simPortal:

opening the door to resources for educational simulations and games

simSchool wants to keep you informed about this exciting world of games and simulations. Go to simPortal http://www.simschool.org/simPortal.htm to find the latest articles, research, and other resources related to today’s exciting world of educational games and simulations. Once on simPortal, select simSchool Resources; then scroll down to select “Games and Simulations” and browse recent articles by innovators and international educational gaming experts and researchers. Here are two exciting resources to give you a preview of the kinds of items you can find.

Sample article found in simPortal:

Video Game Studies and the Emerging Instructional Revolution by Joel Foreman

An additional development in learning and technology is the emergence of “Video Game Studies” as an academic field in higher education. While this trend may appear recent and relatively marginal, Joel Foreman’s account indicates that it has already gained considerable momentum as more scholars explore the possibilities of gaming as a legitimate vehicle of pedagogy and curricular reform. After surveying the growth of this field, Foreman considers how gaming technology can allow students to construct new knowledge as they navigate through sophisticated virtual environments suited to different disciplines of study. The future of gaming technology in higher education, Foreman argues, will largely depend on the increasing demand of students who seek to bridge the gap between their technological interests and their academic coursework. As with other innovations in technology, the primary impetus for revolutionary change will come from a new generation of learners and aspiring professionals.

Got Game: How the Gamer Generation Is Reshaping Business Forever, John C. Beck, Michell Wade

Think video games are kids’ stuff? Think again. Provocative new data show that video games have created a new generation of employees and executives that will dramatically transform the workplace. Got Game reveals the profound impact that the “gamer generation” (already bigger than the baby boom) will have on the future of business. While games have made this group dramatically different in terms of their attitudes, expectations, and abilities, the potential of this generation has scarcely been noticed in most organizations. But managers won’t be able to ignore gamers for long. Comprised of millions of rising professionals in the U.S. alone, the gamer generation will ultimately dominate the workforce – and they are already changing the rules of business. Through a large scale survey and hundreds of interviews, strategists John C. Beck and Mitchell Wade find that gaming is not a time sink, but an amazingly effective training camp for critical business skills. All those hours immersed in game culture have created masses of employees with unique attributes: bold but measured risk taking, an amazing ability to multi-task, and unexpected leadership skills.

	Call for articles or contributions!! You can help make simPortal a comprehensive, state-of-the-art resource. Send us your favorite articles, web sites, graphics, and films. In the future we will have a peer-reviewed journal so that all educators can publish work and make it available to the educational gaming and simulation community.