Muzzy Lane Software, maker of the Making History series of instructional simulation games for middle, high school, and college students, in collaboration with the Game Institute, a provider of online game design instruction, is offering the online course to help educators understand why gaming can be an effective learning tool in the 21st-century classroom, how to work gaming into their curricula, what kinds of games suit what kinds of subjects, how to pitch gaming to administrators to get the funding to pursue it, and more. The course, normally $195, is being offered for a limited time for $150 per user. Educators interested in signing up for the course can do so by visiting the Game Institute's web site.

Muzzy Lane says its "Using Games in Education" (UGE) course is an interactive online course designed for educators seeking practical knowledge about using video games to improve student achievement. Though Muzzy Lane uses its own games as examples, the company claims its course is vendor-neutral and does not push any particular solutions.

Nick DeKanter, vice president of business development for Muzzy Lane, said that while much attention has been paid to the theory that gaming can affect educational outcomes, there has been no formal effort until now to create a course around how to use gaming in the classroom effectively.

"The main reason we designed UGE is that, as we talked to users [of Muzzy Lane games], potential clients, and just people interested in the use of gaming in education, there was ... a tremendous amount of excitement about gaming in the classroom; but very little has been put out about tying gaming into the curriculum and affecting educational outcomes," DeKanter said. "We realized we had some knowledge to share in this area."

Kevin McKiernan, director of business development for the Game Institute, agreed. Calling Muzzy Lane's approach "trailblazing," he said the two organizations share a belief that video gaming can be used in an instructional format successfully.

McKiernan said the Game Institute is providing the platform for the online course. Its highly interactive learning management system is intended for teaching video game programming; the environment, he said, lends itself to teaching gaming in the classroom.

"Our platform can accommodate really anything they can throw at us in terms of interactivity," McKiernan said. "The system we've designed provides a really robust learning experience. We're providing [Muzzy Lane] with the ability to conveniently reach [educators] in a highly interactive, distance-learning format."

DeKanter said today's "digital natives," or students who have grown up immersed in digital technologies, learn differently from many of those who are teaching them. He said teachers are increasingly desirous to "take advantage of the fact" that students who have grown up with technology do not think in as linear a fashion as their parents--and are therefore more able to recognize patterns, have very good "data filters," or are able to interpret useful data quickly and discard those bits of information that are not useful to the task at hand.