Dr. Bruce Martin McLaren’s Keynote

Digital Learning Games: From Child to Adult Learning

Digital learning games have become a hot topic in educational technology and Learning Science research. My own lab, the McLearn Lab, has developed several digital learning games for late elementary and middle school students. One of these games, Decimal Point, has been utilized by over 1,500 middle school students in classroom studies over the past decade. In these studies, we explored a variety of game-based learning and Learning Science principles. In this talk, I will provide an overview of digital game-based learning (DGBL) and briefly discuss the games developed by my lab. More importantly, I will share insights into the impact of DGBL on adult learning. Finally, I will discuss my thoughts on the future of DGBL, particularly in adult education. 

About Dr. Bruce Martin McLaren

Dr. Bruce Martin McLaren is a Professor at Carnegie Mellon University and is a past President of the International Artificial Intelligence in Education Society (2017-2019). Dr. McLaren is passionate about how technology can support education and has dedicated his research to projects that explore how students can learn with digital learning games (also called educational games), intelligent tutoring systems, e-learning principles, and collaborative learning. Dr. McLaren's research with digital learning games, for instance, has shown that students can learn about decimals and decimal operations better by playing a game than by using more conventional technology. Dr. McLaren’s research with digital learning games has also uncovered a gender effect, in which females are more engaged and learn more from his Decimal Point learning game, Decimal Point.

Dr. McLaren holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Intelligent Systems from the University of Pittsburgh, an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh, and a B.S. in Computer Science (cum laude) from Millersville University (of Pennsylvania). During his career, he has published over 200 articles, including 42 journal articles.

In addition to his research background, Dr. McLaren has over 20 years’ experience in the commercial sector, applying research ideas to practical problems using artificial intelligence techniques.

Dr. McLaren’s Wikipedia page provides further information on his background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_M._McLaren.  

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