Where is the Education in P.E from Exergaming?

Active Video Gaming uses in Physical Education

I've just spotted a new comment on a Gamercize YouTube video that opens a critisim of exergaming that a lot of active games struggle to answer - where's the education component? The overriding answer to this question is there is none, as the game is just a tool for the PE teacher to use. However - some games give the teacher more to work with.

Here's the video that was commented on:





The comment says "I like the overall idea and objective of this, but how are kids working on fundamental movement skills and such. Sure this is getting heart rates up, but not actually teaching them any skills or ways to stay active throughout their lives."

Yes, Gamercize does raise HR to moderate to vigorous levels, so that's a tick in the box for physical activity, but what of  the skill component? True, Gamercize is not teaching kids how to catch, but we're looking at more advanced kids - the ones that are engaged by video games.

Gamercize in this implementation is being used to teach

• Sport strategy - seeing the big picture of team interaction and how tactics can be employed
• Team play - co-operation and communication between teams of 2 to achieve a sports objective
• Physiology - which muscles are working and how energy is being created for them 

I'm not a PE teacher, so that is just first impression view and I'm sure those more experience in PE will be able to find different modes of implementation that lever the power of engagement into video games to reach lesson objectives!

As for the second part of the question above, kids are like wind-up toys - just give them the opportunity to get moving and give them a start and they'll keep on moving :)

Originally posted at http://gamercize.blogspot.com/2013/03/where-is-education-in-pe-for-exergaming.html

The Cause of Obesity

(Source: http://gamercize.blogspot.com)

It should come as no shock that there is an obesity crisis. We hear it in the news every now and again, but what's the problem. A few more fat people? It's actually quite a serious issue.

For an individual take a look at this graphic

(source : https://www.ldh.nhs.uk/obesity_01.htm)

For the population that's not overweight of obese (congratulations!) there is still a serious issue

(source : http://www.getamericafit.org/statistics-obesity-in-america.html)

What this means is fit or fat, you're affected by obesity, either in your health or your wealth.

This is an outcry I hear you say. I'd agree. There is no mistake that I have cited UK and USA sources above, obesity is a global epidemic - a pandemic. So what are our individual countries doing to fix this for us?

The the UK we have the Change4Life campaign. Eat less, move more! Great. In the USA we have Healthy People and latterly supplemented with Let's Move! In Canada there's of course Active Healthy Kids Canada. Everything's ok now we have these great quasi-government organisations fighting for our health?

Not quite. All of these organisations have a common flaw. They do not adapt, they do not learn, they do not get disbanded if they are ineffective.

First on the block for the chop is Healthy Active Kids Canada.

"Since the formation of the Active Healthy Kids Canada in 1994, according to "Obesity in Canada - Snapshot" published by the Public Health Agency of Canada, the levels of obesity have grown from just over 20% to nearly 25%."

Next up Healthy People 2010

 "Since the inception of Healthy People 2010 in 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the states in America that have an obesity prevalence of 30% grew from zero states in 2000 to 12 states in 2010".

What about Change4Life?

"Since the creation of the Change4Life campaign in 2009, according to the National Health Service commissioned statistics via ONS, the percentage of overweight or obese children had grown from 17% reported in 2009 to 30%"

Why if the obesity problem is recognized and agencies have been set up to combat the problem is it still getting worse? Costing us our health and our wealth? The answer is a lack of knowledge about the population they are trying to help. Technology is becoming increasingly more important in work and leisure for the modern western individual and these agencies are still touting the "go play outside" message for increasing physical activity. All of them have dismissed exergaming as part of the solution.

Exergaming is dismissed because a few studies in Nintendo Wii have failed to produce the illusive 60 minutes of MVPA (Moderate to Vigourous Physical Activity, basically, being out of puff) that most governments recommend. Equally, most people get bored of Wii Sports and go play Mario Kart instead. The lack in understanding of exergaming, and the natural aversion to technology, causes the obesity agencies to make a fatal (that'l be fatal you you, not them) mistake and provide incorrect guidance. So what if exergaming ticked the boxes for sustainability, for MVPA?

