Objectives:- To study video/computer games as complex cultural artifacts from a post-humanist, rhetorical perspective.
- To examine how computer games operate in various situations and environments, including educational, classroom settings.
- To build educational games and environments that emphasize best practices in design, pedagogy, and cultural study.
- To build and foster strong interdisciplinary collaborations between programs at Utah State University, industry partners, and the community.
Research
Project
Overview:
LGI
The Learning Games Initiative (LGI) was started at the University of Arizona to:Examine computer games (arcade, console, PC, and handheld) in order to better understand their cultural and pedagogical import. LGI has since grown into an interdisciplinary and inter-institutional research group: not only are numerous University of Arizona departments represented (by faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students), but so too are scholars and researchers from half-a-dozen other U.S. and international universities, as well as nearly a dozen community organization and business leaders. (LGI Mission) The Utah State LGI group will draw upon strengths in its Professional and Technical Writing Program in the English Department to study game documentation and document educational games already in production. Additionally, USU-LGI is uniquely poised to study mobile games and to become a leading researcher in mobile technologies.
LGI will host the following activities and archives:- A console and game library including one of every major console in recent production available for demonstration and checkout.
- A resource/research library including game critiques, scholarly work, and white papers.
- Game-nights: regularly scheduled collaborative meetings revolving around the critique and play of a particular game or genre of game.
- Development: membership in LGI requires active participation in the production of one of LGI's games: Aristotle's Assassins, Thirst, or Voice Over.
VERP
The Virtual Environment Rapid Prototyping (VERP) project studies and develops virtual environments for educational/training purposes. The advantage of rapid prototyping is the ability to use virtual prototypes of environments, products, and scenarios in order to experiment with many possibilities for clients and users of a given design in a fairly short period of time. VERP specializes in using computer game engines in order to: recreate, texture, and model 3D, immersive environments; examine data visualization practices; and archive educational processes.
Two large-scale projects are immediately available as examples and possibilities for future VERP work: Virtual Harlem and Virtual Montmartre. Both projects are currently directed by Bryan Carter at Central Missouri State University.Virtual Harlem "is a collaborative learning network whose purpose is to study the Harlem Renaissance, an important period in African American literary history, through the construction of a virtual reality scenario that represents Harlem, New York, as it existed between the 1920-30s."
Virtual Montmartre is a digital archive of the "artistic, historic, geographical, musical and literary activities occurring in Montmartre during the early part of the 20th century."
Participants:
- CLE, as a partner in the Department of Instructional Technology’s with Ryan Moeller, PhD, Principal Investigator
- LGI, as a partner at the University of Arizona with Ken McAllister, PhD, and Judd Ruggill, PhD as Co-Directors
- Alternative Educational Environments with Ryan Moeller, PhD, as Chief Information Officer and Ken McAllister, PhD, as Executive Director
- English Department Computer Lab
Arts and Sciences Collaborative Exchange Network and Development (ASCEND) project with Ryan Moeller, PhD, and Bryan Carter, PhD as Co-DirectorsEnglish Department Computer Lab
Technology:
- Major gaming platforms including two (2) high-end gaming pcs.
- Game development hardware and software including four (4) high-end, multimedia stations and various toolsets including Maya 6.0 or Lightwave.
Status: Study ongoing, additional funding in progress
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