An NSF news release on the University of Oklahoma’s K20 Center Digital Game Based Learning project, McLarin Adventures. McLarin Adventures is a Massive Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG… like World of Warcraft) created as a research project into the effectiveness of multiplayer digital games as educational tools. The McLarin Adventures game engine was developed from the ground up at the K20 Center in order to incorporate the needs of educators in tracking educational objectives during game play. The game includes a state standards report generation component for teachers. The current game scenario had been created for 8th and 9th grades, with a focus on math, science, and literacy.

Does it work? Early student observations show the game is very engaging. We’ll have to wait for the final study to be released to show it’s educational effectiveness…2009 at the earliest, but more like 2010. When the results do come out, expect a study on a scale unheard of in educational research: 2400 students across over two dozen school districts!

Can I try? Not yet. The study is still in progress. Once completed, and assuming the results show positive educational efficacy,  the game will need to move to commercial prototyping. This could be another year or two. University technology transfer can be a complicated process… the technology either needs to be bought by an existing company (hey EA, are you listening!?), or the university will spin off a company that will need to find venture capital.

Considering the $14 billion market in educational technology, this could be the start of some awesome new educational tools that could make classrooms into LAN parties! Oh yea, they’ll be making better grades and gaining those 21st century skills as well.