Video Games and Learning
Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison (Coursera)
Date: October 3, 2013 - December 10, 2013
Bio: This course covers the relationship of learning and video games; not just as engagement tools but in the different structures of learning that games allow. This includes examining how game introduces increasing levels of complexity through tutorials and game mechanics, and how organic social interactions create peer learning both within the game and outside of it on fan sites and communities.
The Professors obviously have a lot of passion about the subject and treat the material seriously from an academic standpoint. Unfortunately this class seems geared more to instructing people with no prior gaming knowledge. They hint at some of the more interesting academic findings such as correlation between game material and higher reading/writing levels of students; but don't go into the academic side nearly as much as I would have liked.
Accomplishments: I completed all of the lectures and assignments. Unfortunately most the assignments seemed like poorly developed social experiments. There was no formal assessments for this course.