Game-Based Learning
Achieving Health Literacy and Information Literacy through Online Games
An Interactive Game Development and Research Proposal
We know a lot about today’s college students. We know that the world in which the traditional 18-22
year old student grew up is fast and colorful and loud. We know that the ability to “tune out” information
evolved as a survival skill. We know that because they grew up with ubiquitous computing, they read
less. Because they played games twice as much as they read, they want to drive their own learning
processes. Most significantly, we know that they want their educators to use technology effectively, to
satisfy their craving for multimedia interactivity, and to teach them how to change the world. But do we
know how to reach these students? As venerable as our traditional model of higher education is, it too
often uses pedagogical methods that fail to address the assortment of learning styles present among our
students. Diana Oblinger, Senior Fellow for the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, puts it best
when she says “Our students are not the people academia was designed to reach.” College students today
are comfortable with technology and have expectations of it that the academy is just beginning to address.
The goals of this project are threefold; to produce a series of games that help develop health literacy and
information literacy skills, to evaluate whether traditional information literacy skills can be acquired
through game-like experiences, and to determine if this approach is more appealing and successful with
our students than our current text-based approaches. The challenges of transforming text-based online
tutorials into multimedia games will be addressed, and the efficacy of this approach will be measured.
Consider the following innovative uses of gaming to prepare professionals for critical situations:
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The Institute for Creative Technologies has partnered with the U.S. Army to design a number of
simulated environments to prepare soldiers for the complex situations they will face in Baghdad. Full
Spectrum Warrior is an Xbox game that was released in two versions, one for the public and one for
military use. Consultants on the project became involved after noticing soldiers retiring to their bunks
and using commercial videogames to relax. The army is also participating in a “massively multiplayer
online world” where many players in geographically dispersed areas can play together. Here, in a
“scrupulously realistic” Baghdad-like city, players can learn to deal with increasingly complex
environments that mimic circumstances in ways that even physical simulations cannot. While not
everyone in the military is convinced that using games for training is useful in the “deeply physical”
army culture, the army has invested millions of dollars in the development of additional simulations
and games. (Thompson, 2004)
Many software programs are being developed to teach medical students the nuances of the art of
medicine without endangering human lives. One virtual reality technique simulates the most common
kinds of orthopedic trauma, based on CT and MRI data stored in a geometric database. Students
practice bone setting and other orthopedic techniques with 3D graphics, collision detection, and a
wide variety of pins, screws, plates, and instruments used in actual orthopedic surgery. Not only does
this approach conserve the costly synthetic bones, but it allows students to experience the kinds of
variations that exist in individual bones. (Sourin, 2000)
When the state budget for Massachusetts came up $3 billion short in 2003, State Senator Richard
Moore asked the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Game Development Club to help him explain the
problem to his constituents. In nine weeks the club had developed Massbalance
(www.playmassbalance.com), a game where players make decisions about how to fill the $3 billion
shortfall. Each decision has future ramifications, and one level of play includes randomly generated
events, that illustrate how emergencies can crop up.(WPI Media Relations, 2003)
Game-Based Learning: Health Literacy
James Madison University, Libraries & Educational Technologies
Jennifer McCabe, Principal Investigator
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What the Army, providers of medical education, and Senator Moore know is that people respond to games
when learning difficult concepts and new skills. These projects are just a few examples of how the fun of
playing games has been combined with difficult concepts to teach complex new skills. Gaming has been
found to be the most rewarding for the player when s/he operates at the upper limit of his/her skill level.
Creative combinations of entertainment and challenge are what stretch the mind so that new skills can be
mastered; the fun keeps players coming back and the challenge helps them develop their skill. Students
develop their creative thinking skills by playing games (Doolittle, 1995); these same skills are what they
will need to be information and health literate, and work in a world as diverse and dynamic as ours.
Students at James Madison University (JMU) are like students everywhere; they are intelligent, creative,
hard working, and adept at combining traditional academic work with entertainment. Students in the
College of Integrated Science and Technology (CISAT) at James Madison University frequently conduct
research during the course of their education. Innovation and collaboration across disciplines and
professional boundaries are two of the goals of the college. It has been found to be mutually beneficial to
students and faculty to engage in shared creative processes. Rather than despairing over our students’
lack of skills, it would be wiser to capitalize on the skills they have mastered and use them to develop new
strategies for instruction. Faculty develop the best instructional methods when they pay close attention to
who their students are and how those students learn. Students learn best when their learning styles and
feedback are considered. Providing students with game-like experiences from which to learn important
skills ensures success by combining skills they already have (gaming) with skills they will need.
