Digital Games and Learning
Games and simulations have had a new lease of life in the digital revolution. There are remarkable examples of fascinating games that are also tools for learning complex knowledge, and engaging simulations that are used for pleasure and work-related training and education. Their existence raises many research questions: how are they designed? Who plays them? What are the economics of such games for players, providers, others in the market, and how do the economics affect game and simulation production and use? Where are they being used in education and training, and to what effect? Digital Games and Learning (DGL) aims to explore these and many other questions about the design and use of games and simulations in our societies.
Books in the series will provide:
- Insights into how games and simulations can be used effectively in education
- Appreciation of the multi-disciplinary research base that is emerging in this fast-developing field
- Knowledge of the implementations that can be put to use in different levels of education: school, further education, higher education and workplaces.
Volumes in the DGL series will focus on innovative research, theory and practice. We shall be publishing books that evidence at least some of the following themes and traits:
- Disciplinary grounding Our series will investigate the relation between more conventional ‘signature pedagogies’ and new approaches to learning engendered by digital games and simulations.
- Interactivity of social relations Games and simulations are often highly social, but their social and cultural codes still require substantial research.
- Design-led learning One of the significant differences between conventional teaching and digital games and simulations is the amount of design work that is required upfront in order to plan the learning environment and facilitate learning within it. DGL will investigate the theory and practices of design in digital games and simulations.
- Problem-solving Digital games and simulations are useful learning environments for problem-solving heuristics. The extent to which this happens, for whom and under what conditions, will be a theme of our series.
- Innovative research methodologies We encourage forms of action research (practice research, participatory action research, action science, etc) as well as the challenging of conventional approaches to cognitive science, to educational theory constructs and to the philosophy of game-play.
The series is an international resource for educationalists, educators, technologists and educational users. It brings together some of the best contemporary academic and practitioner commentators to tackle the dilemmas and opportunities in a challenging, informed and inquiring manner. The scope of the series is purposely wide and contributions from a variety of disciplines are welcomed. Books may be monographs, single or multi-authored, or edited collections.
To contact the series editors email either Sara de Freitas or Paul Maharg:
sfreitas@cad.coventry.ac.uk
paul.maharg@northumbria.ac.uk
BIOGRAPHY FOR PROFESSOR SARA DE FREITAS
BA (HONS), MA, PHD, FRSA
Sara is Director of Research and Professor of Virtual Environments at Coventry University with responsibility for applied research, teaching and learning and business development. Sara was responsible for setting up the Serious Games Institute, a hybrid model of research, business and study, the first institute of its kind. The institute is now part of a successful multi-million pound turnover SGI Group, including a spin out company Serious Games International with a purely commercial brief, the SGI Research Division and the SGI Business Projects group. In addition, the Institute offers education and training, with a newly established Masters Programme and Doctoral School. The SGI brings together industrial partners and academic experts from across four faculties: arts and design, health and life science, business and the environment and computing and engineering. Sara leads a cross-university applied research group of 50 academics and is a member of the Coventry University Research Committee.
Sara currently holds Scientific Coordination of a European-Union funded Network of Excellence in serious games with 31 partners including NATO, and worth €5.6 million to the emerging field of Serious Games. She also holds 23 research and development projects: including three from the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), two from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and 12 from FP7 European Union funds. She has managed the €7 million Advantage West Midland capital project and is a member on the steering group of the largest Technology Strategy Board funded Knowledge Transfer Network (Creative Industries).
Her national contributions have included running a consultancy company for three years where important consultation work included advising the UK Government Department for Education and Skills, advising on setting up the UK Joint Information Systems Committee e-Learning Programme and working as a consultant supporting the Innovation Strand of the Programme for two years. Her international influence is reflected in being voted the Most Influential Woman in Technology 2009 and 2010 (US Fast Company). Sara chairs the IEEE Serious Games and Virtual Worlds conferences (VS-Games) – 2008-present, and is a regular speaker at international conferences. Sara has chaired 7 international conferences and is on the Programme Committee of 38 international conferences and workshops, as well as giving over 100 national and international conference and workshop presentations, key notes and invited talks.
