User-Generated Content in Education/Educational Videogames

What are Educational Videogames?
It is important to distinguish between educational and edutainment games prior to proceeding with a review focused on educational video game design. According to Denis and Jouvelot (2005), “The main characteristic that differentiates edutainment and video games is interactivity, because, the former being grounded on didactical and linear progressions, no place is left to wandering and alternatives” (p. 464). Edutainment games, then, are those which follow a skill and drill format in which players either practice repetitive skills or rehearse memorized facts. As such, “Edutainment often fails in transmitting non trivial (or previously assimilated) knowledge, calling again and again the same action patterns and not throwing the learning curve into relief” (Denis & Jouvelot, 2005, p. 464). In contrast, educational video games require strategizing, hypothesis testing, or problem-solving, usually with higher order thinking rather than rote memorization or simple comprehension. Characteristics of such games include a system of rewards and goals which motivate players, a narrative context which situates activity and establishes rules of engagement, learning content that is relevant to the narrative plot, and interactive cues that prompt learning and provide feedback.

Educational video games are sometimes referred to as ‘edutainment’ in the industry. Experts believe that these games make learning fun by using entertainment as an educational tool. These games take a specific type of learning or topic and build a game around that topic. For example, kids might learn math by playing a flying game. The hope is that the child will have fun and forget that they’re learning, but still maintain the knowledge they pick up while playing. Children’s educational games differ from adult games of the same type because they’re typically more basic and cover fewer concepts. An adult game may teach several ideas at once, such as Democracy, which teaches adults about elections, politics, and other issues. A child’s game usually takes only one topic, such as math or reading, and focuses the teaching on that one idea. There are different types of games available: those that are played online, those on a computer, and those on a handheld device. The Leapster company is one of the leaders in handheld games, with their first system designed to help kids learn to read. The books let the kids read along and touch the screen to hear words spoken. They now make similar systems to teach kids other subjects such as math and science. There are even video games meant for consoles like the Nintendo Wii and XBOX 360.

Even though these types of games designed for consoles are popular in the home, they are less common in the classroom. The main reason for this is the lack of educational software that coincides with school curriculum. Because of this, PCs are primarily used to implement educational video games in the school setting. A growing trend is using handheld consoles as learning technology. These types of educational video games are becoming more popular in the school setting because they are portable, simple to use, robust, and inexpensive. A major advantage of handheld consoles is that they can easily connect to each other and offer multiplayer gaming options. This opens the door to possible small group interactions (Kirriemuir, 2002).

History and Research
Research in gaming has been conducted since the 1970’s but focusing on the educational purposes of gaming did not start until the 1980’s. After the 1980’s educational gaming research focused on psychological effects, motivational effects, and core educational potential (Clark & Ernst, 2009). According to the article “Gaming Research for Technology Education” by Aaron C. Clark and Jeremy Ernst in 2009 gaming was a 9 billion dollar a year industry (recently gaming profits have fallen). The article also states that 65 percent of all American households play both video and computer games. 94 percent of all computer games are played by those under the age of 18. Also listed as a statistic is that 63 percent of parents believe gaming has positive educational effect on their children.

21st Century Skills
In a historical review of the research on video game design, Aguilera and Mendiz (2003) maintained that, “arguments in favor of the cognitive importance of video games are based on a number of studies indicating that many video games are conducive to the development of specific skills: attention, spatial concentration, problem-solving, decision-making, collaborative work, creativity, and, of course, ICT skills” (p.8). Many of these skills are earmarked as necessary to successfully participate in the global, knowledge based economy of the 21st Century. Employing cursory case studies of specific games and anecdotal comments from young video game players as evidence of his assertions, Prensky (2006) contrasted the nature of digital immigrants (those who have recently migrated to the use of digital technology) to that of digital natives (those who have grown up with it). Although Prensky is not an educational researcher, he is a widely acclaimed speaker and writer on how complex video games teach digital natives in ways not offered by traditional instruction. The most significant of his ideas include his description of complex videos games and the 21st Century skills that game play can impart learning augmented with game-like design features can indeed encourage the development of modern skills. Since Schrier’s research did not employ an experimental design comparing the augmented reality treatment to a control group, generalizations about learning gains in the game-like environment over a traditional classroom were not supported by the study.