1. Assessment of Need
The mission of James Madison University is to prepare students to be educated and enlightened citizens
who lead productive and meaningful lives. All students at JMU are required to achieve competency in
information literacy, as identified by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). They
must complete an online interactive tutorial (Go for the Gold) as part of their first year general education
requirements, and they must successfully pass the Information Seeking Skills Test (ISST) before they can
register as sophomores. Because JMU is at the forefront of integrating information literacy into its
curriculum, it has been designated as a “best practice” institution by the Association for College and
Research Libraries. (Please see attachment 1 for a complete description) The Library has offered courserelated library instruction since the late 1970’s to help students develop skills to be lifelong learners.
In the time since the library instruction program was developed, technology and its place in society has
also evolved. Because of the ease with which the Internet is used to communicate and find information,
many people in the United States now use it routinely to get health information. According to the Pew
Internet and American Life survey, 93 million Americans went online seeking information about their
own health or that of a member of their family in 2003 (Fox & Fallows, 2003). Clearly the Internet is a
powerful tool for communicating health information. The National Institutes of Health and the National
Library of Medicine have recognized the role that information plays in the delivery of healthcare. In
announcing the Information Prescription program, Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, former secretary of Health and
Human Services stated “Used correctly, the Internet can be just as helpful a healthcare tool as the biopsy,
the x-ray and the electrocardiogram.”
Thus the concept of health literacy, “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process,
and understand basic health information and services and make appropriate health decisions” (Selden,
Zorn, & Ratzan, 2000) has emerged as a subset of information literacy skills. Health literacy refers not
Game-Based Learning: Health Literacy
James Madison University, Libraries & Educational Technologies
Jennifer McCabe, Principal Investigator
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only to being able to locate and evaluate appropriate information, but also includes an element of
mathematical literacy, as much health information contains numerical data, as well as an understanding of
and ability to navigate the U.S. healthcare system. To accommodate people with compromised literacy,
content must include information written at low reading levels, in languages other than English, and
digital resources that use multimedia capabilities to explain difficult concepts. Since the Internet lacks the
quality control mechanisms previously used to filter patient education information, consumers of health
information must also develop skills to discriminate between questionable and reliable health information.
The National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) found that approximately 90 million Americans are
functionally or marginally illiterate (Kirsch, September 1993). This population spans ages, ethnicity, and
employment status. What they do have in common is more prescriptions, more emergency room visits,
and higher incidences of hospitalization and later diagnoses of treatable cancers than fully literate
Americans. To be fully health literate, a person must be able to participate in five activities that require
specialized reading skills; health promotion, health protection, disease prevention, healthcare
maintenance, and system navigation. Competency in these areas requires the ability to read, make
calculations and make decisions based on information contained in texts, charts, tables, graphs,
application forms, and other formats. The Health Activities Literacy Scale (HALS) is a 500 point scale
developed to measure health literacy. It extracted data from NALS questions that pertain to health
activities. The average score on the HALS scale was 272, which correlates very closely with the average
NALS score of 270. People with scores below 270 were considered functionally or marginally illiterate,
and 46% of the population surveyed fell into this category on the HALS scale. (Rudd, Kirsch, &
Yamamoto, 2004)
A lack of reading skills has a devastating affect on quality of life. Low health literacy is implicated in
poor- to non-compliance with healthcare instructions, lower use of routine screening procedures, and
more missed appointments, at an estimated cost of $73 billion to the American people annually (The
Center for Health Care Strategies and The National Academy on an Aging Society, ). Diseases including
AIDS, asthma, cervical cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, and hypertension have all been found to have
higher mortality among patients with deficits in literacy. Moreover, compromised literacy has been found
to contribute to risky sexual behavior and increased violent behaviors among teenagers (Berkman,
DeWalt, Pignone, & et al., 2004). Finally, those living with low literacy suffer from lower incomes,
higher unemployment, and associated shame. Many illiterate people have not told their spouses (67%),
their children (53%), or anyone at all (19%) about their reading difficulties (Foulk et al., 2001).
The problem of compromised health literacy is especially acute among the elderly. Studies have found
that fully 2/3 of Americans over the age of 60 have marginal or inadequate health literacy. In one study,
81% of patients over 60 years old were unable to read a prescription bottle (U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services, 2003). The elderly are at a further disadvantage in accessing information. While
75% of people who use the Internet do so to locate health information, the elderly are disproportionately
not online. Clearly the needs of the fastest growing population of Americans are not being met.