Contrary to stereotypical or ignorant belief, exergames can. At least, Gamercize can. If you only ever read one piece of research this decade, make it this one. Exergaming MVPA, sustainability and of course comparison against the dreaded Wii.

(source : http://exergaming.pbworks.com/w/file/61482197/BHF%20Exergaming%20Poster.pdf)

So what causes obesity? Ignorance. Or to be blunt - the ignorance of the agencies set up to combat the situation. We know exergaming works, see above, but the agencies deny this. I would rather suggest honest stupidity over a desire to worsen the crisis in order to justify the expansion the respective agencies budgets. Well, maybe I might just hint at that.

Source: The Cause of Obesity

Taking a leap of faith for Exergaming

The Exergame Network Fundraiser

A couple of days before Thanksgiving Richard Coshott took a “leap of faith” out of an airplane to raise money for an organization that he is very passionate about, The Exergaming Network (TEN).

Coshott raised nearly $400 using Fundraise.com and that money will go towards paying for research that needs to be done. One of the biggest challenges in growing TEN is trying to convince organizations, schools, educators and anyone involved with making decisions on how exergaming isn’t just video games.

Exergaming is very beneficial to students and it is great way to keep students active. Coshott was nervous about the jump, but knows that it help raise awareness for TEN’s goals.

“When you have a door open to an airplane at 3,000 feet it goes against every natural instinct to jump out,” Coshott said. ”We have raised the profile of the initiative, and the knock on effect is we have some great partnership relationships in construction.”

He is excited about creating more fundraisers with Fundraise.com in the future and loved working with the team on creating a successful fundraiser.


“The great part about using Fundraise is that we can add to our activities, so we’re expecting to add more fundraisers,” Coshott added. 

There is a lot of research to be done in the coming months, and some of the topics that need to be tackled include: Positive Behaviour Effects, Gateway Effect, Comparative Enjoyment of Physical Activity, Health Benefits of Exergaming, Family health benefits of Exergaming, Cognitive benefits of exergaming and Improved social confidence from Exergaming.

Coshott is hoping that exergaming will continue accross the globe in the United States. One of the biggest challenges in the US is that with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation, money has been diverted away from physical education and the arts and towards teaching to the test to try to meet the requirements of of NCLB.

But Coshott sees exergaming as a great way to keep kids in shape and educate them at the same time. Some studies show that students who regularly exercise perform better academically.

“Exergaming is brilliant to give all kids a chance to be active and successful in physical activity,” Coshott added. “One goal of TEN is to educate these schools so that they can implement a successful and rewarding experience for the school and the students. The good news is that exergaming can help; so long as we know how to use it and we have the proof that it does say what we say it does.”
And that leads back to the reason why TEN needs financial support.
 “Hence the reason TEN is doing all the work to get the gaps filled in exergaming research and hence the reason I jumped out of a plane last weekend,” Coshott exclaimed.

Here is video of Coshott taking his “literal leap of faith” to help support the TEN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IXZje4axsk&feature=g-all-u
To read the previous entry on this fundraiser, visit: http://blog.fundraise.com/post/35724102079/growing-the-exergaming-network-one-player-at-a-time, to read more more about the Fundraiser, visit: https://www.fundraise.com/the-exergame-network/active-gamer

Originally posted at :
http://blog.fundraise.com/post/36427724320/taking-a-leap-of-faith-for-exergaming

Jumping into Exergaming Research

The Exergame Network is a not for profit advocacy group promoting exergaming that wishes to give students new opportunities in research. On November 18, Richard Coshott, Chairman, will be taking a literal leap of faith to launch a new initiative.

PRLog (Press Release) - Nov 16, 2012 -
Coshott will be going through two days training towards a solo skydive to support and raise money for the exergaming movement. The Exergame Network (TEN) will use the funds collected through this fundraiser to support new generation researchers with their study costs into active gaming and exergaming.

TEN has been long aware that the limitations of exergaming are public knowledge, dissemination and evidence base rather than failings of exergaming equipment or the individuals who deliver the experiences. To address this TEN has collaborated to identify the top research questions, and therefore evidence, required to understand exergaming.

