Serious work teaching via games
Oct 2 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal
Computer gaming has grown up. Technology developed to amuse and entertain is also being used as a tool to educate and inform, as Karen Dent reports.
THE North East is rightly recognised as a hub for computer games makers and the region is also a highly-regarded player in the more ‘serious’ side of gaming, using new technology as a tool for learning.
Applications are being used in the classroom to teach maths, physics, history and languages, as well as training working adults in the public and private sectors. These so-called serious games are used as educational tools by governments, the military and in the corporate, advertising, healthcare and emergency response worlds.
Carri Cunliffe, head of sector development at Codeworks GameHorizon, the business network for videogame companies in the North East, said: “They’re now big business. There are hundreds of businesses developing games for the market, which Microsoft has valued at $9bn – including major concerns such as IBM and Microsoft itself – and the sector is likely to continue its rapid growth over the coming years.
“Games can be used to teach practically any subject, to inspire, to analyse and to promote. In the North East we have a strong games industry, so it’s no surprise to find that the region is home to a few companies working in this field.”
Northumberland’s UK Haptics is at the forefront of harnessing virtual reality applications for use in the health sector. The business produces a training tool called Virtual Veins, which allows health professionals to practise injecting patients. It is also working on a dialysis tool and an ultrasound system.
The systems will be used by a number of NHS trusts from January, including Newcastle Dental School, Torbay PCT and the Leicester RVI Renal Unit, which will work with the company to finish developing the product.
The Rothbury-based business is also expecting its own injection of more than £1m in the new year from private equity backers to further develop its groundbreaking ideas, which use photo-realistic images of body parts. “We are trailblazing. We are pioneering – but the problem with pioneers is that you get arrows in your hat!” said managing director Gary Todd.
“There isn’t anybody else who does it. There is a German company which uses similar technology but we are much more broad-based.
“We produce various body bits. What we have developed is a series of tools which allow people to learn different types of vascular access – basically sticking needles into people.
“We programme a tool so you can effectively touch the image and feel the needle pop the skin.”
Mr Todd, a former mechanical engineer, employs 14 people between UK Haptics and sister company Firstline Interactive Systems.
“I did a degree in computer science at Northumbria University. All of the people who work for us are graduates of North East universities,” he said.
“We are looking to go up to 20 to 25 people in the next couple of years but that depends on demand.”
North East educational gaming company Caspian Learning, which recently raised £1.5m from private equity backers, is now expanding from its Sunderland base into the US.
It is close to setting up an office, likely to be on the US East Coast, and is pushing ahead with the launch of a new product from there before the end of the year.
That product is an ‘authoring tool’ designed to demystify the whole process of developing 3D interactive learning software and make it more accessible to a wider range of people.
“You would need no programming experience to use it,” said Chris Brannigan, Caspian Learning’s chief creative officer.
“The big barriers have been cost and development time. This platform lets trainers, teachers, even school pupils, to develop high immersive 3D systems.
“We want to give the benefits of these 3D simulations to that mass market.”
The company, which started research and development in 2002 and has been trading since 2004, employs 23 people creating learning applications. It covers a huge remit, from Government work to the defence industry, to corporate selling techniques, and adult literacy to the national curriculum.
“We have created the technology that allows us to develop them quite quickly. We have more than 40 applications across those sectors,” said Mr Brannigan.
The majority of Caspian’s work can all be delivered via the internet, meaning the business is largely able to retain skills and experience in the region.
“We are a North East company. We do outsource bits and pieces but all the core is designed and owned in the North East,” added Brannigan.
Teesside University graduate Jeremiah Alexander has remained in the region to work on his passion for educational gaming. His company Ideonic, formerly known as Babel Digital, has produced games ranging from Guanxi, which teaches Chinese language and communication, to Young Finance Manager, put together with Scarborough Building Society, to instruct young people about financial management.
Mr Alexander, the North East representative of serious gaming trade association Angils, said: “We are a serious games development studio. It’s quite bespoke – we’re not limited to one particular sector.
“I personally believe that games and virtual reality are the future of learning. The distinction between people who do play games and people who don’t is starting to blur.”
He chose to specialise in educational applications because of a personal interest in using gaming technologies as a tool to spread knowledge when he was studying himself and while working in his first industry jobs.
“I was learning a lot and I thought there were more innovative ways possible. I thought that there were better ways in terms of how people could learn – there must be a link to make learning more fun,” he said.
“Compare it to a text book, it’s a lot more appealing. It’s another tool to add to the technologies used for learning, which is more engaging and effective.”
We programme a tool so you can effectively touch the image and feel the needle pop the skin