“Understanding the health-related literacy skills of this older population is of concern to those in the
health fields because the country’s elders are dominant users of health care.”(Rudd et al., 2004).
The increasing use of technology in healthcare is a double-edged sword for the patient with compromised
literacy. Never before have individuals had as much access to as much information as we do now. It is
commonplace for patients to visit their healthcare provider armed with information about their symptoms
or diagnosis, prepared to participate in making decisions about their care. It is becoming more normal for
doctors, nurses, therapists and patients to approach healthcare as a team. A phenomenon called “evidence
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Jennifer McCabe, Principal Investigator
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based patient choice” is part of an emerging healthcare system where a patient has access to the same
science as the doctor, and together they make informed choices about treatment options, based on the
patient’s individual values, acceptable risks, and definition of health. Yet this is only possible when the
technology exists to support it, and the patient has the ability to read, understand, and interact with
complex information. A patient with low health literacy will never successfully participate in their or
their child’s care; they are lucky if they can simply comply with directions provided by others. A study in
1993 found that behavioral factors were implicated in 50% of the deaths that year (Institute of Medicine,
2002). Increased health literacy can’t solve all health problems, but delivering information in appropriate
formats is one way to begin to address this.
Students in college today will interact with an extremely diverse population. Currently, in the United
States, there are over 300 languages spoken in our homes. A language other than English is spoken most
of the time by 14% of Americans. An explosion in avenues for the dissemination of health information
has taken place; but much of the health information released is written at 5 grade levels higher than the
average reader. (Institute of Medicine, 2004). Television advertising is one medium that has been
successfully used by parties seeking to profit from healthcare. A recent study of pharmaceutical
advertising documented a 113% increase in doctor’s visits for impotence following an advertising
campaign. A similar campaign to promote smoking cessation medications saw a 263% increase in office
visits (Institute of Medicine, 2004).
Thousands of JMU students study health science, nursing, social work, communication sciences and
disorders, and psychology. Graduates of these fields are likely to work with populations whose health
literacy is compromised due to disability, cultural or linguistic barriers, poverty and lack of education, or
a combination of these factors. Our students will leave the university with the skills to be health literate
themselves, while possibly lacking the skills to recognize and serve others with compromised health
literacy. The Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Services is an umbrella organization set up to
support a wide variety of programs that address the health of the community. Programs like the
Promotors de Salud (a lay health promoter program) and Elderhostel receive support and student
interaction. For a description of the IIHHS, please see attachment 2. The IIHHS is also heavily involved
in the JMU community, and serves as a means to connect students and faculty to opportunities to
contribute to health initiatives.
Graduates of the health and human services fields will face a population that is more diverse, has more
acute and complex health care needs, and has access to more information than ever before. The increase
in competing sources of health information only makes health literacy more important. Our students need
a set of skills that will enable them to address the issues related to low health literacy; lower health in
general, poor compliance with healthcare plans, and an inability to participate fully in the American
healthcare system. The goal of phase one of this proposal is to develop interactive games that help
students in the health sciences learn about health literacy issues and cultivate the creative thinking skills
necessary to address them. Students who play the games will gain an understanding of what is required
for participation in our healthcare system as well as an understanding of barriers that patients face. The
game experience will prepare students to identify compromised health literacy, and to help patients access
and use information that is appropriate for them.
Phase two of the project will apply the lessons learned in phase one. A subset of existing Go for the Gold
online information literacy tutorial modules will be rewritten as games. Students taking Go for the Gold
will use existing modules or play the game. Each game will be designed to address the same learning
objectives as the corresponding existing modules so that they can be compared. Later, when students take
Game-Based Learning: Health Literacy
James Madison University, Libraries & Educational Technologies
Jennifer McCabe, Principal Investigator
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the Information Seeking Skills Test, scores of students who experienced the games will be compared to
those of students who used the tutorial. We will gather and analyze psychometric data to compare the
games with existing modules.
2. National Impact/Intended Results
The outcomes of this project will have a national impact in two areas:
 Development of a novel, easily shared approach to using the Internet for teaching future and current
health care providers about health information literacy issues.
 Research which compares the information literacy learning outcomes of students who learn from
games to those who learn from online tutorials
Game software developed for the project will be made available without charge on the public web.
