Gamers and Learning: Still early

The development of incorporating games into education and creating games for learning is still in its infancy. That's the conclusion of your NineShift reporter attended the premiere conference on Games and Learning this month.

The technology is primitive compared to entertainment games. There is a lot of defensiveness about the worthiness of games for education. There is an internal debate about whether games are "fun."  And there is an avoidance of "moving the needle," eduspeak apparently for measuring outcomes.

Nevertheless the real world utility of games for work is so abundant and increasing (see for example, a recent article in NYT about how games are being used to protect our ports) that the value of games in education seems obvious if not yet documented. 
  Photo: Game educator playing devil's advocate.