Deduction and Hypothesis Testing
The results of a variety of studies suggest that video games and game-like environments are conducive to deductive reasoning and hypothesis testing (Aguilera & Mendiz, 2003; Gee, 2003; Jenkins et al., 2003; Klopfer & Yoon, 2005; Lunce, 2006; Salzman, Dede, & Loftin, 1999; Salzman et al., 1996). In a qualitative analysis of both what and how students learned playing Civilization III in an interdisciplinary history, humanities, and social studies course, Squire and Barab (2004) found that game play promoted deep learning, hypothesis testing, strategizing, and appropriating content (history, in this case) as a tool for play. Squire, Barnett, Grant and Higginbotham (2004) established that students in an experimental group who played the simulation-game Supercharged! better mastered the abstract and conceptual knowledge related to electromagnetism than those in the control group who learned through guided discovery-based science methods. The researchers attributed these learning gains to replay for testing new hypotheses afforded by the simulation game.

Complex Concepts and Abstract Thinking
Other studies concurred with the findings of Squire, Barnett, Grant, and Higginbotham (2004) concerning mastery of abstract and conceptual knowledge through game play (Aguilera & Mendiz, 2003; Gee, 2003; Lunce, 2006; Prensky, 2006). Writing about technology in general rather than games specifically, Kelly (2005) argued that technology applications including video games promote mastery of complex concepts. In a qualitative case study of the game-like computer-modeling environment, StarLogo, Klopfer and Yoon (2005) discovered that struggling students were able to better comprehend complex systems after working with StarLogo.

Differentiated Instruction
Educational Videogames can help meet the challenge of differentiated instruction in the classroom. Differentiated instruction allows all students to access the same classroom curriculum by providing entry points, learning tasks, and outcomes tailored to students’ learning needs (Hall, Strangman, and Meyer, 2003). Differentiating is responsive instruction designed to meet unique individual student needs (Watts-Taffe, Laster, Broach, Marinak, McDonald, & Walker-Dalhouse, 2012). Educational video games can meet those individual needs. Students can play at different difficulty levels and work at a pace that benefits them. A 2009 study of educational videogames in the classroom concluded that comparing course evaluations, student comments, and focus group data across several iterations of the class, including a traditional version that primarily consisted of direct teaching, suggests that integrating videogames into the structure of a class can help motivate learners, differentiate instruction and increase student learning (Jackson, 2009).

Visual and Spatial Processing
Because most complex video games are situated in 2- or 3-D environments, it is no surprise that research has found increased spatial development in video game players. According to Aguilera and Mendiz (2003), “adolescents with medium- or long-term experience playing video games show greater visual capacity, motor activity, and spatial abilities-reflexes and responses” (p. 6). Using game engines to render and then explore the effects of architectural designs, Burrow and More (2005) observed that the capabilities of game-engines “allow participants to experience the spatial design in ways that are not predetermined by the designer” (p. 35). The objective of the Burrow and More project was to explore the relationship between architectural design elements and atmosphere, analyzing both the atmosphere produced by the architectural design and the impact of atmosphere on the design. Burrow and More argued that this focus “emphasizes critical thinking on the nature of space and its representation … and its interactivity” (p. 38).

How Can Videogames be Used in Education?
In regards to using gaming in the classroom games can influence motivation and engagement of the learners in a positive way. Games offer a secure and contextual environment that foster different skill acquisition. A basic skill level starts with eye-hand coordination skills and continues to more complex skills such as problem solving skills, communication and collaboration skills, strategic thinking skills, and social skills. In game-like learning environment, learning by doing, active learning and experiential learning step in foreground. Educational game play allows for just in time learning; the player is introduced to rules and concepts as needed, self-paced learning, motivation of players to push the boundaries of their own knowledge and skills, and the use of different forms of visual, oral, and text for redundant information (Bryant, 2008).

Most researchers conceptualize learning as a multidimensional construct of learning skills, cognitive learning outcomes, such as procedural, declarative and strategic knowledge, and attitudes (Pivec, 2005). The game based learning model is used in some areas of formal education very successfully, in particular, in military, medicine, business, physical, and training. In many cases application of serious games and simulations for learning means an opportunity for learners’ to apply acquired knowledge and to experiment, get feedback in form of consequences thus getting the experiences in the “safe virtual world.” There are specific educational domains where game-based learning concepts and approaches have a high learning value. These domains are interdisciplinary topics where skills such as critical thinking, group communication, debate and decision making are of high importance (Pivec, 2005). Such subjects, if learned in isolation, often cannot be applied in real world contexts (Pivec, 2005).

