I got a present in my mailbox today — it was the paper copy of Sharon Boller and Karl Kapp’s new book, Play to Learn! I’d already agreed to be a stop on their Blog Book Tour, but it’s lovely to have the hard copy in hand.
They based the book on the workshop that Karl and Sharon teach about the topic, which is why (I suspect) the book is loaded with so many interesting activities and worksheets for designing learning games.
They pull off a really nice balance between:
- referencing the research evidence behind games for learning
- giving some really great examples of the mechanics of learning games
- having activities and guidance on how to create your own game
Along with Karl’s other books on gamification, this is a really good practical entry on the topic of learning games. And they have you analyze Plants Vs. Zombies (a personal favorite).
Recommended 🙂
Quick Links
-Sharon and Karl are doing a webinar: Learn more about Play to Learn – Register for Sharon and Karl’s webinar on Tuesday 3/28/17 at 1 pm. In it, they will expand on some of the key learning game design steps covered in Play to Learn.
You can get the book from ATD Press (there’s a promo code SPRINGBOOKS17 for 10% off) or you can get the book from Amazon
Follow along with the book tour
| Date(s) | Event / Blog Stop | Location |
|---|---|---|
| March 3rd | Play to Learn available from ATD and Amazon | ATD / Amazon |
| March 3rd | Bottom-Line Performance Blog Stop | Lessons on Learning |
| March 3rd | Karl Kapp Blog Stop | Kapp Notes |
| March 3rd | ATD Learning Technologies Blog Stop | ATD Learning Technologies Blog |
| March 6th | Knowledge Guru Blog Stop | Knowledge Guru |
| March 7th | eLearning Industry Blog Stop | eLearning Industry |
| March 8th | Connie Malamed Blog Stop | The eLearning Coach |
| March 9th | David Kelly Blog Stop | Misadventures in Learning |
| March 10th | Lou Russell Blog Stop | Russell Martin & Associates Blog |
| March 13th | ATD Science of Learning Blog Stop | ATD Science of Learning Blog |
| March 14th | Julie Dirksen Blog Stop | Usable Learning |
| March 15th | Zsolt Olah Blog Stop | Rabbitoreg |
| March 16th | Cammy Bean Blog Stop | Cammy Bean’s Learning Visions |
| March 17th | Melissa Milloway Blog Stop | Mel’s Learning Lab |
| March 21st | Learning Solutions Conference | Orlando, FL |
| March 23rd-24th | ATD Core4 Session | Long Beach, CA |
| March 28th | Webinar with Sharon and Karl | Bottom-Line Performance |
| March 30th-31st | Texas Distance Learning Association 2017 Conference | Galveston, TX |
| May 3rd | Lectora User Conference | Cincinnati, OH |
| May 22nd-23rd | ATD International Conference | Atlanta, GA |
| June 20th-22nd | FocusOn Learning Conference | San Diego, CA |
Kewl! Kewl!