The Department of Psychology at York College of The City of New York will be offering a new course on game-based learning. The course will cover a variety of topics related to using and designing games for learning. Students can enroll in PSY 200: Intermediate Seminar with Prof. Duncan for the Spring 2016 semester.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
In this course, students will design an original game-based learning experience for social or behavioral impact. Students will learn about a chosen topic in psychology, applied behavioral analysis, the physiology of learning, the learning sciences, design-based research, game-based learning, and 21st century methods of dissemination. Students will learn how to create digital prototypes using the C# programming language.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students will learn how to (1) access and critically review the primary literature; (2) identify gaps in the literature and respond by creating a design-based pedagogy that addresses a specific need; (3) use the principles of behavioral psychology and game-based learning to shape behaviors in a target population; (4) rapidly develop and iterate research ideas using prototypes according to principals of design-based research; (5) collect data to inform prototype designs; (6) analyze pilot data using advanced statistics; and (7) disseminate research products via web portals and conference presentations.
REQUIRED READING
Gibson, J. (2015). Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development: From Concept to Playable Game – with Unity® and C#, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Addison-Wesley, ISBN-13: 978-0321933164.