Research findings will also be used to inform the broader community. Once the data from the two kinds
of online instruction has been analyzed, the results will be shared with the academic community via
presentations and publications. The principal investigator and the other project participants have lengthy
publication and presentation records, as indicated on the attached resumes.
Because JMU Libraries have achieved “best practice” status, they are in a position to influence practices
at many other academic libraries around the country. Go for the Gold has gained international recognition
as a web-based, interactive tutorial and was selected by ACRL Instruction Section as a model online
tutorial. The Information-Seeking Skills Test is also recognized internationally. Presentations on both
have been made at ACRL and AAHE. Librarians at JMU enjoy faculty status and have a long and
impressive history of collaboration with each other and with teaching faculty; the potential for developing
new models of integrating Internet gaming with health science curricula is high. Once games have been
shown to successfully teach information and health literacy skills, other librarians and faculty will begin
to envision additional applications for the technique. Because of the rich pool of talent in place at JMU,
among students, faculty and staff, it is not unreasonable to expect the game approach to instruction to
spread to other parts of the curriculum. Games are already being used to a limited extent in business
courses, media arts and design courses, and in a poverty simulation for nursing and social work students.
3. Project Design
Project design will be collaboration between experienced librarians and highly skilled software
programmers and software engineers working in JMU’s Center for Instructional Technology (CIT). The
CIT brings a wealth of experience in designing complex, interactive, multimedia learning objects in
partnership with faculty throughout the University. For a description of other CIT activities, please see
attachment 3.
Phases one and two of the project will involve the creation of a new series of games based on the
principles of health literacy and multimedia redesign of existing tutorials. During the first phase of the
project, research will be conducted on which types of games and multimedia software would be most
effective for teaching health and information literacy skills. Through the gaming experience, players will
become immersed in several scenarios wherein they must make decisions about healthcare options and
information. Scoring will be based on the quality of decisions chosen from a variety of options
Phase two will involve designing games that will address the same learning objectives as the current Go
for the Gold modules. Game design will focus on teaching basic information literacy concepts rather than
Game-Based Learning: Health Literacy
James Madison University, Libraries & Educational Technologies
Jennifer McCabe, Principal Investigator
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specific tools or locations to eliminate the need to update frequently. Currently Go for the Gold consists
of eight modules. The modules that lend themselves most readily to game development will be chosen
for alternate multimedia redesign. Games like these could be designed using Flash animation techniques,
and scores will be kept to provide the players with immediate feedback.
Software development within CIT is a highly collaborative process involving people with expertise in
software design, instructional design, programming, database development, multimedia authoring, and
graphic illustration. During Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the project he CIT development team will work in
partnership with the project librarians to design and program the health literacy and information literacy
games.
The following tables outline the three phases of this project:
Phase I
Activity 1
Activity 2
Activity 3
Activity 4
MILESTONE 1
Activity 5
Activity 6
Activity 7
MILESTONE 2
Activity 8
Activity 9
Activity 10
Activity 11
Activity 12
Activity 13
Activity 14
Activity 15
MILESTONE 3
Health Literacy Game Development
Write game goals, objectives, descriptions and design specifications
Write scoring criteria
Distribute game descriptions and specs to Health Science, Nursing, Social
Work faculty for review and comment
Finalize game objectives and design specifications
Distribute complete game description and design specifications
Develop hardware and software specifications; procure hardware and
software
Assess staff skills, assign personnel to the project, schedule staff training
and hire programmers
Write scripts, storyboards, character descriptions, and design interface
Scripts, storyboards, and game interface design completed
Map game elements to specific learning objectives
Program game components
Program game scoring
Establish usability criteria and audience
Design usability testing protocol
Conduct usability testing
Modify game based on usability results
Pilot test game in a production environment
Release production version of health literacy game for public
distribution
Game-Based Learning: Health Literacy
James Madison University, Libraries & Educational Technologies
Jennifer McCabe, Principal Investigator
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Phase II
Activity 1
Activity 2
Activity 3
Activity 4
Activity 5
MILESTONE 4
Activity 6
Activity 7
Activity 8
MILESTONE 5
Phase III
Activity 1
Activity 2
Activity 3
Activity 4
Milestone
Activity 1
Activity 2
Activity 3
Activity 4
Milestone 7
Milestone 8
Develop game modules based on Go For The Gold basic information
literacy online tutorial
Identify online tutorial modules for multimedia game development
Design game interface for each module
Map game elements to specific learning objectives
Develop plan and programming specifications for capturing assessment data
Program game and data capture components
Game modules integrated with Go for the Gold online tutorial
Conduct usability testing of GFTG modules
Pilot test games with General Education students in GWRIT 103 class
