MIXING WORK AND PLAY: Educational gaming R&D will find a new home at the Games, Learning and Assessment Lab (GLASS LAB), housed at Electronic Arts' (EA) headquarters in Redwood City. Announced last week at the Aspen Ideas Festival, the lab will be managed by the Institute of Play and supported by $10.3 million in grants from the MacArthur Foundation and Gates Foundation. Institute of Play executive director Katie Salen, (also Quest to Learn founder), will take the reins and oversee a team of developers who will both produce original mini-games and modify existing ones. The project's initial focus will measure learning gains in middle-school students' performance against Common Core standards and 21st century skills. Ultimately the project seeks to understand and push games that arm kids with not only button-mashing muscles, but skills "critical for college and career readiness." (It's worth noting that AT&T struck a similar deal with Gamedesk just over a month ago.)
