Portfolio Sections
Purdue Resources
Presentations
AERA 2008
Squire, K.D., & Watson, W.R. (2008). Game-Based Technologies and Simulations: Discussions With Leaders in the Field. The annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York.
This was a roundtable discussion on conducting research on the use of video games and simulations for education.
Ackerman Colloquium
Watson, W.R. (2007). What the name of the game? A review of video games for citizenship education. Paper presented at the James F. Ackerman Colloquium on Technology and Citizenship Education, West Lafayette, IN.
This presentation reviewed current applications of video games for citizenship education, identified other viable video games for citizenship education, and offered available video game development toolkits and technologies for those interested in designing their own citizenship education video games.
AECT 2007
Watson, W. (2007). Formative research on an instructional design theory for educational video games. The annual meeting of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, Anaheim, CA.
The formative research methodology is similar to design-based research, but its focus is identifying potential improvements for an instructional design theory. This presentation briefly outlined the Games for Activating Thematic Engagement (GATE) theory, introduced the instructional game Lifecycle designed using the theory, offered results of a formative research study, including a formative evaluation of Lifecycle, and presented a summary of what revisions these results suggest both for the GATE theory and the game itself.
AERA 2007
Watson, W. (2007). Research on the initial leadership team for a systemic change effort. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago.
This presentation discussed an initial event in a K-12 systemic change effort. The Metropolitan School District (MSD) of Decatur Township has initiated a systemic change effort titled “Journey Toward Excellence” (JTE) . The Leadership Team in the MSD of Decatur Township’s change effort is composed of opinion leaders of different stakeholder groups. The Leadership Team is charged with making decisions regarding what changes will be made to the system. This presentation detailed the formation, actions, and eventual reformation of the initial Leadership Team in the JTE. After its initial formation and several meetings largely focusing on evolving team members’ mindsets and developing their understanding and competency of systems design, the Leadership Team decided to reform and expand into a larger, second Leadership Team.
AFRL Workshop
Watson, W. (2006). Interactive Digital Storytelling: Synthesizing Storytelling Theory, Training Theory, and Video Game Design Theory. Paper presented at the “Storytelling as an Instructional Method: In Search of Theoretical and Empirical Foundations” workshop for the Air Force Research Laboratory, Phoenix, AZ.
This presentation examined storytelling from the perspective of the extremely popular and growing medium of video games. There is a small but growing field of research on using video games for instruction. The design of enjoyable video games, like the design of effective instruction, is a complicated process. There has been little literature that examines how to successfully combine instructional design theory into video game design in order to create enjoyable, motivating, and effective instruction. This presentation examined how to synthesize these design challenges by focusing on the role of storytelling in both video games and instruction, and how these areas can be brought together to form a cohesive plan for utilizing storytelling in instructional video games.
AECT 2006
Watson, W. (2006). Video Games as an Environment for Understanding: A Process for Designing and Incorporating Video Games for Instruction. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, Dallas, TX.
This presentation discusses a design process and learning theory for instructional video games in order to specifically address the formation of understanding of important themes, topics, and concepts as well as how they interrelate.
AERA 2006
Watson, W., & Lee, S. (2006). Learning Management Systems for Learner-Centered Instruction. Paper presented at the Annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco.
This presentation discussed the definition and history of Learning Management Systems and examines their place in the Information Age paradigm of education. Several major k-12 LMS platforms were analyzed and their features summarized. The features were also analyzed in terms of their appropriateness for information age instruction. Future trends and needs of LMS were then discussed.
AERA 2006
Watson, W., & Lee, S. (2006). Learning Management Systems for Learner-Centered Instruction. Paper presented at the Annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco.
This presentation discussed the definition and history of Learning Management Systems and examines their place in the Information Age paradigm of education. Several major k-12 LMS platforms were analyzed and their features summarized. The features were also analyzed in terms of their appropriateness for information age instruction. Future trends and needs of LMS were then discussed.
AERA 2005
Martinez, R., Liu, S., Watson, W., & Bichelmeyer, B. (2005). Evaluation of a Web-based Masters Degree Program in a Midwestern Research University. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Montreal, Quebec.
This presentation discussed the results of a mixed-methods study of the distance masters program of a large midwestern research university. The study guaged the perception of the dm program stakeholders: administrators, faculty, and students through the use of interviews and a survey. Results showed that all stakeholders were dissatisfied with the technology and found the most attractive aspect of the program to be its reputation. Students comented that some of the faculty who attracted them to the program did not teach any of the courses. Faculty expressed concern over copyright issues regarding the courses they developed, and associate faculty mentioned a lack of motivation for them to revise or update the courses. Finally, it became clear that economic issue impacted the program as reflected in the hiring of associate faculty and the cessation of on-campus student orientations.
AECT 2005
Watson, W. (2005). If you build it, will they come? Designing an instructional computer game for an undergraduate computer course. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, Orlando, FL.
This presentation detailed the process and experience of designing "Lifecycle", an instructional, web-based computer game for my undergraduate systems analysis and design course. I briefly presented the game, discussed the process of designing the game, presented the underlying rules behind the game, shared lessons learned from bringing in a student intern to develop the game, and concluded with plans for revision and implementation of the game.
AECT 2004
Watson, W., Smith, D., Tomblin, S., Martinez, R., Lee, S. K., & Borders, C. (2004). The Process of Applying Computer/Video Games and Simulations to Education. Roundtable discussion led at the Annual meeting of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, Chicago, IL. Educators and game developers as a whole have shown interest in the application of computer games and simulations to education, but effective development and application of these games has largely been sporadic to this point. It is clear that the public has an appetite for computer games, but this appetite has not yet been clearly reflected in the arena of education. The purpose of this presentation was to first select a definition of games and simulations for the discussion at hand, look at current applications of both educational and commercial games and simulations to instruction, examine current design processes and models in use for educational game development, and finally synthesize this information to develop a general criteria for the successful use of commercial and educational games for instruction.