Canadian initiative uses computer games and WebCT Vista PowerSight Kit to promote learning; Empirical data will identify gamer activities and learner success factors in SAGE project

Business Wire, Nov 14, 2005

LYNNFIELD, Mass. -- A Pan-Canadian initiative will take advantage of WebCT's unique academic analytics technology to fully harness the power of computer games in learning. Academic analytics involves capturing and analyzing e-learner activities to support program improvement.

The "Simulation and Advanced Gaming Environments (SAGE) for Learning" network is a bilingual research project that brings together 26 university-based researchers across 14 Canadian and international institutions in education, cognitive psychology, computer science, computer-supported collaborative learning, new digital media and research/evaluation methodologies. The project also has 25 non-university Canadian and international partners.

One of SAGE's key early projects is developing collaborative online multimedia problem-based simulations (COMPS) for medical and nursing students, as well as practicing health professionals. Fictional characters arrive at fictional clinics presenting symptoms and background narratives. Medical teams collaborate online to diagnose and treat the patients. SAGE will use WebCT Campus Edition(TM) 6 and the WebCT Vista PowerSight Kit(TM) module to help track learner activities within these and other SAGE courses, and analyze the effectiveness of the games and the behavior of students.

"Games and simulations are uniquely suited to address perennial challenges in higher education in a sensory-overloaded society, including fully engaging learners of multiple styles and cultivating higher-level critical thinking ," said Professor David Kaufman, principal investigator for SAGE, headquartered in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. "WebCT Campus Edition 6 and the Vista PowerSight Kit have the ability of supporting these priorities by tracking everything individual students and groups do in a course. Educators can analyze the activity data against outcomes - for instance, where in the health-care simulations students make critical curative or catastrophic decisions."

In addition to harnessing the power of games for learning, educators can use the WebCT Vista PowerSight Kit to analyze aggregated student activity data for institutional reporting purposes, such as e-learning program planning, learning effectiveness research, or a quality review by assessment and institutional research staff.

"Computer gaming is a huge industry that has captured the imagination of a generation, so it's exciting that SAGE is breaking this exciting new ground for educational purposes," said Carol Vallone, WebCT president and CEO. "We expect our data collection and analysis capabilities will be an important tool for empirical research that will give profound new insight into gamer/learner behavior and success factors."

About SAGE

The SAGE network is funded for four years as a collaborative research initiative under the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Initiative on the New Economy program. This program explores the nature, problems and opportunities of the new economy under the four general themes of general issues, management and entrepreneurship, education and lifelong learning. SAGE's focus is on exploring how simulations and games support health-related learning through new technologies, new media and current knowledge of how people learn. For more information, please visit www.sageforlearning.ca.

About WebCT

WebCT has set the standard for e-learning systems in higher education. Based in Lynnfield, Mass., WebCT provides a highly flexible e-learning environment that empowers institutions across the educational spectrum with the ability to achieve their unique objectives for faculty empowerment, administrative efficiency and student outcomes. Colleges and universities around the world - from community colleges to large university consortia - are using WebCT to expand the boundaries of teaching and learning. For more information, please visit www.webct.com.