Waterford Institute of Technology: Office of Research and Innovation

WELCOME TO iGBL

Game-Based Learning (GBL) is a fascinating medium which has the potential to increase both motivation and learning on the part of the learners.

GBL has captured the interest of researchers, and some educators have already started to embrace this technology.

Although there is a solid body of evidence on the educational effectiveness of GBL, it still needs to gain more recognition amongst Irish teachers, lecturers, and policy-makers.

For this purpose, a symposium on Game-Based Learning (GBL) will be organised in Waterford Institute of Technology on Thursday 19th May 2011.
The purpose of this symposium is to:

Report on the use of GBL in Irish primary, secondary and third-level education
Define the roadmap for GBL in Ireland
Provide evidence of the effectiveness of GBL to motivate and learn
Identify how GBL can be included and facilitated in Irish instructional settings.

This symposium will bring together teachers, lecturers, students and researchers, and provide insights from different perspectives such as educational psychology, sociology, Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Artificial Intelligence, Game Design, or Instructional Design. It will also be a great opportunity to network and share ideas with other like-minded researchers and practitioners.

Thank you!

Many thanks for taking part in iGBL2011.

Based on the feedback received so far, I believe iGBL2011 was a success and that it has managed to connect like-minded people interested in the benefits of GBL.

The round-table was definitely interesting and productive;it has provided very valuable insights and paths for a wider adoption of GBL in Ireland. A summary of the ideas brought forward during the round-table will be published shortly, and we can then use this information and plan how we could reach more teachers, lecturers, policy-makers, and develop the IGBL community.

A LinkedIn group entitled "Game-Based Learning Ireland" has been created to act as a forum for discussions and ideas on GBL in Ireland. Please, feel free to join this group.

Pictures taken at the conference are available here