Games

Elizabeth and Nancy reporting back from "Serious Games" conf in DC early Oct 2004:
Application: Games can be used for training, skill-building, changing attitudes, even psychological processing (soldiers returning from combat?). My (un-asked) question: did you see a lot of content-learning games? I imagine they would be harder than skill-focused, or at least harder to do in an interesting way.
People: Nancy heard some guy, Kimble?, who had a very ID-driven way of approaching game design: do a needs assessment, etc. My un-asked question: any Prensky representation?

Wacky Social Studies idea

Inspired by "My Life, Your Life" (mentioned in Kinzie 13 Oct 2004): class into two groups. One group studies plantations: roles, examples, objects. Other half of the class studies utopian communities: roles, examples, objects. Prepare presentation; each half present to the other. Basically, two different models for organizing society on display, one based on consensus (?) and one based on command.

Retention and transfer

Quick thought: drug rehab practitioners really know the importance of retention and transfer. What have they learned? Are their findings applicable to other forms of training?