The Games for Learning Institute (G4LI), a joint research endeavor of Microsoft Research, New York University, and other universities, will host “The Game Developers Expo” on Thursday, December 17, 5-7 p.m. at NYU’s King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center (53 Washington Square South). The event is free and open to the public.
The Games for Learning Institute (G4LI), a joint research endeavor of Microsoft Research, New York University, and other universities, will host “The Game Developers Expo” on Thursday, December 17, 5-7 p.m. at NYU’s King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center (53 Washington Square South/between Thompson and Sullivan Streets). Subways: A, B, C, D, E, F, V (West 4th Street). The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 212.998.3342 or visit the website.
The Expo will include presentations by leading researchers, designers, developers, educators, and representatives from Pragmatic Solutions, Inc. In addition, G4LI will announce the winners of its Game Design Challenge, in which contestants build mini-games for learning on Microsoft’s XNA Game Studio 3.1 platform. The contest’s four winners will receive a total of $2,000 in cash prizes and detailed critiques of their designs from G4LI researchers.
Reporters wishing to attend must RSVP to James Devitt, NYU’s Office of Public Affairs, at 212.998.6808 or james.devitt@nyu.edu.
The G4LI is a joint research endeavor of Microsoft Research and a consortium of universities. The partners include Columbia University, the City University of New York (CUNY), Dartmouth College, Parsons, Polytechnic Institute of NYU, the Rochester Institute of Technology, Chile’s Pontifical Catholic University, and Teachers College as well as NYU. The Institute’s aim is to identify which qualities of computer games engage students and develop relevant, personalized teaching strategies that can be applied to the learning process.
Microsoft Research is providing $1.5 million to the Institute. NYU and its consortium of partners are matching Microsoft’s investment, for a combined $3 million. Funding covers the first three years of the G4LI’s research, which will focus on evaluating computer games as potential learning tools for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects at the middle-school years (grades 6-8). Additional support comes from a Motorola Innovation Generation grant and engineering infrastructure from Pragmatic Solutions, Inc. The institute will work with a range of student populations, yet focus on underrepresented middle-school students, such as girls and minorities.
About Games for Learning Institute:
The multi-institutional Games for Learning Institute studies the educational use of digital games, and investigates their socio-cultural, cognitive, and emotional impact. It develops design patterns for effective educational games that industry partners can draw on to assure high quality when designing their own games for learning. Its current focus is on games that teach science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to middle-school students. For more on the G4LI, go to: http://g4li.org.