ELDT 6160: Designing Learning Systems with Game and Simulation Technology

Course Description: In this course, students examine the principles of game and simulation design and current research addressing the integration and use of games and simulations in education settings.  Emphasis is placed on using instructional design principles to identify quality characteristics of digital games and simulations and direct the design and development of these technologies for integration into instructional content. 

This was an elective that was recommended to me by another student in the program. I am so glad she told me about it, because this has been one of my favorite classes! I loved talking about gaming and simulations and how they can contribute to an educational atmosphere. We were even “required” to play classic games like the Oregon Trail to analyze their gameplay. (I put required in quotation marks because it certainly didn’t feel like homework.) Each week, our professor sent us badges for “leveling up” in the course, which was a great way to incorporate gaming and also keep us motivated. Here’s are a few example badges:

The main project in the class is to build an educational game or simulation. I worked with a classmate to build a simulation called “How Do We Get Laws?” You can access it here. It is intended for 5th-6th grade social studies classes.