Using Games in Education: the Game Institute and Muzzy Lane course
In March 2011 the Game Institute and Muzzy Lane Software announced Using Games in Education, an online professional development series for teachers. Muzzy Lane supplied the instruction and course materials, and the Game Institute hosted it.
Updated
What the course offered
The series was a self-paced, hands-on program delivered over the internet for teachers who wanted to use interactive technology in class. Participants could chat with instructors and with other teachers to share insights and ask questions. The course covered both the theory and the practice of learning with video games.
Teachers were to explore how video games evolved, compare cognition models of how students learn from games, evaluate kinds of games for their own classrooms, draw up curriculum plans that use a game in class and as homework, and collect practical advice from colleagues.
Tuition was $185 in 2011 and included access to the online learning system, a set of course materials and a free copy of Making History. An early-bird price of $150 applied to enrollments through May.
The announcement tied the course to demand from schools that were embracing the educational promise of serious games and wanted teachers trained to use interactive technology well.
The two companies
Muzzy Lane Software, founded in 2002 and based in Newburyport, Massachusetts, develops a video game platform for learning. Its vice president Nick deKanter described the course as drawing on lessons from early adopters of interactive technology and on academic thought leaders. Making History, the company's serious game for higher education, came with the course.
The Game Institute teaches computer science online. Its self-paced courses cover programming through the creation of 3D video games, and Kevin McKiernan, its vice president, pointed to the flexibility of distance learning for teachers with little spare time.
What is true today
The Game Institute's website is online and offers certified online game development courses, saying it has trained hundreds of thousands of designers and developers from 2001 onward. Its current catalog lists game development courses and memberships, and a search of the catalog for the word education does not turn up a course for teachers on using games in the classroom.
Muzzy Lane's website is also online. It now presents a platform for creating, deploying and scaling simulations and for scoring durable skills, aimed at higher education, enterprises and publishers. Its home page does not mention Making History or the teacher course. The course is therefore not confirmed as available, and Making History carries the status unconfirmed.
For degree-level training in game design and related fields, see the programs directory.
Questions about Using Games in Education
What was Using Games in Education?
It was an online professional development series for teachers, run by Muzzy Lane Software and the Game Institute, on using video games for learning.
How much did the course cost?
Tuition was $185 in 2011, including course materials and a copy of Making History, with an early-bird price of $150 for enrollments through May.
Is the course still offered?
No sign of it was found. The Game Institute's current catalog lists game development courses, and neither company's home page mentions the teacher series.