Final integration of games with online tutorial with modifications based on
usability testing and pilot test
Release production version of games for student use on Go for the Gold
web site
Data Analysis, Evaluation, Reporting and Dissemination
Document experimental design for data analysis and evaluation phase of the
project
Administer Information Seeking Skills Test to freshmen
Extract performance data on students who used different versions of the Go
for the Gold tutorial
Analyze data for students who took both versions of the Go for the Gold
tutorial
Full, reliable and valid data set extracted from Information Seeking
Skills Test and available for analysis
Data analysis and evaluation
Draft preliminary report for review by internal stakeholders
Prepare final formal report on research findings with recommendations
Begin implementation of recommendations for JMU information literacy
program based on research findings
Distribute final report to the broader academic community
Disseminate results through publications, presentations and online
sharing of games and game software code
Evaluation Plan
Learning objectives and an instrument to test the health information literacy competencies of students will
be developed for the project. Games will be designed to assure that the identified health literacy
competencies are included. Once the game interface has been designed, the games will be tested for
usability with various populations of potential users. After necessary editing has been completed, the
games will be made available on the web. Faculty, students and others using the games will be surveyed
and input from game users will be used to inform modification of existing games and design of future
games.
Game-Based Learning: Health Literacy
James Madison University, Libraries & Educational Technologies
Jennifer McCabe, Principal Investigator
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Phase II will be evaluated with a randomized, control group design. Students logging on to Go for the
Gold to complete a module will be randomly or equitably assigned to either the existing module (control
group) or a game module (experimental group). Go for the Gold will be reprogrammed to allow game
scores to be stored in the exercise score database or in a parallel database specific to the game modules.
Each game and each existing module will be followed by a few questions about how satisfying, helpful,
and engaging the experience was. Experimental and control group performance on module-relevant
questions on the Information Seeking Skills Test will be compared. In addition, we will use data from the
JMU student records database to gain a better understanding of the characteristics of students who
perform better after using either a game or an existing module and who prefer one or the other. For
example, we will look at gender, grade point average, and SAT scores. The entire Phase II evaluation will
be handled by the JMU Center for Assessment and Research Studies (CARS). CARS will be responsible
for survey item development, survey analysis, psychometric advice, data management, merging files from
student records with Go for the Gold databases and selected items on the Information Seeking Skills Test .
CARS is an internationally known assessment center that is one of the key places in the country for
educational outcomes assessment. A particular strength of CARS is computer-based assessment, which is
highly relevant to this project. For a description of CARS, please see attachment 4.
Phase III of the project is the research phase, where data regarding the effectiveness of the games will be
gathered and analyzed. Because approximately 3500 JMU students must take the Information Seeking
Skills Test each year, and preparation for that test involves using Go for the Gold, we will have a robust
set of data to analyze. The question to be answered is: Do students who play the game achieve
information literacy competency as well as students who use the tutorials? The answer to this question,
combined with data from the series of usability tests done during the creation phases, will provide us with
information that can be used in the design of additional online games and other learning objects. Most
importantly, we will learn about whether games offer the potential to address information literacy issues
and the ways in which games can contribute to the process of learning health literacy concepts.
4. Project Resources
The total amount being requested is $159,438.00. This will support the creation, testing, implementation
and study of the games. Funding for hardware and software, research support for game development, and
training and hiring personnel with game programming skills is being sought. Funding is also sought to
sponsor events and travel to disseminate results and finding of the project. JMU has agreed to contribute
substantially through the talent of its librarians, programmers, instructional designers and software
engineers, as well as through acquisition of software, hardware, and incidental supplies. Key personnel
involved include:
Jennifer McCabe, M.L.I.S., Health & Human Services Librarian, Principal Investigator. At JMU
Jennifer serves as the liaison to the departments of health science, nursing and social work. She has
experience creating web-based video modules to provide library instruction to distance learning students,
as well as writing test questions for the information literacy assessment test and the entire social work
information seeking skills assessment test. Jennifer also developed a web-based video and test to offer
federally required HIPAA training to health sciences students and faculty. She is also a member of the
steering committee for the Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Services (IIHHS). Jennifer has
developed health informatics curricula and taught a course in Health Informatics; she was selected in
competition to attend the prestigious National Library of Medicine/Marine Biological Laboratory Medical
Informatics course at Woods Hole along with other librarians, physicians and computer scientists. Ms.
