that support the use of these tools in the classroom. He is the co-author of the book, "Adventures in Modeling: Exploring Complex, Dynamic Systems with StarLogo," and author of "Augmented Learning", a new book on mobile games and learning from MIT Press. Klopfer is the president and a founding member of the Learning Games Network.
Scot Osterweil directs and leads the design on a number of MIT Education Arcade projects, including Labyrinth, Caduceus, and iCue. Before coming to MIT, Scot was the Senior Designer at TERC, where he designed Zoombinis Island Odyssey, winner of the 2003 Bologna New Media Prize, and the latest game in the Zoombinis line of products (Riverdeep/TLC). Scot is the creator of the Zoombinis, and with Chris Hancock he co-designed the multi-award winning Logical Journey of the Zoombinis, and its first sequel, Zoombinis Mountain Rescue. Scot is the also the designer of the TERCworks games Switchback, and Yoiks!, the latter also with Chris Hancock. Other software design work includes InspireData (Inspriration Software) and its predecessors Tabletop, and Tabletop Jr. Previously, Scot worked in television production and theater. He is a graduate of Yale College. Osterweil is the treasurer and a founding member of the Learning Games Network.
Dan Roy is designing a multiplayer game to teach English to Spanish-speakers. Before joining the Learning Games Network, he was working on this same project as a member of the MIT Education Arcade. Previously, Dan was a designer at a stealth-mode learning games startup somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area and at Muzzy Lane Software, where he worked on Making History: The Calm & The Storm. While a graduate student, he worked at the Education Arcade on The Lure of the Labyrinth. He holds an S.M. in Comparative Media Studies from MIT and a B.S. in Computer Science from UMass Amherst. Dan is the Lead Designer.
Kurt Squire is an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the Educational Communications and Technology division of Curriculum and Instruction. He is a former Montessori and primary school teacher and, before coming to Wisconsin, was research manager of the Games-to-Teach Project at MIT and co-director of the Education Arcade. Squire earned his doctorate in instructional systems technology from Indiana University Bloomington; his dissertation research examined students‘ learning through a game-based learning program he designed around Civilization III. Squire co-founded Joystick101.org with Jon Goodwin and currently writes a monthly column with Henry Jenkins for Computer Games magazine. In addition to writing over 30 scholarly articles and book chapters, he has given dozens of talks and invited addresses in North America, Europe, and Asia. Squire’s current research interests center on the impact of contemporary gaming practices on learning, schooling, and society. Along with several other UW–Madison faculty, he runs the Games, Learning & Society initiative. Squire is the vice president and a founding member of the Learning Games Network.
Sherri Wright is a certificated teacher working in northern California, with an M.S. degree in Educational Leadership/Technology. She has worked as a Producer and Educational Designer at LeapFrog and The Learning Company (currently RiverDeep), and continues to be involved in developing learning games and literature for young people. She produced a series of 42 ELL books for the SchoolHouse Division of LeapFrog and has also been involved in software and internet educational design for brands such as Carmen Sandiego, Reader Rabbit, Arthur, Zoombinis, Scooby-Doo, ClueFinders, Oregon Trail and StarFlyers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Learning Games Network?
Do you produce games?
What does the network do?
Who are the network's principal players?
Who else is part of the network? Do I have to be a teacher, video game designer, or professor to join?
Why does the world need a network of people connected to learning games?
Where is the network based?
How do you work with partners?
How can I get involved?
What about privacy? Will you sell my email address? Who can see my profile? Do I have to share all my information?
What is the Learning Games Network?
The Learning Games Network is just that, a network of researchers, producers, designers, teachers, and parents focused on expanding the role of games for learning. Our work ranges from helping publishers and other media companies develop new games specifically for learning to creating and collecting new ways to use popular entertainment games in education. We also organize meetings and events throughout the country for people interested in getting more involved in the work we do or in developing local collaborations with others interested in learning games.
Technically, no. But, we do collaborate with game developers, publishers, and other media companies to design and produce new learning games. We draw on our internationally recognized work as researchers and our valued experiences as designers, producers, and teachers to consult or partner with companies that actually produce games, bringing a wide range of scholarship and best practices to new product development.
In addition to creating an online network of people, schools, organizations, and companies interested in realizing the potentials of games for learning, we also consult with partners to design and produce new products and services. Our priority is to build bridges across the major gaps that exist in research and practice in the learning sciences, creative game design, teacher professional development, and new game development and distribution.
Who are the network's principal players?
Our founding members, the "hub" of the Learning Games Network, have collectively logged more than a century of work in the research, design, and production of educational software and games for learning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Harvard Graduate School of Education, TERC, The Learning Company, and Leapfrog. Over the past decade, we have collaborated or consulted with such groups as Microsoft Research, Electronic Arts, Sony Pictures Imageworks, NBC News, Maryland Public Television, Boston Science Museum, Children's Hospital Boston, MacArthur Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Who else is part of the network? Do I have to be a teacher, video game designer, or professor to join?
If you're interested in learning games -- from their design to production and business development to how they can be used in the classroom to what they can help you learn -- then join us! Whether you're a seasoned classroom teacher or a motivated middle school student, we want you. Whether you're a marketing executive or a software programmer, we need you. Our goal is to create a diverse community that represents the full range of producers and consumers of learning games -- all with the aim of making better games that seize on new opportunities and satisfy market demands.
Why does the world need a network of people connected to learning games?
Currently, there is no single organization that brings together the wide range of voices and expertise -- research, design, distribution, and professional development -- needed to move the bar and set new standards for learning game development and use. By bringing people together, promoting best practices and current research, and providing resources that enable more people to use games for learning, we hope to further the field and its associated research and development areas, realizing the potential and increasing the potency of a growing and vitally important new spectrum of educational media.
While our principals and early members are located throughout the country, the Learning Games Network is currently based in Boston, Massachusetts.
How do you work with partners?
Our consulting services range from concept design and refinement for learning games to full-scale project management, coordinating the wide variety of collaborators required to develop, produce, and distribute really great new products. Given the complexities of making high-quality learning games and the range of expertise that come to bear on the process, including the learning sciences, creative design, technical implementation, distribution, and marketing, we know that precious few companies or organizations have everything under one roof. The Learning Games Network can help you bring together the stakeholders critical to success.
Sign up for a FREE account and then share your ideas and experiences as part of our discussion threads. Want something more? Participate in our online reading group. Got a good classroom or informal learning activity that emerges from a popular commercial game? Share it with others in our resource area. Interested in working with our principals or other members of the network to make cool new stuff? Send us a note with a little information about what you aim to do? In short, there are many ways to get involved. Poke around the site, identify your areas of interest, and define your own role. It's that easy.
What about privacy? Will you sell my email address? Who can see my profile? Do I have to share all my information?
We will never share or sell your personal information with others. When you sign up for an account, we encourage you to complete your personal profile in order to maximize your experience as a member of the network. Please review our Privacy Policy and let us know if you have any additional questions or comments.
