Seven Chosen to Present at Graduate Student Research Forum

March 01, 2012

Seven students were selected to represent Old Dominion at the 7th Annual Virginia Council of Graduate Schools' (VCGS) Graduate Student Research Forum. It was held at the University of Virginia on February 16.

The forum provides an opportunity for the public, legislators and the business community to hear about current graduate student research, which promotes economic, social and civic development in Virginia.

Charlottesville is a new venue for the forum. It was held this year in conjunction with a conference VCGS is sponsoring Feb. 15-17, "Graduate Education for Virginia: STEMulating the Future." The organization, which is composed of all of the public institutions in the commonwealth, received a Virginia Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate planning grant to explore way to increase and support the number of minorities in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.

The Old Dominion participants were among presenters from colleges and universities throughout the state. The ODU presentations range from research on serious game design to nursing skills training and evaluation.

Representing the Frank Batten College of Engineering & Technology, Michael Martin, doctoral student in modeling and simulation, with his research work entitled "Serious Game Design Principles: The Impact of Game Design on Learning Outcomes." This research is an investigation into the design principles that govern serious games; serious games are games (typically video games) that produce desirable educational or training outcomes. These games attempt to harness the motivational and affective traits of video games and direct them toward productive outcomes, such as STEM education and jobs training. The goal of this research is to examine how designs choices in the creation of serious games can affect learning outcomes.

For more information about VCGS and the research forum, click here.