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What Faculty Say

Richard Van Eck, Instructional Design and Technology: A perspective from the digital frontier and the world of digital game-based learning

I received my Ph.D. in instructional design and development from the University of South Alabama. Prior to coming to UND, I was an assistant professor at the University of Memphis, where I was also a member of the Institute for Intelligent Systems and the committee chair and chair of the Center for Multimedia Arts in the FedEx Institute of Technology. I am a

member of the Working Group in Digital and New Media at UND.

I study how technology can support cognition and learning in formal and informal students. I have been teaching people how to integrate games into classrooms and training seminars for 10 years, with hundreds of lesson plans developed by my students for use in every area of study and at every grade level. I see digital game-based learning (DGBL) NOT as a means of entertainment, but as an exciting tool to promote problem solving, 21st-century skills, and a variety of content within situated, meaningful contexts, whether through the integration of commercial games in curriculum or the development of new games for learning purposes. It is not, however, a panacea, nor is it for all learners, all learning outcomes, or all learning situations. Its benefits are also accompanied by its own challenges, and we have to be careful about planning where,

when, how, and for whom we use DGBL. I emphasize this in my Instructional Simulations and Games graduate course.