She is currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of Malta, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Visiting Fellow at the University of London. She is also a Co-Editor of Digital Games and Learning – a book series with Routledge. Her publications include 5 books and over 90 journal articles, conference papers and technical reports. She has been a leading academic developing the new field of Serious Games and has published widely in the fields of pedagogic modelling, game-based learning, e-learning and Higher Education policy development. She is also Chair of the European Steering Group for the International Risk, Resilience and Response Centre and was elected Chair of the UK Lab Group (2008-2010).
Sara publishes widely in the areas of: pedagogy and e-learning; change management and strategy development for implementing e-learning systems and serious games and virtual worlds for supporting training and learning. Her most recent book, the e-Learning Reader (edited with J. Jameson) has just been published by Continuum Press. Other recent books include Rethinking Learning for a Digital Age (edited with R. Sharpe and H. Beetham) which was published in 2010 by Routledge and Digital Games and Learning (edited with P. Maharg) which was published in 2011 by Continuum Press. Interdisciplinary Advancements in Gaming, Simulations and Virtual Environments: Emerging Trends (edited with R. Ferdig) was published by IGI Global. Her book series with Routledge: Digital Games and Learning (edited with P. Maharg) will include ten books published from 2012. New Pedagogical Approaches in Game Enhanced Learning: Curriculum Integration (co-edited with M. Ott, M. Popescu and I. Stanescu) will be delivered in 2012 to IGI Global.
Relevant web links:
The Serious Games Institute: http://www.seriousgames.org.uk
Rethinking Learning for a Digital Age: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415875431/
Digital Games & Learning: http://www.continuumbooks.com/books/detail.aspx?BookId=157255&SubjectId=940
Interdisciplinary Advancements in Gaming, Simulations and Virtual Environments: Emerging Trends: see: http://www.igi-global.com/book/interdisciplinary-advancements-gaming-simulations-virtual/56032
Book Series: Digital Games and Learning, see: http://www.seriousgamesinstitute.co.uk/links.aspx?section=66&item=452&category=55
BIOGRAPHY FOR PROFESSOR PAUL MAHARG
Paul Maharg (MA (Hons) Class 1, PhD, PGCE, Dip Ed, LLB) is Professor of Law in the College of Law, Australian National University, and is currently setting up a legal education centre in the College. Prior to this he was a Professor of Legal Education at Northumbria University School of Law and Professor of Law in the Glasgow Graduate School (GGSL), University of Strathclyde. There, he was Co-Director of Legal Practice Courses, and Director of the innovative Learning Technologies Development Unit at the GGSL, as well as Director of the two-year, JISC/UKCLE-funded project, SIMPLE (SIMulated Professional Learning Environment – http://simplecommunity.org) and consultant to the JISC/HEA Simshare project (http://www.simshare.org.uk). He is the author of Transforming Legal Education: Learning and Teaching the Law in the Early Twenty-first Century (2007, Ashgate Publishing, 354pp, www.transforming.org.uk), co-editor of and contributor to Digital Games and Learning (2011, Continuum Publishers), co-editor of and contributor to Affect and Legal Education. The Impact of Emotion on Learning and Teaching the Law (2011, Ashgate Publishing), and co-editor of and contributor to The Arts and the Legal Academy: Beyond Text in Legal Education (2012, Ashgate Publishing). He is co-editor of two book series (Digital Games and Learning, Routledge Publishing, and Emerging Legal Education, Ashgate Publishing) and has published widely in the fields of legal education and professional learning design (http://ssrn.com/author=272987). He is currently a member of the Legal Education & Training Review (LETR) group. His specialisms include interdisciplinary educational design, and the use of technology-enhanced learning at all levels of legal education. He was appointed a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2007), a National Teaching Fellow (2011), and a Fellow of the RSA (www.thersa.org). He blogs at http://paulmaharg.com. Email: paul.maharg@anu.edu.au.
