Hitting Two-For-Two

Good news on the DigiBahn front! Briefly stated, the paper I submitted to The Foreign Lannguage Annals (FLAnnals) was accepted with minor revisions and my application to the Humanities Gaming Institute was also accepted. Wow, hitting two-for-two. I was particulalry surprised (and flattered) about what the three reviewers for the FLAnnals had to say about my essay:

• I'm fascinated by this topic and I think the author has introduced the subject well, defended his/her thesis and I look forward to seeing more things from him/her.


• I think it's safe to say, however, that there needs to be more research of this kind to keep pace with the changing definitions of literacy.


• I enjoyed reading this manuscript. It is very well written; it flows very logically. As a instructor who utilizes a great deal of technology and recognizes the potential for game play, I find the intersection between theory and the potential of gaming nicely stated and reflecting many possibilities.


• I thank you for a glimpse of what language learning could become in the near future. An app for my iPhone!


• As noted above, the text is extremely well written and does not need much editing in terms of mechanics, style, etc.

I was hesitant about the manuscript would be received as the topic of digital game-based learning is extremely new in the field of second language acquisition and I was afraid that it would be perceived as fadish or just way out there. Computer games to teach a foreign language ... huh? Anyway, the feedback was a tremendous source of validation for my project and made me think that a book project - just maybe - might also be similarly received.

I've been spending the last week tightening up my submission to FLAnnals and will return to modeling once I got the essay where I would like it to be. Then, as the submission also needs some good images as eye candy, I will spend some time setting what models I do have up for some still renders. I'll will add more information about the Humanities Gaming Institute as soon as I find out more. And lots of pictures, too, when I am down there.