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Van Eck entered the PhD program at the University of South Alabama and worked as an instructional designer or developer on several learning games there. RICHARD VAN ECK is a professor of instructional design and technology at the University of North Dakota. He has a BA in English and Psychology from the University of Wisconsin– Milwaukee, an MA in English from the University of North Dakota, and a PhD in instructional design and development from the University of South Alabama (USA). He has been studying games and learning since 1995 when he entered the PhD program at USA and worked as an instructional design or developer on several learning games there, including Adventures in Problem Solving (Texas Interactive Media Award, 1999), and Ribbit’s Big Splash (Gulf Guardian Award 2002; Environment Education Association of Alabama’s 2002 Best Environmental Education Award). Since then he has been a researcher and designer on several other STEM games, including PlatinuMath (mathematics game for preservice teacher education), Project NEO (science game for preservice teachers), Project Blackfeather (programming game for middle school students), Contemporary Studies of the Zombie Apocalypse (mathematics game for middle school students), and Far Plane (leadership game for high school students and adults). He is a frequent keynote speaker nationally and internationally on the educational potential of video games, including more than seventy-five presentations on games and learning, including talks at TEDx talk and South by Southwest. His publications in this area include two edited books, seven book chapters, thirteen refereed publications, and six invited publications. In addition to his work in serious games, he has also published and presented on intelligent tutoring systems, pedagogical agents, authoring tools, and gender and technology.
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