In 2011, E-Line Media and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop united efforts to launch an initiative called the Games and Learning Publishing Council. The goal of the Council is to catalyze innovation and investment in research and curriculum-based digital games by developing a new type of educational, impact publisher devoted to creating meaningful, measurable learning impact and building a profitable and scalable business. The initiative uniquely leverages the game development and business creation expertise of E-Line Media with the policy leadership and industry convening expertise of the Cooney Center.
With the increased interest in games for learning, philanthropic organizations, government agencies and academic institutions are now investing significant funds and intellectual resources in promising game-based-learning research and development efforts. Unfortunately, very few of these initiatives have successfully crossed over from small scale innovations to sustainable products or scalable models in either formal or informal learning markets. As a result, private sector investors have been reluctant to help capitalize the sector. This has resulted in a funding gap that is constraining the growth of a new ecosystem of game-based learning products and services.
The Games and Learning Publishing Council aims to understand the market dynamics and areas of innovation that are ready for scaling within the game-based education field. The Council, which is made up of a multi-sector leadership group of industry, research, philanthropic, policy and practice leaders, develops analytical tools, convenes experts and disseminates periodic reports to help raise the sector. Our work to advance games-based learning will also include multiple policy briefs and conference proceedings, all of which will be published on a new dedicated website that will be launching this summer. The new information service aims to help developers create effective and entertaining games by helping them understand the latest research in learning, game design and emerging platforms. The site also aims to help foundations, universities and venture capitalists make more effective investments in future projects by demonstrating what works and what doesn’t when it comes to both the development of educational games and the marketing of those games to schools, parents and others.
To see major activities of the Council’s first year, click here.
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