Category Archives: York College Transformative Games Initiative

York College Transformative Games Initiative

New article published in JITP

Leave a comment

We are happy to announce a new publication in issue number fifteen of The Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy. The editors kindly scribed the following pithy summary:

The need for critically examining how the medium influences the agenda behind digital material is also examined in another piece in this issue. In “Confidence and Critical Thinking Are Differentially Affected by Content Intelligibility and Source Reliability: Implications for Game-Based Learning in Higher Education,” Robert O. Duncan of York College and The Graduate Center, CUNY, presents a study on how the intelligibility of information and reliability of sources influence performance and confidence among participants in a critical-thinking game. The results indicate the more environmentally induced difficulty in reading text, the more critically students engaged with it. The type of information source, however, appeared to be less influential on students’ performance, with little variation between conditions in which participants were or were not told which information was derived from a reliable source. These findings point toward a few practical implications for instruction and game design around information literacy, and help to increase awareness regarding opportunities to teach students how to evaluate the reliability of sources, before critically evaluating and using the information they provide.

News and Views, York College Transformative Games Initiative

Positive Evaluation of Game-Based Learning

In a sponsored article at EdSurge News, Legends of Learning reports that an independent evaluation by Vanderbilt University of game-based learning products confirmed game-based learning resulted in improved learning outcomes relative to traditional pedagogy. Over 1000 students and 13 teachers participated in the experiment. 55 games from 15 developers were tested. Most importantly, the results of the learning interventions were adjudicated by blind graders. For the full article please follow the link below.

Source: New Research Proves Game-Based Learning Works—Here’s Why That Matters | EdSurge News

News and Views, York College Transformative Games Initiative

How playing one game can help students get into college

Mission: Admission takes some of the fear out of applying for further education

Next week, the U.S. Federal Student Aid program (FAFSA) will launch a new Oct. 1 start date and form schedule for students seeking financial help getting into college. In previous years, the FAFSA start-date was in March. The change is designed to give students more time to prepare for college, and to bring the aid program into the same timeline as college applications.

Research shows that those kids whose parents went to college are far more likely to apply for college than those whose parents did not go to college, regardless of grades.

For activists and professionals operating in higher education, this is a matter of concern. Applying for college and applying for aid is not a simple matter. Most kids need help. But with schools still reeling from budgetary cuts, there simply aren’t enough in-school councillors to go around.

Mission: Admission shows students how to enroll in the appropriate college

One project that’s gaining traction is a videogame that teaches kids how to go through the process of applying for college. Played in realtime over the course of a week, Mission: Admission shows students how to meet scholarship deadlines, apply for aid, work on personal statements, request letters of recommendation and take extra curricular activities as well as apply to and enroll in the appropriate college…

For the rest of the article, please follow the link below.

How playing one game can help students get into college | Polygon.

Source: How playing one game can help students get into college | Polygon