Guest editorial

Citation

Hua Tan, K., Muyldermans, L., Riedel, J. and Trim, P.R.J. (2009), "Guest editorial", On the Horizon, Vol. 17 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/oth.2009.27417daa.001

Guest editorial

Article Type: Guest editorial From: On the Horizon, Volume 17, Issue 4

The papers in this special issue stem from the 38th Annual SAGSET Conference, the theme of which was “Teaching and learning through gaming and simulation”. The conference was held at Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham, on 17-18 July 2008.

SAGSET stands for the Society for the Advancement of Games and Simulations in Education and Training, and has over the years done much to promote the wide use of case studies, games, role-plays and simulations. The conference in Nottingham provided delegates the opportunity to share experiences, applications, research results and knowledge about the use of games and simulations in education. The meeting facilitated collaboration between academia and practitioners to exchange ideas about innovative methods that might shape the future of education and training. Delegates came from more than 12 different countries including Canada, Italy, Poland, China, Israel, Spain, Taiwan, Australia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, and the UK, making the conference a real international event and stimulating the knowledge transfer from various parts of the world. Such positive interaction is vital to the continued development of gaming and simulation; both for the research base and implementation in educational courses.

SAGSET membership is diverse and several disciplines are represented including education, engineering, management, politics and psychology. Organizations from both the private and public sector, including defence, education, law and health, have been well represented at past conferences. For more information on SAGSET and future conference announcements please visit www.sagset.org

This special issue contains a selection of papers presented at the 38th Annual SAGSET conference. The papers reflect the variety of methodological approaches (case studies, simulation/game exercises, surveys, experiments and eye-tracking studies) and the diversity of applications (negotiation, manufacturing and engineering management, product design and development and virtual surgery) using educational simulations and games.

We have grouped the papers into the following key themes: games in education and training (Usherwood, Long et al., Choi and Sutherland, Gonen et al., King and Newman, and Trim and Lee), game design concepts (Duin et al., and Hunecker), Game Surveys (Pongpanich et al., and Liu et al.), and research using games (Ma et al., Gamlath, and Renshaw et al.).

The insights produced and the arguments put forward by the various authors will ensure that diverse interactive learning devices and learning environments can be utilized by academics and practitioners. We hope that this special issue will generate further interest in the use of games and simulations, and encourage the development of innovative interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches to gaming and simulation, so that new learning tools and environments will emerge.

We would like to thank all the authors for their contributions and the reviewers for their valuable time.

Kim Hua Tan, Luc Muyldermans, Johann Riedel, All based at Nottingham University Business School, Nottingham, UK.

Peter R.J. TrimBirkbeck College, University of London, London, UK.