Seventy percent of college students played computer or console games in 2002 (Weaver, 2011). The Pew study obliterates a few gender stereotypes about avid gamers, finding that slightly more women (60 percent) than men (40 percent) reported playing computer and online games amongst college aged gamers and about the same number of men and women play video games (Weaver, 2011). In 2010 Paul Heydon of independent banking firm Avista Partners, an investment banker working in the game sector since 1999, came up with his best guess for the approximate value of the videogame business across the entire world (Goldman, 2010). Speaking at the UK's Edinburgh Interactive Festival 2010 this week, Heydon puts video gaming at about $105 billion worldwide (Goldman, 2010). Nintendo DS which is most prevalent in elementary schools, this hand-held video gaming system may appear to be used solely for playing video games, but its PictoChat feature allows students to use the touch screen to draw or send text messages to anyone else with a Nintendo DS within a 30-foot radius (American Federation of Teachers, 2010).

There are 16 million active subscriptions to massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) worldwide (Biggs, 2010). World of Warcraft reached 12 million subscriptions in 2010 but is slowing (Woodcock, 2008). Gazillionaire, a business strategy game used extensively by educators in grades 5–12, is ranked in the top 5 of all strategy games (LavaMind). About 250 colleges use the game Alice to teach computer programming (AC, 2007). To date, Alice has attracted more than 3.5 million page views (AC, 2007). With half a million program downloads in 2007, students’ average grades jumped from a C to a B. More than 100 higher-education institutions—including Harvard Law School, MIT, and Princeton University—have permanent spaces on Second Life.

As the written word provides only a limited representation of a pictorial cyberspace, the best way to grasp the possibilities of avatar technology is to see either The Matrix or The Thirteenth Floor. These movies depict fully realized avatar worlds inhabited by computer users whose neural interfaces connect them to networks with terabit/second processing speeds. While the users’ bodies are plugged in and at rest, their digital representatives (i.e., avatars) roam through wholly realistic, multi-sensorial cyberspaces. They encounter other avatars as well as software agents ("bots") programmed to make decisions and interact with humans. Though science fiction, these films extrapolate current practices and trends and provide a vision that serious people (e.g., the MIT Media Lab, Cornell University’s Theory Center, the Digital Human Group) are working to realize (Foreman, 1999).

Consider the educational value of such an experience. Based in a 3D pictorial space, a the learning environment is visually stimulating, is self-paced to suit the speed and learning inclinations of the visitor, and can be enhanced with embedded media (from text to video). Add avatars, and the 3D experience becomes an expansive adventure in social computing. Avatars98, the first virtual conference of the Contact Consortium, produced by Bruce Damer (the leading authority on avatar worlds), the conference connected global locations, provided an exhibit hall, featured "speakers," and was attended by 4000 people and all of this took place (so to speak) on the computer screens of the thousands of geo-distributed individuals whose avatars came together in the virtual conference hall (Foreman, 1999).

One study by psychologists at the University of Rochester found that players actually derive a sense of achievement, freedom and social connectedness from games. "Video games are not a frivolous expenditure of your time," says Dr. James Rosser Jr., director of Beth Israel Medical Center's Advanced Medical Technology Institute and a gamer since the advent of Pong in the early '70s (Van Dusen, 2007).

"They have an upside if properly utilized." Rosser set out to prove there's more to the hobby than fun by looking at the correlation between gaming and the laparoscopic surgical skills of 21 surgical residents and 12 surgeons during a simulated surgery skills course. In laparoscopy, surgeons insert a viewing tube with a camera via a small incision to examine organs on a video monitor. They can insert instruments through other incisions to perform procedures. The study's results would make any gamer smile. Current players made 32% fewer errors, were 24% faster and scored 26% better overall than their non-player colleagues, according to the paper published in February's Archives of Surgery. But surgeons who'd played games in the past for more than three hours a week came out on top. They made 37% fewer errors, were 27% faster and scored 42% better overall than those who'd never played. (Van Dusen, 2007) Research under way by the Office of Naval Research indicates that video games can help adults process information much faster and improve their fundamental abilities to reason and solve problems in novel contexts.

