Reese Honored as Distinguished Visitor in Mexico
Tue Nov 11 2008
Not only did Dr. Debbie Denise Reese serve as a keynote speaker at an international conference on evaluation in Veracruz, Mexico, she received a virtual key to the city from the mayor.Dr. Jon Gurutz Rementería Sempé, mayor of Veracruz, named Reese, senior educational researcher at the Center for Educational Technologies®, a Distinguished Visitor for her participation in the First International Meeting on Evaluation for Mid-higher-level Education and College-level Education. He presented her with a certificate honoring her visit to Veracruz, a major port city on the Gulf of Mexico whose metropolitan area is home to more than 700,000 people.
More than 350 educators, scholars, evaluators, academics, officials, and psychometricians attended the event Sept. 17-19. Reese's keynote talk explained how CyGaMEs' Selene: A Lunar Construction GaME design and assessment opens the door to teaching and learning opportunity in networked education. Click here to view a PowerPoint photo gallery of the event.
Reese leads the CyGaMEs project, which is funded by the National Science Foundation. It continues a study first funded by NASA into how students can best learn science concepts through videogames. CyGaMEs features the Selene videogame, which the Center for Educational Technologies created for NASA.
At the conference Reese discussed how she proposes to evaluate the abilities of students in the 13- to 18-year-old age range as they play the Selene videogame. She compared the online evaluation methods being used in Selene with more traditional tests, such as the LLECE in Chile or the international assessment from PISA-OECD. Among other things Reese's design assesses whether students achieve a "flow" state—a measure of engagement—when they play a game.
Reese presented in English, and the conference provided an interpreter.
