Computer Games and Simulations for Education and Exploration
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this course on designing games for learning. Students build and test their own digital and board games, examining how people learn from them through field testing of prototypes. The syllabus covers research and development issues for computer-based media, including desktop and handheld platforms, alongside non-computer game formats, and looks at how games get implemented in classroom settings. Coursework centers on hands-on game design projects paired with study of learning theory and educational research methods, taught jointly through MIT's Urban Studies and Planning and Comparative Media Studies programs. Materials include the full syllabus, assignments, and project guidelines as published on MIT OpenCourseWare, free to access with no certificate offered. The course suits students interested in the intersection of game design, cognition, and pedagogy.