Dear colleagues,

 

We are pleased to invite you to the Innovations in Higher Education Day (IHED) “Homo Ludens - Man the Player: games and simulations in higher education”, which will take place on the 16 October 2014 in Moscow, as a part of the 5th International Conference «Managing Differentiation in Rapidly Changing Higher Education Systems: Challenges and opportunities» organized by the Russian Association of Higher Education Researchers.

 

This Conference event is aimed at the formation of the “meeting point” for the best practices in research, development and implementation of innovative methods in the field of using games and simulations in higher and further education.

 

According to Johan Huizinga (1949) "play is older than culture, for culture, however inadequately defined, always presupposes human society, and animals have not waited for man to teach them their playing". People had played games before the language and writing appeared. It is one of the most ancient ways of communication.

What connects education and games? Gaming methods and technologies have ancient roots; the game is still the most effective way of training and acquiring knowledge and skills by children from the very first year of their lives. However, in the modern world gaming technologies are gaining popularity in the field of adult education. Today total gamification is perceived as one of the key trends in the development of education in the nearest future. Until recently, gaming technologies in adult education fell to the share of business and corporate training. Since business tasks are mostly practice oriented, there have been no reflection in the field of pedagogical and psychological experience of games development. Currently more and more gaming technologies penetrate in formal higher and further education. In this regard, there is a growing interest in exploration of pedagogical, psychological, sociological, economic bases of games design and development, as well as their inclusion in the educational programs.

 

Why gaming technologies?

 

Game or simulation makes the learning process more interesting and informative. However, in addition to the "entertainment" features of the games, it has great educational and scientific potential. Firstly, gaming technologies in education can be an effective instrument for the development and improvement of both cognitive and non-cognitive skills, i.e. contribute the development of creativity and leadership, as well as pursue the task of team building. Secondly, from the scientific point of view, game can act as a resource for different studies in the field of behavioral and social sciences, i.e. used as an "environment for study". Finally, the game itself is a great meduim to represent KSAs, cognitive, communication skills and professional knowledge and competences; therefore the game can be used as an assessment tool.

 

Some of the recommended themes for panel and paper proposals include:

• Three paradigms of using games in education and science: learning, assessment, research (creation of knowledge and competencies, evaluation of educational outcomes, skills and competencies assessment, research in games and through gaming);

• Evaluation of the effectiveness gaming technologies use in education (pedagogical, psychological, economic and other results and the methods of evaluation);

• Approaches to the categorization of modern gaming technologies in adult education;

• Psychological and instructional bases of design and development of educational programs with the use of gaming technologies and simulations;

• Experience of game-based educational programs development and implementation, educational case studies: innovative game formats, tools and technologies; approaches to assessment; student experience of gaming in education; transfer of the gaming experience to professional activities.

 

We invite researchers in the field of educational gaming for adults; educators with experience in games design and development, as well as practitioners who implement game-based programs; gamifiers who use game potential for educational purposes;  IT programmers, designers and instructional developers of game educational products and simulations.

 

We welcome reports containing the results of original researches, as well as case studies, gaming technologies and simulation training solutions presentation. The duration of the report presentation or game presentation is limited to 15-20 minutes.

 

The working language of the Conference is Russian with English-simultaneous translation.

 

For registration to the conference, please fill in and submit the online form until 10 September 2014.

 

With any questions related to the Innovations in Higher Education Day (IHED) please write varvara.pogozhina@gmail.com

 

The Conference Program will be ready by 20 September 2014.

 

Please note that, the Innovations in Higher Education Day (IHED) is carried out as a part of the 5th International Conference «Managing Differentiation in Rapidly Changing Higher Education Systems: Challenges and opportunities», and the participation in IHED entails an admission fee in the amount of $ 35.