I have been working on a research and development project looking at this area and at how relatively dry learning content (such as Mathematics) can be made engaging by incorporating game design. Development of the game (OceanQuest) is currently at prototype and evaluation stage. For more information see http://www.gamingandlearning.co.uk. Please feel free to provide feedback.

Alex

Good post and interview there, and interesting to see some of the other software available. I may well be using some of these in the coming years…

But I think there is probably some value in having a ’study guide’ section or somesuch - students using the site might get value from this (though I guess you also want to encourage students to add their own study guides and advice)

You will note on our page for notes upload we already have large, bold warnings about what constitutes copyright infringement and what will and will not be tolerated in terms of uploaded notes.

We are very keen to help students help themselves and each other and of course believe plagiarism does not help anyone! We would be interested to know what people think about the above ideas – are they likely to patronize students or are they a good idea? Any other suggestions of how else we might communicate these points loud and clear? We think the site has the potential to be both a great help to struggling students and a platform to allow “star students” to help others and get the recognition they deserve. We are open to any suggestions on how to encourage proper use.

B. Don’t rip off other people’s work
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C. This is for your personal research use
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I liked the fact that kids could learn and earn customizable ‘rewards’ that are non-materialistic and experiential. (e.g. services instead of goods; play a favorite board game, stay up an hour past bedtime, whatever) and also get a teensy dose of finance/savings acumen instilled at the same time.

Down side is I bought it as a teaching tool to test out w/our own tween scene on the responsibility/chore chart front and they all seem to have ‘outgrown it’ far too fast…Still, there’s something to be said for customizable aspects vs. Penguin schwag and Barbie tchotchkes…not to mention those freakin’ chest/breast lifts on Miss Bimbo. ugh. Toxic cues.

Nice to find your blog! –AJ

Thanks for the link. I haven’t had a chance to try out Sugar for myself, but watching the BBC videos it was clear that the unfamiliar interface was NO barrier to the children using it. It might freak out funders who are used to Windows, and draw on unfamiliar metaphors, but as highlighted in the link, it was designed from the ground up to be a learning environment - unlike Windows.