Vermont Fest 2021

The first version of _Oregon Trail_ was created and introduced to the teaching world in 1971. Fifty years later, what have we learned about digital games in education, and what does - and doesn’t - work? In this workshop we will take a hands-on approach to answering this question, informed by the latest research. We will both use existing games and create new ones, focusing on readily available cross-platform tools and techniques. We will also examine the connections between board and narrative games and their digital counterparts, and how to use both types productively. Finally, we will sneak a peek at emerging uses for virtual reality games that open up new domains of immersive learning, reaching far beyond a text message reading “you have died of dysentery.”