Coshott is hoping that more research will help bring exergaming to the forefront.
“There a is a widening gap between what we know and what we can prove. Research is stuck in Exergaming 101 with energy expenditure studies. The collaboration of academics and deliverers of exergaming within TEN has explored the practice and theory, concluding there isn’t enough quality research that answers the questions that we want answered,” Coshott said.



There are several studies that need to be funded. These studies fall into the following categories: positive behavior effects, gateway effect and comparative enjoyment, health benefits, family health benefits, cognitive and improved social confidence through exergaming.

For these categories, TEN will be providing a package of incentives including cash for research assistants or buy out from classes, exergaming equipment donations and loans, use of exergaming facilities, dissemination opportunities at conferences, publication opportunities and professional and academic expertise.

For more information about exergaming and to get involved with a pledge, visit http://www.facebook.com/groups/exergaming/ or follow the movement on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ExergameNetwork.

To donate to the cause, visit: https://www.fundraise.com/

the-exergame-network/active-gamer

Pledges for Exergaming Research

The Exergame Network is running an initiative to help bring new researchers into the field of exergaming. See the page on our wiki site that outlines this project - http://exergaming.pbworks.com/w/page/54632210/Exergaming%20Funding

In order to make exergaming an attractive proposition as a field of study we are reaching out to the network and exergamers world wide to pledge resources. Any help you can give is great, it could be as little as an hour on Skype with a student to fine tune a research question or as much as donation of exergaming equipment to be the subject of a study! You can make your pledges here : http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1081349/Resource-Pledges-for-Exergaming-Research or complete the form below:

Jump into Exergaming

The Exergame Network (TEN) is a not for profit advocacy group promoting exergaming and wishes to give students new opportunities to research this exciting new field.

The Exergame Network Chairman of the Board, Richard Coshott, will undertake a sponsored skydive in August this year to raise awareness and money for TEN towards funding students study designs into research reality. TEN will be inviting students to submit study designs for consideration by the board of directors towards an award.

Awards will be made in October and not limited to funding but include donation or free borrowing of exergame equipment and, most valuable, expertise from TEN exergaming researchers in to form of help, advice and study quality assurance.

"I am raising money by way of a sponsored skydive in August 2012 to provide TEN with funds to support aspirations towards quality research in exergaming, by engaging the new generation of researchers. The skydive is a solo jump, which represents the leap of faith and commitment of purpose we would expect to see in candidate submissions into the field of exergaming research from the students." said TEN Chairman Richard Coshott.

The Exergame Network already freely provides a rich source of exergame information at it's wiki http://exergaming.pbworks.com and is supported by the sectors leading, independent experts. The awards for the Future of Exergaming Research will be made by TEN following an international invitation for study designs open to all universities across the globe.

Please support the inititive by showing your support at https://www.fundraise.com/the-exergame-network/active-gamer. All donations will be attributed directly to award winners, full details of the contest will be available via TEN.

AAHPERD Exergaming Presentations - TEN has the Power

There are two pages of academic presentations and poster session on the subject of exergaming at the AAHPERD Nationals in Boston this year. Sadly Boston is experiencing power issues that shut down the conference yesterday and are likley to impact today's proceedings.

TEN will help presenters disemminate their studies and ideas by publishing them on The Exergame Network slideshare profile (http://www.slideshare.net/ExergameNetwork) and futher social media distribution via Twitter and Facebook.

If you have an exergaming presentation that has been cancelled, please email info@exergamenetwork.org with a link to your session outline on the AAHPERD site (for example http://aahperd.confex.com/aahperd/2012/webprogram/Session52322.html) and attach a copy of your presentation or poster. TEN will do the rest for you!

Exergaming PreConference Event at AAHPERD

The largest gathering of physical education professionals in the country will take place next week for the 127th National Convention of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) in Boston.


This will be the 2nd annual Let’s Move in School Showcase with more than 200 Boston Public School children showcasing the different ways they receive the nationally recommended 60 minutes of physical activity per day with celebrity athletes cheering them on!