"We have discovered that video game players perform 10 to 20 percent higher in terms of perceptual and cognitive ability than normal people that are non-game players," said Ray Perez, a program officer at the ONR's warfighter performance department in a January 20th interview on Pentagon Web Radio's audio webcast "Armed with Science: Research and Applications for the Modern Military." Perez used the term "fluid intelligence" to describe the ability to change, to meet new problems and to develop new tactics and counter-tactics. Fluid intelligence, he explained, allows us to solve problems without prior knowledge or experience. (Freeman, 2010)

This raises the question of whether fluid intelligence is innate or can be developed and improved. "For the last 50 years, fluid intelligence was felt to be immutable," Perez said, "meaning it couldn't be changed, no matter what kinds of experiences you have." This, he added, is related to the idea of brain plasticity (Freeman, 2010). "The presumption was that the structure of the brain and the organization of the brain are pretty much set in concrete by the time you are out of your teens," he explained (Freeman, 2010). It once was widely believed that after the age of 20 that most humans had achieved their brain cell capacity, and that new brain cells were acquired at the expense of existing ones. But conventional beliefs about brain plasticity and aging are changing. The video game-like training programs at the Office of Naval Research, Perez noted, are producing surprising results. “We know that video games can increase perceptual abilities and short-term memory,” he said (Freeman, 2010). They allow the player to focus longer and expand the player’s field of vision compared to people who don’t play video games, he added. While there is empirical evidence of increased brain plasticity in video gamers, Perez said, the process behind it is not well understood. His belief, he said, is that the neural networks involved in video gaming become more pronounced, have increased blood flow, and become more synchronized with other neural networks in the brain (Freeman, 2010).

“Video games are hard,’’ said Eric Klopfer, the director of MIT’s Education Arcade, which studies and develops educational video games. “People don’t like to play easy games, and games have figured out a way to encourage players to persist at solving challenging problems.’’ The games aren’t just hard - they’re adaptively hard. They tend to challenge people right at the edge of their abilities; as players get better and score more points, they move up to more demanding levels of play. This adaptive challenge is “stunningly powerful’’ for learning, said John Gabrieli, a neuroscientist at MIT. Most games involve a huge number of mental tasks, and playing can boost any one of them. Fast-paced, action-packed video games have been shown, in separate studies, to boost visual acuity, spatial perception, and the ability to pick out objects in a scene.

Complex, strategy-based games can improve other cognitive skills, including working memory and reasoning. Richard Haier, a pediatric neurologist and professor emeritus at the School of Medicine at the University of California at Irvine, has shown in a pair of studies that the classic game Tetris, in which players have to rotate and direct rapidly falling blocks, alters the brain (Anthes, 2009). In a paper published last month, Haier and his colleagues showed that after three months of Tetris practice, teenage girls not only played the game better, their brains became more efficient (Anthes, 2009).

Difficulties of Design
Building effectives games that promote interactivity, while still maintaining a link to the curricular goals is a continuing problem for educational videogames. Games allow students to engage content on a variety of levels. Students can take the role of the ‘performer,’ making direct actions in the game, ‘audience,’ watching what is going on during the game, and the ‘author’ deciding what will go next in the game. This ability to engage on different levels allows students to enhance their learning experience, but also requires serious thought and complex design (Apperley, 2010).

Advanced Students
Research shows that low performing students benefit from games, but the research is more inconclusive when studying high achieving students. Designing games to meet the complex needs to advanced thinkers is a difficult and expensive proposition that few companies or institutions are willing to invest in (Gros, 2007). Combining videogames and a STEM curriculum can enhance the learning experience for many high achieving students. For examples check out the following websites: http://www.gaming2learn.org/ and http://www.hofstra.edu/Academics/Colleges/SOEAHS/CTL/SMTE/index.html. Hofstra University (second link) states: Simulation and Modeling in Technology Education (SMTE) is a five-year project that develops and researches the academic potential of a hybrid instructional model that infuses computer simulations, modeling, and educational gaming into middle school technology education programs. These prototypical materials use 3D simulations and educational gaming to support students learning STEM content and skills through developing solutions to design challenges. The virtual environment allows students to analyze and improve their designs by changing variables and observing how their changes affect design performance. Once the designs are optimized on-screen, students will construct physical models and compare their functionality and effectiveness to the simulated virtual models. A uniqueness of the project is the development of an enterprise architecture that enables instructors to modify the context of the design problems to fit different instructional and geographic settings. The research investigates the transferability of the model and its potential to improve STEM teaching and learning.

Teachers
Teachers who struggle using technology are often hesitant to utilize videogames in the classroom. Most educational videogames are designing by programmers, not educators which also adds to the insecurity teachers feel when using videogames. Teachers often struggle to identify videogames that meaningfully tie into their curriculum goals as well (Gros, 2007).

Cloud is as part of a community of educators who love gaming and want to share that passion to help students learn. Have you used Google Docs, Evernote, or Dropbox? If so, you've experienced Cloud Computing, which refers to using services or applications online, instead of using programs installed on your computer. The best games, whether digital or physical, motivates students to learn. Digital learning and mobile devices are shaking up how everybody learns.

