We have the possibility to add some more chapters to our edited book. If you think you can contribute a chapter, or at least an abstract / a rough draft, for quick review by the 13rd of June, please send your proposals to: bredl@phil.uni-augsburg.de, boesche@ph-karlsruhe.de
Best wishes
Klaus Bredl and Wolfgang Bösche
Call for Chapters (quick delivery required):
Serious Games and Multi-User Virtual Environments in Professional Development and Healthcare
A book edited by Klaus Bredl (Augsburg University) and Wolfgang Bösche (University of Education Karlsruhe)
The book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.)
Overview:
The incorporation of digital games in adult education, specifically health education, counseling and/or therapy appears to be a complex venture at first sight, especially because empirical evidence and evaluation is still lacking in this area. Our aim is to show that digital games can be easily implemented as tools to motivate teaching, learning, health education, and communication through single-player digital games as well as multi-user virtual environments (MUVE) and massive multiplayer online games (MMORPG) for adults.
The education community has certainly seen an increase in interest for teaching in already existing and popular MUVE like Second Life and World of Warcraft, just to name a few. However, the idea of using digital games, MUVE and MMORPG for teaching is often met with general skepticism and objections from traditionally-oriented instructors. Many consider these tools too technically complicated for present students who do not have experience in this particular area. The idea of importing traditional classroom materials into this new medium also seems to present a challenge. In contrast and in reference to therapeutic uses of virtual environments, the plasticity of these digital games offers the opportunity to create simulations that allow students to effectively immerse themselves in a particular subject, and can also serve as a general platform for online education. Through the use of this innovative technology we can both help “digital immigrants” familiarize themselves with the games, as well as finally reach a new generation of learners.
In the field of therapy and health promotion, the idea of using virtual environments for treating anxiety disorders via systematic desensitization or for promoting healthy behavior by presenting information in a single-player digital game is nothing new. However, multi-user online approaches are rare in this field. Applying education community concepts could add the motivational benefits for learning and therapy in groups to this approach.
This book aims to offer a key component to any technology-oriented education or health promotion wishing to include virtual environments in its curriculum, or use these as a method of delivering content. It will assist educators in developing lesson plans using these environments for teaching. We offer a combination of up-to-date research projects, small case studies, examples, didactical lesson plans, as well as comprehensive reviews. Both positive as well as negative aspects and experiences will be described and analyzed, along with “best practice” and “lessons learned” about the different tasks and methods, so that the reader is sufficiently informed and able to decide on a method of endeavor.
PROSPECTIVE AUDIENCE
This book should reach researchers, lecturers, therapists, teachers, students and people working in healthcare who are interested in using new forms as serious digital games and multi-user virtual environments in their daily work. We would like to refer to university-level courses as well as instructional technologies, distance learning, computer science, instructional design, health promotion and behavior therapy to name a few. We wish to create a course adoption booklet that is easy to understand and offers practical guidelines and applications of concepts in combination with case studies and reports on state of the art research.
- This book meets high academic standards. To ensure this, we integrated a review process between the authors.
- The book is an anthology; the chapters describe different themes of the topic, but they are not based on one another.
- We intend to reach a balance between the theoretical, empirical and practical chapters. The book includes both essential theoretical works and empirical works.
We are planning three main parts:
- Summary of concepts and comprehensive reviews
- Case studies and applications, reports from courses/activities carried out in virtual worlds, preliminary data, research results, lesson plans, and hands-on material for therapists, teachers and students
- Research papers
Although we attach importance to using perspicuous language, we will also meet academic standards. The book as an anthology is specifically produced for the academic public, but will also reach anyone else interested.
The chapters are newly commissioned and have never been printed previously.
Publisher:
This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), publisher of the Information Science Reference (formerly Idea Group Reference), Medical Information Science Reference, Business Science Reference, and Engineering Science Reference imprints. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com.
This publication is anticipated to be released in late 2012.
Prof. Dr. Klaus Bredl
Digital Media
Department of Media and Educational Technology
Faculty of Philosophy and Social Science
Augsburg University
86135 Augsburg, Germany
Tel: +49 +821-598-5608
E-Mail: mbredl@phil.uni-augsburg.de