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LONDON, November 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Computer firm 'Atari' along with development studios 'BioWare' are answering back critics of all that is wrong with computer & video games by boosting the quality of education through West Nottinghamshire College's revolutionary 'Neverwinter Nights' project.
Many students lack the motivation to complete conventional paper based assignments. Gathering evidence for qualifications such as Key Skills and Wider Key Skills has been very difficult.
It has long been noted that learners enjoy playing computer games so Bioware and Atari's 'Neverwinter Nights' game has been used to produce a tailor-made games scenario directly linked to qualifications.
The multi-national company 'Atari' and developers 'BioWare' has taken the unusual step of teaming up with a further education college in Nottinghamshire to achieve a common goal of improving national standards in education and achievement. Both parties will pool their expertise and resources to fulfill this purpose using the commercialization of the College's Neverwinter Nights program as the catalyst.
Mansfield based West Nottinghamshire College is a large general further education college with 25,000 students of whom 2,700 are full-time. Its vision is 'together we can invent the future for learning', a vision which the exceptional Neverwinter Nights project is certainly living up to!
The project is designed to focus the energies of learners on achieving their goals by making learning exciting and interactive. It has proved to be a massive success within the College, with the number of students achieving a pass in application of number has increased from 90% in 2003 to 100% this year, since the introduction of the game.
Already, it has achieved national recognition from the Association of Colleges, who awarded the initiative with the 2004/05 Becta Beacon Award for The Effective Use of Information Learning Technology to Enhance Teaching and Support Learning. One of the judges commenting: "It was a joy to see the innovative approach to learning which West Notts College has developed. This project is imaginative, innovative, creative and exciting."
And thanks to the backing of Atari & Bioware, schools and colleges up and down the country will soon be able to have a slice of the Neverwinter success, when later this year the revolutionary project is set to be produced and distributed to education institutions throughout the country.