As a Preconference to the event some of the most renowned educators and professionals in the country will demonstrate the implementation of technology into physical education under the title 104 Exergame Workshop: United We Move Toward Active Games 4 Health.

This event will take place Tuesday, March 13th 2012 in Room 304/306 in the Convention Center from 8:00am-12:00pm.

This experiential, multidisciplinary workshop will focus on how exergames (video games that require physical exertion to play) can be used as a means to accumulate more physical activity in today’s sedentary society. Our panel will lead live demonstrations and competitions on the use and benefits of exergames in schools, fitness clubs, and at home. Don’t miss your chance to meet the leaders in exergaming from education, health care, advocacy, fitness, research, manufacturing, and marketing.

We hope you will join us for this wonderful opportunity to learn how technology is a significant part of physical education. Many thanks to Stephen Yang (http://www.exergamelab.org/) of SUNY Cortland for his continued work in making these workshops work! Follow Stephen on twitter @ExergameLab


(Originally posted at : http://blog.motionfitness.com/?p=1399)

Nationwide PE Exergaming Survey Open!

Jennifer Krause, Ph.D

I can effectively facilitate students’ safe and appropriate exergaming technology use in physical education. Do you agree? Do you disagree? The University of Texas at San Antonio is asking for the opinions of PE teachers in a nationwide PE Exergaming Survey into exergaming beliefs and behaviors in physical education.

"We want to learn how physical educators feel about and their experiences with exergaming in physical education. The knowledge gained from this study may contribute to our understanding of the current state of teachers’ beliefs and experiences with exergaming, which will allow professionals to make decisions regarding future training and implementation." says principal investigator Jennifer Krause, Ph.D.
 
Exergaming Technology is defined as a video game system that requires gross motor physical exercise or movement to play the game. Examples of exergames include, but are not limited to:
• Dance Pad Games (Dance step games or games that use a dance pad or similar pad for input, such as DDR)
• Controller tracking (people have to use a controller, such as Nintendo Wii or Playstation Move)
• Motion Tracking (people use their bodies, camera, such as Xbox Kinect)
• Bikes / Rowers / Steppers / Treadmill / Balance Boards as controllers


The survey should take about 15 minutes to complete and is confidential. If you include your email address you will be entered into a drawing for a Wii gaming system. In-service physical education teachers can start the survey by clicking on this link https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/M3D265W


Those also attending the AAHPERD convention in March 2012, that indicate a preference, can meet the research team and may be invited to participate in focus groups or interviews at the convention.

Just Dance 3 Wins Top International Industry Award

Just Dance 3 Wins Top International Industry Award

Just Dance 3 by Ubisoft has been awarded the top accolade by public vote in The Exergame Network Awards 2011. Active video games nominated by industry experts were put to the public for the ultimate exergaming releases of 2011, attracting voting from around the world.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 5, 2012 – In the category for Best Home Exergame of 2011, Ubisoft's Just Dance 3 has taken the honours with the majority of the public vote. The most popular exergames are dance variations, taking three of the top four places in the voting.

The full nominations and the results for The Exergame Network Awards 2011 were;

Best Home Exergame 2011
Kinect Sports Season 2
Just Dance 3
Exergamer.com
Dance Central 2
Dance Dance Revolution II
UFC Personal Trainer

The results of the public vote are as follows, Winner: Just Dance 3 (39.5% of votes), Runner-up: Kinect Sports Season 2 (22.0% of votes)

”Dance exergames are very powerful for engaging players in an intense workout that has a focus on fun. From my first hand experience of Machine Dance in our facility, XSITE in Hobart Australia, I see the appeal every week.” says Brett Young, founding member of The Exergame Network and CEO of Exergaming Australia.

Commercial grade exergaming launches, suitable for schools, gym and public spaces, featured in The Exergame Network awards with a strong contingent of mobile exergames and unique solutions.

