Learning and Gamification

In September 2015, Muzzy Lane Software announced the release of Muzzy Lane Author, a DIY authoring platform that allows instructors to create game-based content and assessments, offering cloud-based tools for building and deploying integrated micro-learning activities in courses across K-20.

Muzzy Lane Author is based on templates that instructional designers, subject matter experts, and educators use to add content to create and share game-based activities, integrating the dynamic content they create into existing curricula. Expanding the number of people who can build educational games shall both increase students' learning and dramatically reduce the cost of Serious Games adoption.

As of January 2017, Muzzy Lane Software has joined the inaugural ASU-GSV-Draper accelerator and piloted the company’s core product Author. 

The ASU Draper GSV Accelerator is an initiative to move education technology to the market faster by allowing new ventures to be tested by Arizona State University students and faculty, having announced the program’s first business cohort at the beginning of the year.

Participating companies receive feedback from students and researchers in collaboration with Arizona Technology Enterprises, ASU’s intellectual property management and technology transfer organization. Additionally, companies that complete the program receive data-driven feedback that provides an objective measure of their impact on ASU student success.

Their goal is to enhance the student learning experience by identifying the most promising products and tools while also providing resources for companies to advance their offering and discover new opportunities.

Muzzy Lane Has Utilized The Research From 1700⁺ Online Students To Create The New Platform

Over two years ago, Muzzy Lane received a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant to figure out how game-based learning could help to improve performance of non-traditional learners pursuing postsecondary credentials. 

Under the grant, Muzzy Lane worked closely with a broad range of colleges and universities to identify opportunities, barriers, and success factors for mainstream adoption of game-based learning. ML conducted one-on-one interviews with educators across the country, held focus groups and interactive design sessions with students from community colleges and adult education programs, and collected over 1,700 student surveys.

Students expressed a consistent need for mobile first activities and assessments that make productive use of their time and fit into their busy and unpredictable lives, helping them study on all of their devices while juggling the responsibilities of family, work, and school. Educators did not ask for big, disruptive games. They were more interested in ways game-based learning could help their students while working alongside other course elements.

The report also highlights obstacles that have prevented game-based approaches from scaling in the past. The biggest factor is that most game-based projects have been custom developed, and many schools simply cannot afford the high cost to create or maintain them.

New business and development approaches that overcome these obstacles will be critical to unlocking game-based learning's potential now and in the future.

Released in January 2016, the report on the research findings is available for free at The Potential for Game-Based Learning to Improve Outcomes for Nontraditional Students

About the ASU Draper GSV Accelerator 

The ASU Draper GSV Accelerator (ADG) is a joint venture among ASU; the Draper Associates, led by Tim Draper, one of the world’s leading venture capitalists; and GSV, a leading name in educational technology investment. It is ideal for companies whose product is nearing commercialization, but any venture that has received seed funding or beyond is qualified to apply.