article - One game that is a certified success
Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 3:01 pmMar 14 2005
By Jenna Pudelek
A new computer game awards players who complete it with a nationally-accredited qualification.
It is the first e-learning initiative to offer players the chance to gain a skill from completing a computer game.
Entrepreneur - The Game aims to teach users how to set up and run their own business. It is initially being targeted at employees and new recruits working in the creative industries in parts of Coventry and Warwickshire.
Players of the business simulation game can chose between running a hairdressers', a pizza parlour, pub, or video shop.
They then have to conduct and analyse market research and find financing and a location. The virtual entrepreneurs are in charge of scrutinising factors affecting trade, dealing with scenarios such as floods and fires, and launching advertisement campaigns.
As they play they are awarded credits and their work is assessed.
The creators, Val Leyland and Tim Luft, who run games company The Edutainers, produced it with Henley College, in Coventry, and Aqua-pacific, a Leamington-based computer company.
Mr Leyland said: "This is the first game of its kind and now there is a real move in the computer games industry to serious games."
If players complete Entrepreneur, they gain two nationally-accredited qualifications - Setting Up Your own Small Business (level 2) and Business Management (level 3).
The idea is being funded by the Learning and Skills Council in Coventry and Warwickshire, in association with the European Social Fund.
For people interested in developing their own computer games, Coventry University has launched a new course offering the opportunity to learn how to design the game of the future. As part of the Lifelong Learning scheme the course aims to develop further insights into the games industry.
By Jenna Pudelek
A new computer game awards players who complete it with a nationally-accredited qualification.
It is the first e-learning initiative to offer players the chance to gain a skill from completing a computer game.
Entrepreneur - The Game aims to teach users how to set up and run their own business. It is initially being targeted at employees and new recruits working in the creative industries in parts of Coventry and Warwickshire.
Players of the business simulation game can chose between running a hairdressers', a pizza parlour, pub, or video shop.
They then have to conduct and analyse market research and find financing and a location. The virtual entrepreneurs are in charge of scrutinising factors affecting trade, dealing with scenarios such as floods and fires, and launching advertisement campaigns.
As they play they are awarded credits and their work is assessed.
The creators, Val Leyland and Tim Luft, who run games company The Edutainers, produced it with Henley College, in Coventry, and Aqua-pacific, a Leamington-based computer company.
Mr Leyland said: "This is the first game of its kind and now there is a real move in the computer games industry to serious games."
If players complete Entrepreneur, they gain two nationally-accredited qualifications - Setting Up Your own Small Business (level 2) and Business Management (level 3).
The idea is being funded by the Learning and Skills Council in Coventry and Warwickshire, in association with the European Social Fund.
For people interested in developing their own computer games, Coventry University has launched a new course offering the opportunity to learn how to design the game of the future. As part of the Lifelong Learning scheme the course aims to develop further insights into the games industry.
