How Simulation/Gaming Transformed My Life

Abstract

In this invited autobiography, the author describes the impact that educational gaming and simulation has had on his professional career. He begins by reviewing his early life and education in Aberdeen and his subsequent work as a research scientist, schoolteacher, and physics lecturer. He then shows how he changed disciplines from physics to educational technology in 1973, and almost immediately became heavily involved in the development and promotion of educational games and simulations. He describes the first three projects in which he and his colleagues were involved and shows how these led to a wide range of spin-off exercises, most of which were published and marketed by prestigious external bodies. He then describes the contributions that he and his team made to the general promotion of such exercises as educational and training tools and to the theory of game design. Next, he shows how his work as an educational developer diversified during the latter part of his career, covering such areas as academic staff development, distance learning, academic quality, and embedding the systems approach into curriculum development. He concludes by outlining the various things that he has done since he retired from full-time employment in 2001.