Research in Games & Simulations
Over the past 25 years, RCET at Kent State University has expanded research in games and simulations focusing on advancing knowledge in a variety of contexts. The team has published their work in various national and international journals (e.g., Education and Information Technologies, New Media & Society, British Journal of Educational Technology, Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, etc.), in various handbooks and books (e.g., from Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), from IGI Global, from ETC Press, etc.), and collaborated on various projects that helped educators and practitioners implement gaming and simulations in the field (e.g. Mixed Reality Virtual Humans, etc.).
Published Journal Articles
RCET has published research in numerous national and international journals focusing on gaming and simulations' impact on learning, gaming culture, and toxicity in gaming communities. Past research has focused on a variety of contexts including: explorations of video game players’ vitality which deals with one’s happiness in connection with their internet gaming disorders and gaming communities, the creation of the gaming communities of inquiry scale (GCoI), the correlation between the GCoI scale and demographics, gaming habits, and metacognitions, etc.
An Application of the Game Communities of Inquiry Scale
Development of gaming community scale
Online Gaming as a Double Edged Sword
Sharing dark sides on game service platforms
Research/Teaching Handbooks and Chapters
The RCET team has focused their efforts on sharing research about the implementation of gaming and simulations to the public through edited research and teaching handbooks. Handbook and chapter titles such as Teaching the game: A collection of syllabi for game design, development and implementation (volumes 1 & 2), edited by Dr. Richard E. Ferdig (RCET Team), Dr. Emily Baumgartner (KSU Alum), and Dr. Enrico Gandolfi (RCET Team), The Handbook of Research on Effective Electronic Gaming in Education, edited by Dr. Richard E. Ferdig (RCET Team), Digital-based video games and 21st Century Skills, by Grace Morris (Research Assistant for RCET), and others have allowed scholars to look across multiple contexts to understand how gaming is perceived and taught as well as to acknowledge groundbreaking research in electronic gaming over the years.
The Routledge Companion to Video Game Studies
Handbook of Research on Effective Electronic Gaming in Education
Digital based video games and 21st century skills
Gaming and Simulations Project Collaborations
RCET continuously collaborates with practitioners and educators to help bridge the research-to-practice gap in games and simulations. The published chapter, Education + Minecraft= engaging, creative, and fun, by Daniel Stitzel (Streetsboro City Schools, Ohio) and Grace Morris (Research Assistant for RCET), in the book titled, What PreK-12 Teachers Should Know About Educational Technology in 2023: Research-to-Practice Anthology, provides practical examples through a real life implementation describing how to integrate Minecraft in the classroom.
Education + Minecraft= engaging, creative, and fun
Mixed Reality Virtual Humans Project
RCET has collaborated with the Virtual Experience Research Group at the University of Florida to present a life size conversation agent to effectively teach medical education and communication. This simulation allowed visitors to be trained by a virtual doctor and assume the physician role.