As you might have seen in Learning Circuits, Dr. Karl Kapp’s Gamification Blog Book Tour Starts Today.
Be sure to check out all of the blogs involved — linked up on the Learning Circuits post above — including this one. I had the privilege of making a small contribution to this book and will participate in the tour later this week.
Congratulations to Dr. Karl on the book release! I look forward to visiting the blog-stops over the next couple of weeks.
Is TechKnowledge 2012 in your plans? Today is the last day for “early bird” registration, so I thought it was a good day to tell you a few things I’m looking forward to:
It’s in Las Vegas in January. C’mon, cut me some slack… I live in Central Oregon and while our new-fallen snow is lovely, I know it will be old by January.
TK Chats are back! These informal sessions that debuted last year are returning, with an expanded schedule. I’ve tended to really focus on concurrent sessions in the past, but I have some TK Chat responsibilities as part of the planning committee this year and I’m really warming up to their value. More experts, more learner-driven. What’s not to love?
Games, games, games. With a keynote by Jane McGonigal, concurrent sessions by Dr. Karl Kapp, Rick Raymer, and others.. and a TK Chat devoted to the topic, I think you’re going to have ample opportunities to get past the hype and figure out what relevance gaming/gamification/gamefulness has to your elearning. The conversation is already brewing on the TechKnowledge 2012 Conference Blog.
I’m guest blogging for Learning Circuits in December, so I’ll share more of what I’m looking forward to there as the conference approaches. I hope to see you there… and at TechKnowledge!
(Warning: TK Chat schedule is still in flux. So now you have a sneak peek into the plans, but don’t set your watch yet.)
On the off chance you haven’t heard about this already, go right now to http://playspent.org/ and play Spent, a serious game about surviving for one month on your last $1000. (I managed to end the month with over $300, but no cell phone, no gas, and needing an $800 dental surgery.)
This game informs, educates, and persuades, and here’s another thing I really like:
Except for the randomization and some multimedia, this game could be created in PowerPoint. And shocker… it’s not the randomization or the multimedia that give the game its impact.
A great serious game. Props to Urban Ministries of Durham and McKinney.
As games designed for learning become more popular (and popular games designed for entertainment become more used for learning), it becomes more and more important to know how applicable games can actually be to real life.
So I had to share this link that was sent to me the other day: The Guild Leader’s Handbook, a primer on how to run a successful guild. Replace “guild” with “company” and you’ll see exactly what kinds of skills serious gamers are learning in-game. Spend enough time in an MMO, and it’s far from the anonymous, consequence-free, even anti-social environment that some non-gamers perceive: Leadership, management, and followership skills are every bit as important in guild life as they are at work.
Not convinced? I challenge you to read the free chapter. Come back and tell me what you thought… for 1000 XP.