#LWF11 David Samuelson, Pearson – Game Based Learning

David Samuelson is the grandly titled Director of Games & Augmented Reality Type!

A third of Pearson’s revenues now through digital content.  Showed wonder, focus and engagement of playing games through Philip Toledano’s photography . Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi‘s state of flow covered again.

Learning in games:  Discussed the phenomenon of Farmville and the wealth of stats that are crunched by players.  Then onto Poptropica which is developed by Pearson, 10 million visitors spending at least 25 mins per session.  Jeff Kenney had the inspiration for a 2D world that kids could explore.  Now a publishing platform that has different islands for different books and IPs.  Kids now creating and sharing videos online of their playing in Poptropica – fantastic learning takes place.

Sandra Day O’Conner: “If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn”.

Shifts are compelling in the game world. Women bigger proportion now than 17 years and younger boys.  Fastest growing sector. Will soon be bigger than move and music combined.

David is interested in mash-ups, looking at how new technologies can be integrated into their learning products.  Spot & Topsy & Tim now available on the iPad.  Ladybird developing other brands on the iPad.

Newsgames is a new book by Ian Bogost about playing games in journalism.

Gaming has potential to engage and enthrall in many aspects of learning.

Although mentioning a number of Pearson’s products throughout his speech (as you would expect), David showed a genuine enthusiasm for games based learning and a good knowledge of the opportunities that are available.