Wednesday, March 04, 2015, 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM (PST)

Closing Keynote: Games for Learning Assessment

PRESENTER:
Constance Steinkuehler, Associate Professor in Digital Media at the University of Wisconsin– Madison, Co-Director of the Games+Learning+Society (GLS) Center at the Wisconsin Institute of Discovery

Over the last decade, games have been taken up as an important medium for behavioral and cognitive change. As immersive, interactive technologies, games enable new forms of engagement, personalization, and assessment. From balancing algebra equations to invading cells with viral DNA, from negotiating with competing stakeholders over local land use to conducting bench lab stem cell generation in order to save the planet from a zombie apocalypse, games for learning have become the go-to medium for giving students first hand yet designed experiences in areas that are otherwise obscure, dangerous, impossible, or simply bland.

Data exhaust from such learning technologies allows constant product iteration and improvement, tailored personalization for the user, and a rich data set for inferences about not only target domain understanding, skills, and dispositions but also second order variables such as persistence, self-regulation of attention, and play preference. In this keynote, Steinkuehler reviews the current landscape of games for learning and assessment, highlighting recent innovations in assessment design and delivery.

What are the current opportunities in the game-based assessment space?
What the barriers and frictions?
And how will such new technologies fit within (or disrupt) our current educational assessment ecosystem?

REMARKS BY:
Doug Becker, ATP Board Chair
William G. Harris, ATP CEO
Erwin van Schaffelaar, Innovations in Testing Conference Chair
Ashok Sarathy, Innovations in Testing Program Chair