24 Questions about computer games and education

Are computer games inherently counter-cultural?

Are some computer games bad for children?

Do computer games herald a revolution in education?

For a given curricula, where would one ideally use books? Where would one ideally use computer games/educational simulations? Given educational objectives, how do you support them with computer games/educational simulations?

How can computer games/educational simulations augment existing curricula; inspire new curricula? Do computer games/educational simulations increase the types of content that can be learned formally?

How can modding be used to better use existing computer games in formal learning programs?

How can teachers/professors/trainers use existing computer games (as is) in formal learning programs?

How can you create a marketplace for educational simulations?

How do you create a computer game for education?

How do you measure the effectiveness of computer games/educational simulations?

How do you use a computer game structure to capture and model expert behavior? What then has to happen to make it an educational simulation?

How does someone who grew up playing computer games learn differently than someone who did not?

How much should an educational simulation cost? To build? To buy?

Should educational simulations be fun, the way that a computer game is fun?

What are educationally relevant artifacts from computer games/educational simulations?

What does one learn from a computer game? What does someone learn from Civilization III? Grand Theft Auto? What are the new frameworks/vocabularies needed to talk about this new content?

What is the impact of looking at computer game genres, as opposed to computer games? Do we need new genres for education, or are existing computer game genres sufficient?

What is the relationship between production values and effectiveness?

What should a professor do about computer games? What are early steps? What are later steps?

What toolkits exist for an e-learning developer to quickly and cost-effectively make an educational game?

When should an educational simulation be single-player/multiplayer/massively multi-player?

Which computer games today are appropriate for formal learning programs?

Which computer games today are worthwhile from an instructional/liberal arts perspective?

Will educational simulations be to computer games what documentaries are to movies?