McCabe will devote 20% of her time to this project in each of the three years.
Game-Based Learning: Health Literacy
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Jennifer McCabe, Principal Investigator
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Nick Faber, Nick is a programmer and graphic designer who has a degree in media arts and design from
JMU. He has had extensive experience with a wide variety of multimedia software development tools
and environments. Nick is also an experienced teacher and trouble-shooter for the Blackboard course
management system. Mr. Faber will spend 20% of his time on this project.
Kevin Hegg is a software engineer who has contributed to a number of innovative projects at JMU
including Virtual Pavlov, the Madison Digital Image Database (MDID) and other full feature interactive
programs. He contributed substantially to the creation of the MDID, a database driven application that
manages digital images, and supports use of images in teaching. Development of an open-source version
of MDID was funded by the Mellon Foundation and the application is currently in use at dozens of
colleges and universities around the country. Mr. Hegg will devote 5% of his time to the project.
Lynn Cameron, M.L.I.S., M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction, Coordinator of Library Instruction. Lynn
is the founder and designer of the information literacy program at JMU. She created the online tutorial
Go for the Gold. Lynn also wrote the Information Seeking Skills Test and was instrumental in writing a
commercial version of the test that is being used by all of the community colleges in Virginia to assess
their students’ information literacy skills.
Steven L. Wise, Ph. D., Senior Assessment Specialist, Center for Assessment and Research Studies.
Steven has been heavily involved in the assessment of information literacy at JMU for the past seven
years. In addition, his scholarly expertise is in computer-based assessment, which is highly relevant to
the proposed project. Dr. Wise will advise the Principal Investigator on the project's research design, as
well as coordinate the data management and manage the evaluation activities.
Jody Fagan, M.L.I.S., M.S., Digital Services Librarian. Jody has extensive experience in usability
testing and research study design. .
In accordance with the instructions for IMLS leadership grants, $2000 per person has been requested in
each of the three years for attendance at the IMLS sponsored OBE training by the principal investigator
and one other project principal. Funding has also been sought for training with game engine software and
for attendance at library and educational technology conferences and the Game Developers Conference
for education and dissemination of the results of the project.
This project has widespread institutional support from the Dean of Libraries and Educational Technology
to the Associate Dean of the College of Integrated Science and Technology. Please see attachment 5 for a
letter in support of this proposal from the Director of the Institute for Innovation in Health & Human
Services.
5. Dissemination
All of the participants in this project have experience as presenters and authors. Results of this project
will be shared with the academic community at many points along the way. In addition to conferences
like ALA and ACRL, attendance and presentation at EDUCAUSE and the Serious Games Summit at the
Game Developers Conference is likely. The results of the study will be published in an appropriate openaccess journal, and a per-page fee has been included in the budget should circumstances warrant.
Game-Based Learning: Health Literacy
James Madison University, Libraries & Educational Technologies
Jennifer McCabe, Principal Investigator
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The Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Services (IIHHS) offers many opportunities to reach a
diverse population seeking health services. Numerous possibilities exist for dissemination of the games
and the findings of the research through IIHHS venues.
6. Sustainability
Because one underlying goal of the project is to address disparities created by compromised literacy
skills, the games that result from Phase I will be made freely available on the web. Software used for
game development will allow free distribution, modification and open access to source code. Use of the
games by others to develop their own approaches to using gaming to support learning of information
literacy concepts will be encouraged. Once the principles of using games to teach have been established
and proven, we hope that others will adopt them and create games aimed at specific populations and age
groups. Games developed in Phase II will also be made available on the web.
Institutional support for the information literacy program at JMU has elevated it to mission critical status.
The program’s success is due to the synergy that exists between the knowledgeable and talented library
faculty and the atmosphere of fearless innovation that has been cultivated. Further, the structure of the
project lends itself to continuous contribution from students and faculty, as opportunities to use games in
the curriculum are discovered and perfected. As with any creative endeavor, the more people participate,
the more creative they become. This is an opportunity for the library to emerge as a leader in responding
to the demands of educating the millennial generation.
For works cited in this proposal please see attachment 6.
Game-Based Learning: Health Literacy
James Madison University, Libraries & Educational Technologies
Jennifer McCabe, Principal Investigator
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