So far this morning, in addition to getting meet with a wide variety people, I have participated in a fireside chat (complete with non-crackling TV Yule Log fire) related to the incorporation of games into online K-12 schools. This session was facilitated by The Co-Lab’s own flash/web/instructional developer Rick Horton and two of our partners from the Florida Virtual School. The conversation started with the semantics of “gaming” in an educational context. Do we call it games? Educational games? Or another term that removes the idea of “fun” from what we are trying to do. This is a common theme across government, corporate, and education advocates of learning games. The term “immersive learning” is perhaps a broader term that might be more acceptable to funders but will it turn the students away? I know these are real issues but we really have to move from this conversation O(fortunately the conversation did move to a deeply engaging exchange with the standing-room only “cozy” chat.

I slipped away to watch a “chat and frag” session with Muzzy Lane on their game Making (Your Own) History where participants were able to play Making History, which is an educational game that has been so successful is has moved into the commercial space as an entertainment game. Think: Civilization as a reference point for this game. At the end of the session time, it was hard to move people from the tables…engagement is working.