Gaming and virtual reality: how the United States is funding the new educational frontier

From the earliest beginnings of the video game age, many parents and educators have had a negative view of electronic games and gaming. Efforts have been made to keep many of these games out of the hands of young people, fearing that they inhibit educational and social development while encouraging aggressive behaviors.

But more recently, advances in technology have positioned gaming in a new light as educational experts are recognizing the huge potential of electronic games in stimulating student creativity, enabling enhanced learning and mastery of skills, and honing problem solving skills through simulated real-life scenarios and contexts.

The United States is following industrial countries like South Korea and Japan in recognizing the enormous potential of interactive games to engage young minds in higher level educational content. On the horizon, integration of virtual reality can increase this potential exponentially. To facilitate the development of education-focused technologies that combine gaming and virtual reality, the U.S. Department of Education has launched initiatives such as the EdSim Challenge, which provides financial incentives to encourage innovations in games and virtual reality for learning.

Technology, games and the EdSim Challenge

The competition, launched in November 2016, is encouraging all virtual reality programmers, game developers and educational technologists to submit simulation concepts of learning technologies that make use of games, virtual and augmented reality, simulations, and digital learning environments. The emphasis is on improving acquisition of educational content and at the same time, preparing students to meet the challenges of the 21st century workplace by teaching relevant real-world and employable skills.

The program is grounded on numerous education studies that point out and highlight the benefits of games and virtual reality technology in the classroom. These include:

• Improved collaboration and socialization. Contrary to general impression that video games can have adverse affects on the socialization skills of students, it has been found that using games appropriately for learning can actually encourage students to come out of their shell. Students from minority groups, those with learning disabilities, or are lacking in confidence find a venue for self-expression and interaction with their peers.
• Encourages creative learning. Virtual reality platforms and games allow free reign of students’ imagination and encourage out-of-the-box thinking as they are faced with scenarios that are real, which are otherwise not possible in the real world. In addition to creativity, problem-solving, strategic decision-making and critical thinking are also honed.

Joining the challenge

Those interested may submit their simulation concepts by January 17, 2017, and while individual entries are allowed, collaboration among developers is highly encouraged especially those that make use of open source licenses and low-cost shareable components.

For the current EdSim challenge, entries will be judged based on the following criteria:

• Learning outcomes — containing clearly defined learning objectives and mechanism for feedback on performance.
• Engagement-user experience — provides an engaging experience for the user that is at par with commercial games
• Engagement-user interface — features an interface design that is at par with commercial games.
• Commitment — potential for improvement and evolution.
• Implementation strategy — includes a plan for implementation that provides provisions for technological and cost limitations, solutions, and integration with future technologies.
• Long-term vision — encourages collaboration through open source licenses and further use in the educational stimulation market.

Five submissions will be chosen by a panel of judges and will proceed to the Virtual Accelerator Phase from which the grand winner will be selected. Finalists will receive $50,000 and $430,000 for the grand prize winner.

More information on the EdSim Challenge may be found here. Given the growing prevalence of electronic games, gaming and virtual reality, we can likely expect to see more funding directed towards the development of innovative learning technologies that combine both gaming and virtual reality.