Best Commercial Exergame 2011
Nexersys
Bjong TrezrHunt
Fruit Ninja for Rehabilitation
Exergame Station
Mobile Adventure Walks

The results of the public vote are as follows, Winner: Exergame Station (41.5% of votes), Runner-up: Bjong TrezrHunt (26.8% of votes)
"We are extremely excited, honored, and humbled to have received this award, especially in view of the fine products represented by the other finalists. I want to thank Stephen Yang and his staff and students at Cortland for all their help and support. I also want to thank Dr. Gregory Reeds and Canisius College, as well as The Exergame Network, and of course all the public that participated in the voting. We look forward to continued collaborations, and we will continue to work hard to provide products that let our customers play hard, and to show our appreciation for having received this award." says Michael Pelletter, CEO of Exergame Station.

The Exergame Network can be joined or contacted via LinkedIn, Facebook, Wiki, Twitter or by email at info@exergamenetwork.org

Games for Health Journal - Insider

	ARTICLES PLAYERS JOURNAL ADVERTISE MOBILE VERSION FORWARD
	The Internet has been abuzz this week due to the surprising results from Tom Baranowski’s team at Baylor, which found that children, left to their own devices, get no more health benefit from exergames than from other videogames. The paper, Impact of an Active Video Game on Healthy Children’s Physical Activity, was published in the Feb. 27 issue of Pediatrics. According to Reuters who had the initial report on the study, some public health researchers have hoped that active videogames might be an alternative to outdoor play and sports for at least some of the physical activity kids need -- especially for those who live in unsafe neighborhoods where playing outside isn’t always an option. To test this idea, researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, gave Nintendo Wii consoles to children who didn’t already have one. Half of the participants were given their choice of an active game -- such as Wii Sports or DanceDance Revolution-Hottest Party 3 -- and the other half their choice of an inactive game, such as Disney Sing-It Pop Hits or Super Mario Galaxy. Halfway through the study, the 78 participating children, all nine to 12 years old and above average weight and BMI, were given their choice of a second game from the same category as their first. The research team tracked the youngsters for 13 weeks, testing their physical activity levels with a motion-measuring device called an accelerometer. Results showed that throughout the study period, participants with the active games got no more exercise than those given inactive video games. If one simply refers to this statement of findings, it is a short step toward believing that exergames have no health value. In fact, the actual conclusion of the study was “results provide no reason to believe that simply acquiring an active videogame under naturalistic circumstances provides a public health benefit to children.” In other words, like having a bowling ball, simply owning a potentially beneficial asset doesn’t ensure success. It requires coaching for goals, motivation, technique, discipline, and so on. Many bloggers and the more sensational publications failed to read the fine print of the story which resulted in headlines such as “Wii Motion Gaming Won't Guarantee Better Fitness”, “Just because it's Wii, doesn't mean it's exercise,” and “Study rubbishes Nintendo health benefits”. The take away from the Baylor study remains powerful. The health benefits and expectations for videogames lie not within the game itself but how one chooses to employ the resource. Medicine sitting on the shelf and untaken; un-followed post-surgery exercise regimens; ignored recommendations for smoking cessation; and exergames without assistance don’t achieve the expected outcomes -- not at the fault of the medication, prescription, advice, or game. So the question becomes, given the resources, how are exergames best supported to achieve the desired results? My sense is that we have not heard the last on this study and, hopefully, other researchers will build on the results of the Baylor study to better understand exergame potentials. Meanwhile, we have received excellent feedback from our first issue of the Games for Health Journal. If you haven’t gotten your copy yet, please visit the website to see the Games for Health Table of Contents and to subscribe. Warm Regards, Bill Ferguson, PhD Editor-in-Chief Games for Health Journal: Research, Development, and Clinical Applications

Games for Health Journal - Online!

Check out the brand new Games for Health Journal online. As is customary with the seventy journals published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., the online version is posted about a week before the print issues are shipped. We do this to make sure our authors get as early of a publication date as possible for their work as well as use the speed and convenience of the Internet versus traditional distribution of our content.

The table of contents for this, our inaugural issue, is quite remarkable. My editorial provides a bit of a backdrop for the Journal and expresses my sincere thanks to the many people who made it possible. News from the Field shares some of the diverse health game activities that have taken place recently. Next are two interviews with the virtual founders of Games for Health research and conferences - Paul Tarini of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Pioneer Portfolio and Ben Sawyer, co-founder of DigitalMill and Games for Health conference organizer and host.

