Overview
The PRESENT will award development time for the professor who submits the best idea for an instructional game or simulation. Here is your chance to design highly interactive and engaging course content for your students. You supply the ideas, we supply the programming expertise.
Need help getting started? Here are some hints and resources:
- Think big. Your most ambitious idea might be more feasible than you imagine.
- Submit early. You will receive immediate feedback and the opportunity to brainstorm with our multimedia staff before the contest closes.
- Find inspiration. Check out these links to existing projects.
- Present Portfolio
- Merlot: a searchable collection of projects from all over the world. Note that Merlot includes many types of projects, not all of which are interactive.
Why simulations?
There are many reasons why simulations are useful in an educational setting. Here are just a few:
- Simulations allow students virtual access to tools, situations or environments they can not experience in real life due to distance, danger, or time considerations.
- Simulations can include instructional interventions to get students "back on track" as needed.
- Simulations allow students a venue where they can learn new skills at their own pace, or review skills they have forgotten.
- Simulations can be used to prepare students to interact with the real thing, or as a means to demonstrate proper usage to a large number of students simultaneously.
Why games?
Well designed games are a great source of motivation for students. Instead of being rewarded by an extrinsic factor such as a grade, students are intrinsically motivated by the sense of mastery the game provides. Ideally, the game itself becomes more complex as players progress, so that the difficulty level of the game is always just within reach. Games are also a great way to enable highly motivated or able students to progress beyond the level of knowledge and skill required by the course.
Games can also be used as a conversation starter for class or online discussions.
Grant Award Criteria
The following criteria will be used to select a winning proposal:
- well-defined learning goals.
- number of students impacted over the projected lifetime of the project.
More information is available on the grant criteria page.
Proposals
Proposals should include:
- learning goals
- projected impact
- a description of the game or simulation from a student's perspective: what does the user see and do?
- a description of the game or simulation from the faculty perspective.
- learning goals: what will students learn? why will their learning be enhanced relative to the learning expected from students who do not have access to the game or simulation?
Proposals can be completed online, and will be reviewed as they are received. Submitters will receive feedback with regard to the overall feasibility of the project, and information about the role(s) they will be required to play during project development. We expect that some proposals will be revised and reworked several times before a contest winner is selected, so feel free to start with a relatively vague, "big picture" description of what you have in mind. What you should NOT be vague about is the learning goal(s) you have in mind for the project.
Time commitment
The contest judges will use initial and revised project proposals to estimate the amount of time the faculty member should expect to spend, and/or a description of the types of tasks required of them. If you feel you are unable to commit to fulfilling these roles, you may withdraw your contest entry.
Contest Judges
Becky Kinney, Multimedia Developer
Paul Hyde, Project Consultant
Nancy O'Laughlin , Instructional Designer
