Master of Science in Games for Learning

What You'll Learn

We offer several areas of study including game design, game development, game research, and student-customized focus areas under faculty supervision. You’ll graduate with a depth of knowledge about:

• The role of social, emotional, cultural, and cognitive aspects of learning and issues of game design.
• Game design models and developmental practices.
• The value of narrative features of game design.
• Research methods aimed at improving and evaluating the design of games for learning.

Your work with faculty and in the field will enable you to:

• Explain the potential values and limitations of the use of digital games for learning, and for what kinds of learning, what types of learners, in what content domains, and in what settings games have the potential to support learning.
• Discuss the role and function of play in games for learning and, in that context, the contribution of diverse features of games, such as role playing, immersion, narrative, feedback, situated experience, distributed cognition, consequences of failure, etc.
• Apply the social, cognitive, emotional, and cultural dimensions of factors that influence learning in game design, drawing from theories in the learning sciences and cognitive science that are relevant to game design for learning.
• Demonstrate competency in one of the following areas: the technical development of digital games for learning, the learning design of digital games, the methods for research and evaluation of games for learning, or a related area as deemed appropriate by program faculty.
• Demonstrate competency in conducting design-based research to support the development of effective games for learning, including usability research, playtesting, and various approaches to evaluation.

Your Academic Experience

• Flexible Study

The curriculum offers flexibility in creating a program of study that you and your advisor can tailor to fit your professional goals and interests. You can choose to study full-time or part-time.

• Games for Learning Institute

You will benefit from exposure to and participation in the Games for Learning Institute's (G4LI) ongoing research endeavors and emerging ideas about gaming. G4LI, which involves nine other universities, conducts research on the design of effective games for learning in a variety of formal and informal settings.

• Fieldwork and Internships

Our interns apply their skills and knowledge in a broad variety of corporations, cultural institutions, not-for-profit organizations, and game design studios – all of which may also lead to your future employment.

• Thesis Capstone Project

The thesis capstone project is a culminating project in which you will integrate and apply what you have learned through previous academic work, internships, and other experiences and interests, with faculty supervision.

You’ll be prepared for a career as a:

• Director of projects related to games for learning
• Learning game designer
• Game researcher
• Program evaluator

Graduates work in such settings as:

• University-based research centers
• Community agencies
• Not-for profit organizations
• School systems
• Private industry, such as game design studios, educational design firms, and educational research firms