The Participants in the Roundtable Discussion read like the Who's Who of health game research and development - Tom Baranowski, Peter Bingham, Debra Lieberman, Ernie Medina, Jesse Schell, and Sam Yohannan.

Next we present seven excellent Original Articles; Peer Reviewed papers on a broad range of topics. I think you will find these reports of effective health game deployment to be robust and fascinating. The two Clinical Reports are excellent perspectives and opinions developed by experts in their respective fields. As such, they enable experts to report on trends, developments, and key perspectives at the leading edge of the health game field. We conclude this issue with a review of Jane McGonigal's excellent book, Reality is Broken.

Whether online or in print, we feel confident you will find great value in the Games for Health Journal. I am pleased to be the facilitator for sharing your remarkable work and I encourage you to contact me with your research, comments, feedback, and suggestions.

For the Games for Health Journal: Research, Development, and Clinical Applications - see http://online.liebertpub.com/G4H

The Exergame Network in 2012

The Exergame Network (TEN) is taking new focus into 2012 to explore the various aspects of how exergaming affects peoples lives. The achievements of TEN in 2011 have been without parallel in the exergaming sector. As a non-profit, non-affiliated, international group that has no funding or strict organisational structure TEN operates only through the passion of individuals and on the generosity of these expert's time. If you do not know what TEN has achieved, take a look at the slides below;

The Exergame Network - Report on our Progress

View more PowerPoint from Exergame Network

Exergaming has much to do with change and progression, TEN is changing and progressing with a new format for 2012. The first collaborative Skype call of the year outlined those changes;

• TEN is moving towards delivery focused collaboration in Workshop Skype Calls
• TEN will still maintain it's social support collaboration, with open general discussion calls
• Responsibility for running the TEN social channels (Twitter, Facebook etc) will be expanded
• Projects will be focused to interest groups and collaboration will be largely online in real-time
• TEN will branch out the representation of Exergaming into pure gaming and pure health channels
• TEN will maintain links with games for health channels
• TEN's International focus will take account of regional expert bases, adapting to fit
• TEN will remain a free unbiased collaboration, with an executive steering group based on participation

TEN brings the commercial, academic and public passions for exergaming under one roof, the democratically decided motto of the network is as it does - "Promoting Healthy Exergaming Worldwide"

Physical Education Pre Conference Exergame Workshop

Thursday March 1, 2012, 8:30am to
3:30pm

Preconference
Event to the DuPage County PE Institute Day (Naperville, IL) on March 2,
2012 

This Professional Development / Exergame Education Workshop
shows you the exciting possibilities of how using technology, combined with
games, and physical activity can enhance and enrich the lives of generations.

Exergame Education Workshop

Date: March 1, 2012

Time: 8:30am to 3:30pm

Location: 

Bulls Sox Training Academy
6200 River Bend Dr.
Lisle, IL 60532

 

Fee: $95.00 / Person for Full Workshop.  $45.00 for
Education Students

Registration Form

Purpose: Professional Development / Exergame Education Workshop for
PE teachers, Administrators, Superintendants. School and After-School programs. Non-Profits. Foundations.

Description: This Professional Development / Exergame Education Workshop
shows you the exciting possibilities of how using technology, combined with
games and physical activity, can enhance and enrich the lives of generations.

The workshop will be located at the state-of-the-art Chicago Bulls
Sox Training Academy in Lisle, IL, featuring the best Exergaming / Active Game facility in the world.

Teachers who attend the pre-conference will hear information from
leaders in the field about how ExerGaming can help educators to be even more effective in reaching our youth. Participants will find this full-day
ExerGaming pre-conference fun, educational, and invaluable in helping to
promote high-quality physical education and physical activity to maximize the
educational experience.

Topics include:

·         Medical view on how a sedentary lifestyle is impacting our children with life-long disease.

·         A successful School and Community Model overview, showing results of improved academics, improved disciplinary incidents, and improved health and fitness scores.

