South Madison Times

In the South Madison Times epistemic game – a civic journalism version of Journalism.net – high school students spent a summer learning to be reporters for a community-based online newspaper. They worked with local reporters to learn aspects of the craft of journalism – like interviewing and lead-writing – and met with community leaders to uncover important events and happenings in and around Madison’s most diverse neighborhoods.

Henry Jenkins on epistemic games

In his blog on technology and culture, Henry Jenkins uses epistemic games as an example of “what might be done” with educational technology:

Teachers in a range of subjects can deploy what David Shaffer calls “epistemic games.” In an epistemic game, the game world is designed to simulate the social context of a profession (say, urban planning), and by working through realistic but simulated problems players learn the ways of acting, interacting, and interpreting that are necessary for participating in the professional community. In effect, rather than memorizing facts or formulas, through performances of being an urban planner, lawyer, doctor, engineer, carpenter, historian, teacher, or physicist the player learns the particular ways of thinking of these professions.

Digital Zoo: The effects of mentoring on young engineers

Nulty, A., & Shaffer, D. W. (2008). Digital Zoo: The effects of mentoring on young engineers. Paper to be presented at the International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS), Utrecht, Netherlands.

http://epistemicgames.org/cv/papers/Hatfield_Shaffer_ICLS_08.pdf

“They listen to stakeholders”: Promoting civic thinking through epistemic game play

Bagley, E. S., & Shaffer, D. W. (2008). “They listen to stakeholders”: Promoting civic thinking through epistemic game play. Paper presented at the International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS), Utrecht, Netherlands.

http://epistemicgames.org/cv/papers/Bagley_Shaffer_ICLS_08.pdf

Reflection in professional play

Hatfield, D., & Shaffer, D. W. (2008). Reflection in professional play. Paper to be presented at the International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS), Utrecht, Netherlands.
http://epistemicgames.org/cv/papers/Hatfield_Shaffer_ICLS_08.pdf