LEEF 2009 Keynote Presentations
Clark Aldrich, The Business and Learning Results of Games and Simulations
What can we expect games and simulations to do? The keynote session will explore the Return on Investment (ROI) for using games and simulations for performance. After more than a decade of exploring, documenting and applying best practices for game and simulation use and development, Clark Aldrich will discuss the documented results and how to use what we know about the effectiveness of games and simulations for performance to move forward in your organization.
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About the Keynote Presenter:
Clark Aldrich is a thought leader in evolving education, business analysis, and media through simulations, serious games, and other virtual learning environments.
As a simulation designer, Clark Aldrich has created some of the most effective, celebrated, and innovative "soft skills" simulations of the past decade, including SimuLearn's Virtual Leader global product line, for which he was awarded a patent. It is the most popular leadership simulation in the world and was the winner of the "best online training product of the year". SimuLearn's Virtual Leader (and the updated vLeader) is currently used in hundreds of corporations, universities, and military installations and has been translated into multiple foreign languages.
His most recent completed simulation is the Army Influence Trainer, a three hour self-contained course using a variety of mini-game approaches to teach influence skills, and featuring an easy to deploy Flash-based approach that utilizes motion-capture avatars and rich after-action-reviews, completed in the fall of 2008.
Mr. Aldrich also advises many of the world's most influential organizations (private and government), and serves on over a dozen boards, including with the NSA, magazines, and universities, and on educational and business analysis projects.
He is the author of two award-winning books, Simulations and the Future of Learning (Wiley, 2004) and Learning By Doing (Wiley, 2005); and a columnist and analyst. His next book, The Complete Guide to Simulations and Serious Games - How the Most Valuable Content Will Be Created In the Age Beyond Gutenberg to Google, will be available in Summer, 2009.
His work has been featured in hundreds of sources, including CBS, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, NPR, CNET, Business 2.0, BusinessWeek, U.S. News and World Reports, and, among other distinctions, he has been called an "industry guru" by Fortune Magazine.
Julie Dirksen and Rick Van Sant, Playing with the Brain: The potential impact of brain research on game and simulation design
Neuroscience and game and simulation design and development as separate disciplines have advanced considerably in recent years. Join Rick Van Sant and Julie Dirksen they explore synergies between the disciplines to consider how neuroscience findings can enhance game and simulation design.
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This keynote session explored:
- The fundamentals of brain plasticity and what current brain research says about learning
- How emotion plays a role in learning and why the intentional design of emotional elements improves learning
- How game mechanics like points, rewards and leveling create cycles of expertise that maximize learning retention and skills acquisition and minimize cognitive load
- How surprises and unexpected outcomes are processed in the brain, and why they are crucial for human learning
About the Keynote Presenters:
Julie Dirksen holds a M.S. degree in Instructional Systems Technology from Indiana University, and has over a dozen years experience designing interactive e-Learning environments for Fortune 500 clients. She is currently the Director of Online Training for RMC Project Management. She has been an instructional strategist with Allen Interactions, and an adjunct faculty member at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, teaching courses in Project Management, Instructional Design, and Cognitive Psychology.
Dr. Rick Van Sant is a tenured professor of education and senior scholar in residence in the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning at Ferris State University, specializing in teaching and learning theory. His current area of inquiry is the implication of brain-based learning research on technologically mediated and online learning. Most recently he presented at the American Association of Computers in Education (AACE) conferences in Toronto and Quebec on this topic, and the 2009 Society of Information Technology in Teacher Education (SITE) conference in Charlotte. Rick received his B.A. in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his M.A. in Special Education from the University of South Florida and his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Purdue University. From 2000 – 2003, Rick was invited to lead the faculty of Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates in developing the academic program model for this innovative university for Emirate women. During that time, he worked with colleagues to establish Zayed as the home of the Center for Technologically Mediated Learning to serve both faculty and teachers at the Ministry of Education. He is the only three time merit award scholar in the school’s history.