·         Implementing Technology and Exergaming in your facility. Putting knowledge into practice.

·         How do we prove it is working? Using technology to revolutionize physical education.

·         Time in vs. Time Out. Help students with ADHD and other behavior issues decrease impulsivity and improve learning. Explains the physiology of the attention system.

·         Quality teaching in a Physical Education setting, which meets the NASP standards and promotes lifelong fitness.

·         How to Raise and go after funding for your program!

 Presenters Include

·        Dan Lawler, Ph. D. - Retired
Principal

·        Stephen P. Yang, Ph. D.- SUNY
Cortland College

·        Lisa Witherspoon, Ph. D. –
University of South Florida

·        Ernie Medina, Jr., Dr. PH, CHFS –
Preventative Medicine Specialist

·        George Velarde – California Physical
Educator of the Year

·        Sharon Warren – Polar Electro
Education

·        Dave Kurland – Chicago Bulls
Director

Please join us for this one of a kind event where you can learn the potential of implementing technology and Exergaming into your facility.

Originally posted at http://www.exergamefitness.com/blog/article.php?show=physical_education_pre_conference_exergame_workshop

The Exergame Network Awards 2011

Welcome to The Exergame Network Awards 2011

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Welcome to the public voting for The Exergame Network Awards 2011.

The following categories and nominations have been chosen by The Exergame Network Awards Committee. Please vote on each of the categories and share this survey with your friends!

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GameDays 2012 and Edutainment 2012

It is HERE! The GameDays 2012 conference website is now calling all Exergame researchers, developers and users to Darmstadt Germany! Dr Mellecker was in attendance at GameDays 2011 and it was reportibly "AMAZING!"

Looking forward to seeing the The Exergame Network crowd the 2012 event! Here's the link - http://www.edutainment2012.de/index.php?id=164&L=1, and some words from the TEN supporter who scooped the "Best Presentation of the Conference" award;

"I had the pleasure of attending GameDays 2011 and found it to be very well organized. The research and game development content was cutting edge. Teams of researchers, developers, gamers and designers openly shared thoughts and research throughout the conference. The team of organizers keenly assisted visitors and to made everyone feel at home in Germany. The city of Darmstadt has many historical sights and it is extremely efficient. There are plenty of boutique shops for those wishing to fill their suitcases and the food and beverage is abundant! I highly recommend this conference for anyone wishing to share their work with an international audience and/or for those just wanting a great international experience.

Dr. Robin Mellecker"


Here's a little more on the conference itself;

3rd International Conference and 8th Science meets Business Workshop on Serious Games for training, Education, Health and Sports plus 7th International Conference on E-Learning and Games
Multimedia Communication Lab at Technische Universität Darmstadt

The GameDays have been established in 2005 as "Science meets Business" event in the field of Serious Games, taking place on annual basis in Darmstadt, Germany. The principle aim is to bring together academia and industry and to discuss the current trends, grand challenges and potentials of Serious Games for different application domains. Since 2010, the academic part has been emphasized resulting in a first Int'l Conference on Serious Games for Sports and Health with conference proceedings and a special edition with selected papers in the Int'l Journal for Computer Science in Sport. 2011, the GameDays spectrum of topics has been broadened and the different facets, methods, concepts and effects of game-based learning and training are covered as well.

Similar, the Edutainment conference provides an international forum for researchers and practitioners in various disciplines to share and exchange experiences in the emerging research area combining Education and Entertainment. Edutainment 2012 keeps its tradition as an international major conference, which facilitates the international exchange of the-state-of-the-art in academic research and practice. The conference covers all aspects of pedagogical principles, designs and technological issues for Education and Entertainment.

The organizers of the GameDays series highly appreciated the request by the Edutainment initiators to bring the Edutainment 2012 to Europe and to combine it with the GameDays 2012.

