How can a team of HCI and learning scientists, and a team of professional game developers work together to create effective educational games? We report on progress in the ENGAGE project, a collaborative project between a group in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute and one in the Entertainment Technology Center. Less than a year into our project, although we don’t profess to have all the answers just yet, we do have two games, data from a formative evaluation study in two schools, and some reflections on a design process that integrates distributed expertise in instructional design and game design.

Dr. Vincent Aleven is an Associate Professor in Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute and has 20 years of experience in research and development of advanced learning technologies, grounded in cognitive theory.

A recent focus of his work is virtual worlds and game-based learning. He is a firm believer in the notion that the most effective educational games emerge when the best practices and practitioners in game design and instructional design come together.

Dr. Aleven is a member of the Executive Committee of the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center (PSLC), an NSF-sponsored research center spanning Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. He has been or is PI on seven major research grants and co-PI on seven others. Dr. Aleven has taught numerous courses, workshops, and summer schools on the development of intelligent tutoring systems and educational games.