Game-based Learning: Home

• Words explaining words are less effective.
• Studies have shown that aspects of games make students enjoy learning more.
• Identity-Learning requires taking on new identity-inheriting a character or building one up-teaches what makes someone good in a role.
• Interaction-Games give feedback and new problems to try. A good educational game puts interactions in context of real world.
• Production-Players are creators, not just passive recipients.
• Customization-Games can be adapted to suit different classes and purposes.
• Agency and Control-People feel a sense of agency when they can control the learning experience.
• Risk Taking- A game gives a safe space to take risks-and learn from failures as well as successes. 
• Performance before Competence.
• Challenge and Consolidation-Games can allow us to consolidate our expertise on a subject, then challenge it again with a harder level of problems that integrates our previous level. This "cycle of expertise" can be repeated many times.
• Situated Meaning-Games can give us an experience that allows us to contextualize things that we learn.
• System thinking: Games encourage complex thinking about relationships between things and events.
• Timing-Just-in Time and "on Demand."
• Difficulty-Pleasantly Frustrating.

Information from the members of the CUNY Games Network Steering Committee has been essential for building this site.

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