Exergaming through the ages – Wii sets ‘em up, Kinect knocks ‘em down

A specific wave of video games is relegating Billy Blanks, Jane Fonda, and, yes, I admit, Richard Simmons to our media cabinets.  Exergaming, the phenomenon that combines exercise and video games is making its way into every facet of our lives.  The five-by-eight foot space in front of our television sets is being increasingly taken over by motion control games, those games that are controlled entirely by body movements.  With state-of-the-art technology – namely from Nintendo, Sony, and, most recently, Microsoft – we now have a myriad of systems to choose from.  VHS, no more!  Bring in the video games to whip me into shape.

‘Exergaming’ has been coined as a rather catchy media term to detract critics from the notion that gamers are typically exercise-averse.  The word officially entered the English language by appearing in the Collins English Dictionary in 2007.  As a field that has been gaining momentum since the 1980s, the field of videogame exercise is poised to only increase followers.  From scientific circles to educational organizations and professional sports teams, the games we play in our homes have found a footing in our society’s agenda to improve our overall well being.

My first brush with action-packed video gaming took place at an arcade at a mini-golf/go-cart/batting cage emporium in my suburban, Chicago hometown.  A rather astute young man was going at it on a http://www.ddrgame.com/ round for what seemed like hours.  Dripping with sweat and oblivious to those around him, Mr. DDR let his Airwalks meet their maker with every step he matched from the screen to the mat.

Konami, the creator of the 1998 DDR game, has certainly capitalized on its early success.  With Sony carrying Dance Dance Revolution over from the arcade to its Playstation, consumers were able to have their own dance mats in their living rooms and brush up on their dance skills at home.  Other early games that featured an under-foot mat included Nintendo’s Dance Aerobics with the Power Pad and Atari’s Foot Craz.  The Power Pad games reached respectable commercial success.  The Atari product, eventually, like much of its franchise, did not fare as well.

Exercise machines are also no strangers to the gaming world.  Nintendo and Life Fitness released the short-lived Exertainment system, which featured a pedal-driven stationary bicycle.  These days, the Gamercize machines are compatible with each of the Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo systems, and Expresso offers a rendition for consumers.  Although lackluster in their gaming appeal, they are undoubtedly items that many people are dropping money on to lose pounds.

As who was the most visible contender in the media in the 2000s, Nintendo made a comeback to the fitness video game business in a big way.  Not only as an entertainment tool with secondary physical benefits, the Wii become a solid means of getting healthy.  In 2007, Nintendo released the WiiFit. From then on out, the Nintendo became a staple for women everywhere to cancel their yoga center memberships and peacefully train on their Wii Balance Boards.

These fitness games are even changing the way the scientific community thinks about treatment for neuromuscular disorders.  Take Wii-hab for instance.  Parkinson’s Disease patients show some evidence of improving motor control after playing the Wii after a period of time.  Some users show how even autism might be seen as less of a disability with the Microsoft Kinect.  For autistic children who find traditional video game controllers difficult to master, taking advantage of the gross movements that control the games makes one more activity easier.

One only needs to look to two major metropolises to see how more and more children benefit from fitness gaming.  In Chicago, children’s athletic training programs have been leveraging virtual fitness for their agenda.  It’s all about the children, and they have been getting ample attention in New York public schools.  In lieu of a traditional gym class, an elementary school in the Bronx tried out WiiFit on a group of students in 2009.

The exergaming world has had its share of wrong turns, however, but many of today’s games are pretty engaging.  EA Sports Active suite of games, The Biggest Loser empire, and WiiFitPlus are all experiences that I am willing to try.  My personal favorite right now is Dance Central 2 for the Xbox and Microsoft Kinect.  In fact, anything that has to do with Kinect has a certain je ne sais quoi about it.  This system has somehow managed to capture the interest of the most unlikely candidates.  From girls claiming on their blogs that it is their workout of choice to dogsrunning around robotics conferences with a Kinect camera on their heads, well, it’s held me captive.  The new Dance Central 2 is a game that brings me back to those first days of Dance Dance Revolution, when we spent evenings gawking at the professionals at work.  I don’t believe that I’ll miss the familiar faces of the old-time fitness gurus on my TV now that I am the one in control.

Originally posted : http://www.thatvideogameblog.com/2011/12/04/exergaming-through-the-ages-wii-sets-em-up-kinect-knocks-em-down/