Who has never dreamed of validating their school career by playing video games? Let’s face it, there are many of us, and apart from playing with Xbox Cloud Gaming under the table, there are few ways to do it! And yet, American students can earn college points by playing Age of Empires IV.
Age of Empires Mobile is out today in China and the launch is successful
A university that makes students play Age of Empires IV
Starting this semester, current and future University of Arizona and Arizona Online students can earn college credit by interacting with special content while playing Age of Empires IV.
This is not a measure to keep STR players happy, but rather a thoughtful project by Paul Milliman, Associate Professor of Medieval History, Kara Aquilano Forney, Executive Director of Corporate Initiatives and Business Development, Alison Futrell, associate professor of Roman history and head of department, and Noble Smith, narrative director of the Age of Empires franchise at World’s Edge Studio.
Paul Milliman explains that this idea came to him when he was brought to work with one of the best students of the class and he asked him how he had been able to learn so much about medieval history. . The answer is simple, a certain Age of Empires II has never ceased to whet his curiosity!
In recent years, many of the top students I’ve worked with have been gamers. They research historical events while playing these historical events in games. So I wanted to meet these player-historians where they encounter history and show them some of the wonderful places they can go online to do their own historical research. As Age of Empires IV says, I wanted to teach them how to make history their history.
Alison Futrell also shares this enthusiasm as she is interested in how the past is interpreted in film and television. She was immediately seduced by the very distinctive and very creative approaches of the past that could be found in video games.
Learning and playing are not mutually exclusive
The idea of this partnership is not new. Indeed, Kara Aquilano Forney explains that she met Will McCahill, head of World’s Edge, two years ago. On this occasion, they discussed the learning possibilities in Age of Empires IV and therefore agreed that it would be rewarding to redirect players to educational content after playing.
Paul Milliman was immediately taken by the game’s campaigns, in particular thanks to the “Hands on History” videos which allow you to learn a lot about the medieval art of living, military strategies, etc. Seduced by the format, he asks students to carry out similar work on various subjects!
It is clear that the video game is less and less denigrated, quite the contrary. Last year, The American Historical Review, the leading academic history journal in the United States, began evaluating historical video games, recognizing the importance of games in shaping public opinion about history. .
University of Arizona historians hope these new learning models will intrigue aspiring historians enough to have the curiosity to learn more and more. Paul Milliman explains that because of Age of Empires IV, he became passionate about new pursuits.
I started learning archery a few months ago, and soon I will be taking lessons in falconry and historical fencing. So Age of Empires IV can inspire people of all ages and historical skill levels!
Let’s hope that our dear Paul Milliman never plays Manhunt… Without a doubt, it’s a safe bet that this is only the beginning of a new way of learning. And you, would you like to see this become more democratic and reach our universities?
