It’s rare to look at a higher education coverage these days and not find references to the importance of data analytics. Across the student lifecycle from marketing and enrollment, to the learning experience, to alumni relations, data seems to be behind it all.

Books have long been an accepted part of every classroom. I have visited schools all around the world and see the same picture everywhere. Books are a common staple in the educational experience for students and teachers alike.

Generally speaking, active learning fosters far greater curriculum engagement than say listening to a ‘sage on the stage’ or memorizing stats from a textbook. Fortunately, modern technologies, specifically video games, are making this kind of immersive, hands on learning a greater reality. Game-based learning is enabling students to walk in the shoes of both real life and imaginary characters, empowering them to interact with content in an entirely new way.

Today’s video games are sophisticated and suspenseful. They provide lifelike graphics and scenarios that empower users to assume imaginative identities and immerse themselves into fantasy worlds. They captivate players’ attention and inspire them to keep playing time and time again. And let’s face it, they are fun. This begs the question, can this obsession serve a purpose beyond entertainment?

Video game usage is increasing dramatically–for play, for learning and for competition. If you are one of the 64 percent of American households that has at least one person who plays video games regularly (minimum three hours per week), then you can attest to the impact of video games.

For those of us who are at Triseum and the LIVE Lab at Texas A&M, we can attest to the countless hours of research, collaboration and testing that go into our game development processes. And while all of the results and interactions during development lead us to believe we are producing impactful games, the ultimate testament to the effectiveness of our games comes from those on the front lines–the instructors and students who are interacting with our games as part of the teaching and learning experience. We recently had a chance to sit down with some of our users and their feedback was inspiring.

Word problems, also known as story problems, have long been used as a teaching tool in math. From the most basic addition and subtraction riddles to more complex algebra and calculus equations, story problems create relatable visual scenarios. Students must show that they can decipher the information they are given, understand the question(s) at hand, and pick the correct mathematical calculation(s) that will help them solve the puzzle.

Our year-long game-based learning validation study has inspired teachers worldwide who are interested in pursuing gaming in the classroom. According to the study, participating teachers agreed that ARTé: Mecenas and Variant: Limits had a positive impact on student engagement, motivation to learn and knowledge acquisition.

Europe is a hotbed for Game-Based Learning (GBL). Not only is the continent home to some of the leading innovators in educational video games, but European Union leaders have offered critical support, for the use of innovative teaching techniques in classrooms across the continent, including video games.

The second webinar in our game-based learning validation study series recently aired, giving teachers a platform to share their insights from implementing our art history game, ARTé: Mecenas™, into their classrooms. The study followed classes in Norway, Poland, Portugal, Italy and Greece and was designed to empower participating teachers to consider new trends in learning models and investigate innovative technologies, all without losing site of learning outcomes.

Summer reading lists aren’t just an ideal way to keep students’ minds active over the extended break, they also give us as educators a great opportunity to dive into some must reads. In my last blog post, I shared some fantastic books for getting started in game-based learning, including trends, considerations and research.

It is said that most students lose about two months of grade level equivalency in reading and mathematical computation skills over the summer months, according to Think Stretch. Harvard Graduate School of Education says it’s even higher when it comes to math, reporting on average students lose approximately 2.6 months of learning in math over the summer — and teachers have to give up weeks of class time, or more, to make up for that loss.

The long-anticipated wait for the results of a year-long game-based learning validation study is finally over, and the findings reveal that calculus game Variant: Limits™ had a positive impact on student engagement, motivation and knowledge acquisition. Teachers from Norway, Poland, Portugal, Italy and Greece recently shared their feedback and observations during a webinar, hosted by European Schoolnet.

It’s that time of year again, that time when school is winding down and we post summer reading lists so our students stay engaged while working, relaxing, traveling and doing all of the things that summer brings. But summer reading lists are just for students. Summer is the perfect time for us as educators to catch up on those must-reads too.

“Ideas Worth Spreading” – it is the theme of legendary TED talks heard around the world, and it is what inspired my recent game-based learning talk at the TEDx TAMU event, a local version that brought together innovators to discuss, share, explore and connect.

STEM Discovery Week has wrapped, and what an inspirational celebration of science, technology, engineering and math it was! The buzz and excitement were fantastic. Specifically, the event gave us an opportunity to build on the game-based learning dialog and the contributions it is making to STEM education.