Games to Address National Challenges

In March 2011, President Obama issued a call to action, stating “I’m calling for investments in educational technology that will help create… educational software that’s as compelling as the best videogame. I want you guys to be stuck on a videogame that’s teaching you something other than just blowing something up.” In response, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy initiated a new area of policy analysis focusing specifically on games as a medium with broad potential not just for conceptual learning but also for physical health, mental wellness, job growth, and scientific discovery. This talk will explore the federal interest in games, review trends in game-related federal investments, detail the opportunities and challenges related to game R&D at the federal level, possible partnerships between public and private entities (government, industry, university, small business, etc), and future trends in games that align with the administration’s current agenda.

Speaker Details

Constance Steinkuehler is a senior policy analyst in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). She is currently on temporary leave from the University of Wisconsin–Madison where she is an Associate Professor in the Games+Learning+Society (GLS) Group in the Curriculum & Instruction department. Her research is on cognition, learning and literacy in massively multiplayer online games and other online game communities spaces. Current interests include collective problem solving, digital & print literacy, informal scientific reasoning, and pop cosmopolitanism. Her work has been funded by the MacArthur Foundation and the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation. She recently helped author, as one of nine committee members, the National Academies of Science report entitled Learning Science: Computer Games, Simulations, and Education and is editor of the upcoming book entitled Games, Learning, and Society: Learning and Meaning in the Digital Age in the Cambridge University Press series “Learning by Doing.”

Series:
Microsoft Research Talks
Date:
Speakers:
Constance Steinkuehler Squire
Affiliation:
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

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Series: Microsoft Research Talks