I returned to the Games, Learning & Society 4.0 conference in Madison at the end of last week. An all around terrific conference run by the smart people in the Education Department here at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

The speakers and attendees of this conference are largely trying to put “education” on its ear and change the way students not only learn, but are evaluated. They all see the benefit of games as a tool for learning and teaching. However, their research goes well beyond simply adapting text books to games. The argument being made by James Gee and others is that through game play, individuals are constantly learning through exploration, content creation, creativity, and open problem spaces. Situational game play forces players to understand a great deal of logic at times, not to mention causal relationships between game elements or even other players.

The conference included researchers as well as practitioners who subscribed to these benefits at some level as a means for engaging students and teaching a new form of literacy. I look forward to following up with many of them to provide access to Sharendipity in their classrooms and after school programs.

More detailed conference analysis can be found from some of the GLS insiders…

• Kevin Jerrett (and his photos)
• David Warlick
• Mark Chen

… in addition to the online session webcasts.

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