Ola Ahlqvist, associate professor of geography and principal investigator, along with co-principal investigators Andrew Heckler, associate professor of physics and Rajiv Ramnath, associate professor of computer science and engineering, have been awarded a $249,999 from the NSF Cyberlearning Program for the research project, GeoGames - online map games for teaching and learning through a real-world spatial perspective. The funding will allow the researchers to continue their GeoGames research project, initiated in 2011, exploring a web-based platform that merges Massive Multi-player Online Game (MMOG) dynamics with online Geographical Information Systems (GIS), to create a learning environment that allows users to collaborate, experiment and interact with real-world spatial data and simulation models. They will also be partnering with the Games+Learning+Society Center of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, one of the world’s leading institutes for game based E-learning.

“The main goal will be to better understand the opportunities and obstacles presented by GeoGames for learning with role-play games/simulations,” said Ahlqvist. “We will look at some more specific questions such as how people learn with integrated online GIS and gaming technology, can people learn from games like this, and what particular aspects of E-learning games help and hinder learning.”

Digital game-based learning has the potential to become a powerful model of next-generation interactive learning environments.

What is so exciting with this project, according to Ahlqvist, is the synergies created between four radically different disciplines: geography (to provide the subject matter, in this case spatial human-environment interactions); computer science (to develop a game platform); design (to create an intuitive and attractive interface); and learning science (to study how learning happens).

“Ohio State is well positioned to make those interdisciplinary synergies possible and our new partnership with the Games+Learning+Society Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will help position us in this rapidly evolving area,” Ahlqvist said.

The project had humble beginnings via a capstone project in Computer Science and Engineering, and began making steady advances when, in 2007, Ahlqvist received a TELR Expertise Grant to create his vision for GeoGames. This initial support helped fund a master’s student to do coding and development. It also provided technical and design support for the adoption of the game in an educational setting.

The GeoGames project reached the Milestone 1 stage of its development -- a fully functional online prototype – in early 2012. More than a dozen graduate and undergraduate students from Geography, Computer Science and Physics have been involved in developing GeoGames, and because the game has been, and is currently being, used in an undergraduate geography course GEOG2750 World regional Geography to help students understand the Green Revolution in South Asia, over 150 students have played the game.

Follow Ahlqvist and his team’s progress, on Ahlqvist's blog.

International Games Day @ Thompson Library will be held on November 7, 2014. Activities include games, demos, and talks by Ohio State gaming researchers.