Purdue Center for Serious Games and Learning in Virtual Environments
The Center provides support for implementing, designing and developing serious games and virtual environments for learning; encourages collaboration across Purdue and with K-12 schools; and establishes a foundation for securing funding and conducting research at Purdue on the use of serious games and virtual learning environments in education.
Support for implementing games in the classroom
The Entertainment Software Association’s 2023 Essential Facts about the U.S. Video Game Industry report found that 76% of U.S. children play video games regularly and that 46% of players identify as female and 53% as male. Games and virtual environments are today’s popular media, and fit well with the sort of motivating, exploratory, and goal-based, frequent feedback, problem-solving experiences today’s learners seek.
The Purdue Center for Serious Games and Learning in Virtual Environments seeks to encourage collaboration and establish a foundation for research at Purdue on serious games and virtual environments for learning, support innovative instructional practices, and establish a framework for developing and implementing engaging and innovative instruction for both K-12 and higher education classrooms.
The center includes a lab for utilizing, designing, developing, and evaluating serious games and virtual environments. Usability software allows for the full capturing of user interactions within these environments.
Dr. William (Bill) R. Watson, Center Director
Bill Watson is a professor in the College of Education Department of Curriculum and Instruction’s Learning Design and Technology Program.
Bill’s research scholarship focuses on realizing a personalized paradigm of education that optimally meets all learners’ needs rather than focusing on calendars and schedules to the detriment of learning. This includes new paradigm instruction like game-based learning and attitudinal learning; technology for facilitating personalized learning; and systems thinking to design personalized educational systems.
For more information, contact the Center at seriousgames@purdue.edu.