Our challenges will not be technological; rather they will be cultural, organizational, and economical. Culturally, teachers will need to learn new habits and structures for teaching and learning. It's hard to unlearn a lifetime of carrying textbooks, notebooks, using lockers, and transferring paperwork back and forth. Schools will need a lot of support and professional development to learn new ways. Students who were not effective with the old system may not necessarily be more effective with the new.

Organizationally, teachers build systems and careers on specific structures and technologies. It will take time for consensus to decide which cloud technology should be adapted. Old technologies will not be replaced easily or quickly. Several legal issues like student confidentiality and data concerns will need to be worked out.

And will educators teach any differently to maximize the benefits of these technologies? If those challenges weren't enough, the final challenge will be economic. Educators are always concerned about the "digital divide" and the unintended consequences when schools nationwide do not receive equitable funding and resources, resulting in "have's" and "have nots." Yet, if the past is any indicator of how technology innovations are adopted, some communities of educators and students will continue moving forward with new technologies, regardless of the "have nots." And in that sense, we will have some schools moving in the Cloud that will benefit from this ubiquitous access to applications and resources (Helmes, 2013).

Education Outside of the Classroom
The United States Military has used a variety of videogame simulations to both recruit and train soldiers. The widely acclaimed America’s Army was used as a major recruitment tool for the US military. It sought to allow potential soldiers to experience realistic combat as a way of enticing potential recruits. The game was followed by two sequels. The Army has also followed up with the opening of the Army Experience Center in Franklin Mills Philadelphia. The center has simulators which allow participants to experience a more engrossing combat environment. These investments were all credited with increasing the military’s recruitment numbers. (Orvis, 2010)

The military also commissioned several games as ways of training troops for squad combat. The VBS 1, designed by Bohemia Interactive, was utilized as a squad based training for the US Marine Crops, as well as several other services and countries. The VBS 1 was followed up by the VBS 2 in 2009 (Robeson 2009). One major use of the new gaming engine was to allow troops to train for a convoy ambush in Iraq. The military has also designed several games to simulate experiences soldiers might have in both Iraqi and Afghanistan towns that allow for both diplomatic engagement as well as combat.

Future of Educational Videogames
On June 21, 2007, the MacArthur Foundation, the people who give out the genius grants, announced it is funding a new public school in New York. The school is going to be for sixth through 12th graders, and the curriculum for the whole school will center on designing video games. The MacArthur Foundation is throwing its support and $1.1 million behind a new idea about what it means to be literate in the 21st century (Norris, Block, & Chaplin, 2007, June, 21). It's called gaming literacy

What hinders teachers in regards to using gaming in the classroom? Inflexibility of the curriculum, negative effects of gaming, student’s un-readiness, lack of supportive materials, fixed class schedules, and limited budgets are the 6 biggest culprits according to Young Kyun Baek, Ph.D. Department of Educational Technology, Korea National University of Education, Chungbuk, Republic of Korea (Baek, 2008).

It is important to remember that no technology is perfect. No technology will satisfy all nine rules. However, some technologies will satisfy more rules than others, and some technologies will even break a rule or two and still be very good technologies (Downes, 2000).

Original Educational Videogames

 * Mavis Beacon PC
 * Number Munchers PC
 * Jeopardy! Multi-Plarform
 * Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? PC
 * Math Blaster PC
 * SimCity PC
 * The Oregon Trail PC

