Week 6 (10/24): How Do We Learn? (Midterm: defining your problem)

Preparation Before Class:

Read this paper to prepare for our guest this week.

In Class Discussion:

  • The UI/UX tension of learning experiences: Delightful vs instructional
  • Your assignments: What problem do you want to take on?
  • What is mastery learning in the Khan Academy model?
  • What is active learning?

Jan Plass, PhD is Co-Director of the Games for Learning Institute (G4LI), a collaboration of nine partner universities with support from Microsoft Research and the Motorola Foundation. G4LI is dedicated to advancing the design, use, and evaluation of computer games in formal and informal educational settings. The Institute works to provide fundamental scientific evidence of “what works” in games for learning – what makes certain games compelling and playable, and what design elements make games effective for learning. The results provide critically important information to researchers, game developers, and educators, and point the way to a new era of using games for the purpose of learning.

Reflection / Assignment After Class:

Read / Watch: