SERIOUS GAME MARKET

Image credit: Kahoot!
Kahoot! is a free game-based learning platform that makes it easy to create, play and share fun learning games (called Kahoots) or trivia quizzes for any subject, in any language, on any device.

Founded by Johan Brand, Jamie Brooker and Morten Versvik in a joint project with the Norwegian University of Technology and Science, Kahoot! was launched as a private beta at SXSWedu in March 2013 and the beta was released to the public in September 2013.

Kahoot! has now reached one billion cumulative participating players and is likely to hit 100 million monthly active unique users this month in more than 200 countries. The Oslo-based startup is valued at $376 million.

Kahoot! was designed for social learning, with learners gathered around a common screen such as an interactive whiteboard, projector or a computer monitor. It is used in classrooms, meeting rooms and living rooms alike with an audience that includes teachers, students, corporate users and social users.

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“Makerspace better than recess” Image credit: Morningside Elementary School in Elizabethtown - Student shows a game he designed using Scratch at Makerspace Learning Lab
According to EdTech’s recent article How Makerspaces in Schools Help Students Learn to Code by Eli Zimmerman, Makerspaces in schools are giving educators new options to teach students core coding concepts.
“Computer science has taken a priority slot for K–12 teachers, as experts forecast a majority of jobs will incorporate some kind of coding skills or computational thinking by as early as 2020,” states Zimmerman.
One way that schools are engaging students is by introducing coding activities in Makerspaces, where students can use the creative culture to start establishing the building blocks of computational thinking.
Coding has taken the educational world by storm, especially with the introduction of mandatory computer programming curriculum across the globe. Some educators and experts are calling it the “new literacy”.
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Image credit: Association for Talent Development (ATD)
TD Magazine is ATD's flagship publication for the talent development profession. 

As the interest around Short Sims continues to grow, Clark Aldrich had his article “Try Short Sims” featured as TD magazine's cover story for their highest profile issue of the year. In the words of TD, "The synergy between meaningful interactivity and cost effectiveness lies in short sims." 

Clark Aldrich, one of the top educational simulation designers in the world and the founder and managing partner of Clark Aldrich Designs, has been developing what he believes is the next stage of the Serious Games/Educational Simulation concept over the past five years.

In 2016, Clark launched a new website where he introduced Short Sims under the motto “Simple Educational Simulations Work Better”.

Object of my prior posts Clark Aldrich On Short Sims As The Next Stage Of Serious Games and The Case For Short-Form, Low-Cost Educational Serious Games…

Below is interesting data about the significant up-tick in investment in learning games -- $2.25 billion in 2018 vs. less than a billion in 2017.

PRESS RELEASE
Investment in Game-Based Learning Sharply Up in 2018: Metaari
LOS ANGELES – Jan. 7, 2019 -- Investment in game-based learning companies was sharply up in 2018, according to leading Serious Games analyst firm Metaari. A total of $2.25 billion went to 133 companies. In contrast, less than half that amount, or $948.2 million, was invested in 150 game-based learning companies in 2017.
While the number of deals declined slightly in 2018, funding levels were much higher and investment more than doubled. Almost 100 companies reported raising substantial funds; 17 PreK-12 academic-facing companies obtained funding in 2018; 21 corporate-focused companies producing game-based training were funded. The most attractive category for investors was educational games or educational technology products for use in K-12.
China is the education technol…

Image credit: ESMT business school in Berlin
ESMT Berlin  was founded by 25 German multinationals as a top international business school in Germany – a business school founded by business. 

ESMT Berlin has been named “top in Germany” by the Financial Times and is the most international business school in the country. Each year more than 90% of its full-time MBA students come from outside of Germany. 

The school offers management degree programs and executive education that focuses on three main topics: leadership and social responsibility, European competitiveness, and the management of technology. 

Students at the ESMT business school in Berlin have a new leadership training module in their course: a 45 minute virtual reality game designed to reinforce leadership principles. These executives are from some of Germany’s biggest companies. They’re not exactly strangers to leadership. But the game tests their abilities in a way that would be difficult to replicate in the non-virtual world. 


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Wishing all my friends and colleagues around the world the very best for this festive season!
A JOYOUS HOLIDAY AND A PLAYFUL NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!