In the kids’ area of a doctor’s waiting room, we’re used to seeing small chairs, an aquarium larger than any of us had as a kid, and an assortment of (out of date) magazines for parents; but, what caught my eye recently, was a colorful wall display of handheld devices.

Kids are welcome to walk over and pick up one of the eight game devices to play with while they wait. Among the choices are tic-tac-toe, etch-a-sketch, and a math game. Math game?

I wasn’t surprised by the presence of technology—after all, many 2 year olds know how to boot up a mobile or laptop, and pretty soon four year olds will probably know how to defrag and clear their cache. But, I was a little surprised not to see an English language learning game on the wall, given the fact that the country that is the largest buyer of mobile English language learning products is—wait for it—the US. Interest in English language learning is worldwide. Here are a few game-based examples.

• Back in 2006, Nintendo released the “English Training: Have Fun Improving Your Skills!” http://www.nintendolife.com/games/ds/english_training game for the DS as a recreational way to learn or improve English by progressively unlocking game challenges. As of May 2011, over 2.6 million copies of the game were sold. Versions are available for native speakers of Japanese, German, French, Italian, Dutch, and Spanish.

• Mingoville http://www.mingoville.com/en.html, the English language learning MMOG and virtual world for kids, has more than 1,000,000 users across the globe—from Norway to Chile, Romania to Vietnam, and so on. Mingo also sells English learning apps for Android devices (built on the Adobe Air platform) and iPhones.

• The French government has become a major proponent of English language learning. The government licensed content from Entertainment Learning, the developer behind English Attack! http://www.english-attack.com/. The company claims it is the world’s first 100% entertainment-focused online resource for English skills. Based on “cognitive neuroscience,” the “full range of pedagogical content” includes learning games.

• LearnEnglish Kids www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglishkids is the British Council’s website with games songs, and stories for kids who wish to learn or improve English. This YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-MC-HGdxhY explains it best.

According to recent research from my company, the global market for English language learning has a compound annual growth rate of 14.5% and the market will reach an impressive $2.57 billion by 2016. What’s driving this market? A convergence of catalysts including consumer demand, digitization efforts in academic markets, publishers’ migrating to digital formats, government-mandated English initiatives, and the emergence of a product type that Ambient Insight has christened “Mobile Learning value added services (VAS).”

The highest revenue generating Mobile Learning VAS is English language learning. For example, Soletrando—a cooperative venture by Vivo, the Brazilian newspaper Oglobo, and La Mark—is based on a successful TV game show of the same name. This product is available as a web app, a mobile app, and an interactive voice response (IVR) service.

So, there’s a place (on the wall, online, in a kid’s hand) for an English language learning game. Are you game to build one?

We played location-based games long before smartphones captured our attention. If you ever played Capture the Flag or Hide and Seek, you know what I mean. Geo-caching and geo-tagging brought the genre up to date and on to our mobile devices.

Over the past few years, we’ve monitored the rise of Location-based Learning (or “proximity learning”), a new type of Mobile Learning that leverages the technical advances of location-based services (LBS) and the techniques of proximity marketing. Stir in a game challenge, add a dash of social media, and you have a recipe for a stimulating learning experience.

The marriage of Game-based Learning and Location-based Learning, which we first observed in 2010, has produced experiential learning opportunities about places with unique cultural or historical significance. It’s not surprising that tourism and cultural entities have been first on board. With sophisticated augmented reality or simple audio, these games can even challenge visitor/learner/players to go back in time, as well as play on the growing interest in hyperlocality.

Now, instead of using LBS to just find something—a place or an event—Location-based Learning offers the opportunity to experience (and learn) something that is relevant to the location. In other words, instead of asking, “Where am I?” The question now is “I’m here, what’s around me of interest?” or “What happened here?”

That’s definitely of interest to educators, governments, and nonprofit buyers who want to engage learners—and that brings us back to games: Location-based Mobile Learning games. Organizations as diverse as National Geographic, the Regensburg Experience Museum, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and the Brooklyn Museum are investing in Game-based Learning on location.

According to recent research by my company, the worldwide Location-based Learning market is in the “market creation phase.” The five-year compound annual growth rate worldwide is an impressive 26.3% and global revenues will rise to $682.13 million by 2016. Gaming is a major component of Location-based Learning. So, this is a good time (and place) for developers to be.

Call for Speakers for 2nd Annual Serious Play Conference, Aug. 21-23. 2012

Sessions for Developers, Project Leads, Faculty

SEATTLE – Dec. 28, 2011 – Serious Play Conference has issued a call for speakers for its second annual “boot camp” for serious games professionals. The 2012 conference will again be held at DigiPen Institute of Technology, Tuesday – Thursday, August 21 – 23 in Redmond, Wash., just outside Seattle.
The three day conference will feature sessions by publishers, developers, game design consultants, market analysts and other professionals already leveraging game mechanics in education, health care, corporations, government and for military training as well as vendors providing serious games hardware and software and faculty teaching serious game development.
Speakers will outline critical success factors in game design, share case histories, offer recommendations on setting up as well as measuring learning outcomes and give advice on how to take advantage of current development technology. Market research consultants will discuss industry trends.
Developers can also vie for recognition in the International Serious Play Awards Competition and certification. A student winner is also awarded.
Clark Aldrich, author of five industry text books and a serious games consultant, is conference director. Game industry veteran Sue Bohle, president, The Bohle Company, Los Angeles, whose agency helped build attendance for the Game Developers Conference (GDC) and currently supports Penny Arcade Expos, produces the event.

For more information, visit www.seriousplayconference.com

Contact:

Robert Brown
The Bohle Company
310 785 0515 ext. 231
robert@bohle.com