2008-07-08

Mary Laskowski , Associate Professor and Head of Information Processing and Management , and David Ward , Associate Professor and Head of Information Services for the Undergraduate Library , have been awarded a Presidential Citation for Gaming from the American Library Association (ALA). Awarded in the “Innovation” category, the citation recognizes efforts to use games and gaming as tools for learning, literacy development, and community development. Laskowski and Ward have developed public and classroom support programs to investigate best practices for integrating games as teaching tools into academic curricula. Their “Gaming Initiative” supports innovative teaching and research partnerships both within the academic community and between campus and the gaming industry. Learning outcomes include: students analyzing how culture and technology affect societal growth using “Civilization IV” in a library gaming lab, and students discussing and comparing the role of music in gaming through a program featuring campus researchers and local game company Volition.

Lisa Hinchliffe , Associate Professor and Head of the Undergraduate Library , has been selected by the American Library Association (ALA) as one of a panel of twelve national, leading gaming experts to launch a unique “Gaming for Learning” project. Funded through a $1-million grant from the Verizon Foundation, the project will track and measure the impact of gaming on literacy skills and build a model for library gaming that can be deployed nationally. The information will be used to build “The Librarians’ Guide to Gaming,” a comprehensive, online literacy and gaming toolbox, which then will be field-tested by additional libraries.

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