Preschool and Elementary Age Educational Computer Programs

 * Visualize World Geography in 7 Minutes a Day (Audio CD) - came with a book!
 * Answers in Genesis - Creation - video
 * Scripture Solitaire
 * Knowledge Adventure - Jump Start Phonics
 * The Bible Library - New International Version
 * Living Books - Arthur's Reading Race
 * Knowledge Adventure - Jumpstart Spanish
 * Sesame Street - Elmo's Reading
 * Sesame Street - Reading Basics
 * Reader Rabbit - Math Ages 4-6
 * The Learning Company - Zak's Look It Up
 * Tivola - Max On The Moon
 * Living Books - Arthur's Birthday
 * Richard Scarry's Busytown - Activity Center
 * The Learning Company - Reader Rabbit - Thinking Adventures (age 4-6)
 * The Chessmaster 4000
 * Disney Toy Story
 * Bugs Bunny and Taz - Time Busters Game
 * Disney's - Tarzan Activity Center
 * Star Wars - Early Learning Activity Center
 * The Amazon Trail (3rd edition)
 * Microsoft - Encarta 98 (Encyclopedia)
 * The Learning Company - Word Munchers Deluxe
 * DK Multimedia - My First Amazing World Explorer
 * School House Rock - America Rock
 * Star Theater 2
 * Barbie As Sleeping Beauty
 * Star Wars - Jabba's Game Galaxy (Math)
 * Clifford Thinking Adventures
 * Blues Clues - Blues Birthday Adventure
 * The Learning Company - Reader Rabbit Preschool (Sparkle Star Rescue)
 * Learning Buddies - 1st and 2nd grade Math
 * Waypoint Software - Dollarville
 * Lego Chess
 * Reader Rabbit - First Grade (Capers on Cloud Nine)
 * Adventure on Mutchneed Island (ver 1.0) - Bible Game
 * National Geographic - Trip Planner Deluxe
 * Bible Works
 * Disney - Little Mermaid - Digital Coloring Book
 * Monopoly
 * Jumpstart Learning - Spelling (ages 5-8)
 * Blue's Clues - Blue's Art Time
 * Scrabble
 * Veggie Tales - Jonah
 * Clifford The Big Red Dog - Musical Memory Games
 * Crayola 3d Magic Coloring Book
 * Ultimate Children's Encyclopedia
 * Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing
 * Internet Coach/Liftoff to Lizard Island/Q-Notes/Search for the Black Rhino
 * Hyperstudio
 * Knowledge Adventure - Bricks (the ultimate construction toy)
 * The American Heritage Talking Dictionary
 * ABC Wide World of Animals
 * Ultimate Writing and Creativity Center (K-6)
 * The Oregon Trail - 3rd Edition (K-6)
 * Reading Blaster (age 6-9)

Children's and Adolescents' Games

 * Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree
 * ClickN READ Phonics - Beginning Reading
 * ClickN SPELL - Beginning Spelling
 * Carmen Sandiego series
 * The ClueFinders
 * Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (a series of two games)
 * EcoQuest (a series of two games)
 * GCompris (GPL)
 * Genomics Digital Lab
 * Gizmos & Gadgets
 * Harry the Hamster 2: The Quest for the Golden Wheel (teaches basic geography by use of country names and trains memory as a maze game)
 * History of Biology game
 * Immune Attack
 * Inanimate Alice
 * InLiving
 * I.M. Meen
 * JumpStart
 * Ko's Journey
 * Learnalot
 * Math Blaster
 * Number Munchers
 * Oregon Trail
 * PlaceSpotting
 * Quest Atlantis
 * Reader Rabbit
 * The Magic School Bus series
 * Treasures of the Deep
 * Tuxmath (GPL)
 * Storybook Weaver
 * Urban Jungle
 * Zoombinis
 * WolfQuest

Higher Level (Grade 7 Through College) Educational Computer Programs

 * Chronicle of History Encyclopedia (grades 7-12)
 * Art Dabbler 2.1 Metacreations (grades 7-12)
 * ABC 3d atlas (grades 7-12)
 * Score Builder for the ACT - The Learning Company (grades 7-12)
 * Score Builder for the SAT - The Learning Company (grades 7-12)
 * The Learning Company - Success Builder Geometry (grades 7-12)
 * Math Soft Study Works - School Edition (grades 7-12)
 * The Discovery Channel - Invention Studio (grades 7-12)
 * The Learning Company - Grade Builder Math - Algebra 1 (grades 7-12)
 * Eyewitness Encyclopedia of Space and the Universe (grades 7-12)
 * Body Works ver 6.0 - a 3d Journey through the Human Anatomy (grades 7-12)
 * Student Writing and Research Center - The Learning Company (grades 7-12)
 * Mapquest, The Mystery Trail (ver 1.11)
 * Cornerstone (college)
 * The Princeton Review - Word Smart (college)
 * The Learning Company - Student Writing and Research Center (college)
 * Math Soft Study Works - School Edition (college)
 * You Don’t Know Jack Movies (college)
 * Higher Skills - Softkey Internet Publisher
 * Compton's Home Library - Delux Compton's 3d World Atlas
 * Astronomy 2000
 * Transparent Language Transparent Language - Hebrew Now (version 8)
 * Vietnamese Everyday

Adult Educational Computer Games

 * Democracy
 * Food Force
 * Global Conflict: Palestine
 * Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing
 * Miniconomy
 * President Forever 2008 + Primaries
 * The Typing of the Dead
 * CyberCIEGE
 * Close Combat: Marines
 * Virtonomics