This article is the second in a series that will take a look at gaming in education and why teachers should embrace this up and coming trend.

The first article in this series pointed out that over 60% of teachers use games. While the majority of game use is for supplemental activities, there is a growing movement of teachers who use games for instruction and assessment.

How do these teachers find and then evaluate the games that they use?

The most common way of learning about any educational tools is from peers. While face to face networks are limited by the number of interactions with people in one’s grade, school, or conferences, online professional learning networks have become invaluable.

The edWeb.net network offers a game based learning community of over 8,500 members, along with open discussions and a monthly webinar on different aspects of edugaming. There is also a Google+ community of gaming educators that discusses games and game based learning. It is not as active, but can be a good place to ask a question. A number of education games also follow the #GBL hashtag on Twitter, and educators can often ask a question and receive answers, especially if they tag active Twitter users such as @MatthewFarber, @gtoppo, @mr_isaacs, or @RafranzDavis.

Matthew Farber of Valleyview Middle School in Denville, NJ often finds games through social media and sources that share-out innovative games. Gerry Marchand of Huntley High School in Illinois similarly Googles about games and looks for comments and reviews on social networks. They both emphasize that they play the games themselves, looking to see if the mechanics and content work for their classes. They point out that the mechanics of a game, or the way players act and interact in the game, can often teach a concept or skill regardless of the game’s narrative, especially higher order skills such as cooperation, problem solving, and balancing priorities.

“Personally, and for the teachers that I’ve worked most closely with, we find new games via our students.  Simply listening to their input and what they’re excited about can point you in the right direction,” says Lucas Gillispie, director of academic and digital learning at Surry County School in North Carolina.

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