ARTé: Mecenas is a strategy game developed by Triseum to enhance Art History learning.
Located in Bryan,
Texas, Triseum grew out of the LIVE Lab at
Texas A&M University. Since then, they’ve partnered with industry
leading experts in gaming and instructional design dedicated to building the
highest quality educational video games. The approach they take towards product
design and development demonstrates a bias towards creating world class digital
experiences that profoundly impact students.
ARTé: Mecenas is the first game in the company’s ARTé™
suite, a collection of games with targeted learning outcomes supporting a
traditional college-level Art History survey course. Designed to supplement
course instruction, Mecenas teaches the interconnectedness of local and
international economies in Renaissance Italy, and how those economies
influenced art and art patronage.
The game gives
players a unique perspective on the Italian Renaissance of the 15th to 16th
centuries. Taking the role of a member of the merchant/banking Medici family,
one of the most influential families of the time, the student must balance
relationships with powerful city-states, merchant factions, and the Catholic
Church to build and maintain a financial empire. By following the historical
footsteps of the Medici family, students level up to the status of “Mecenas,”
an influential patron of the arts, and experience the political, social, and
economic factors that shaped the era.
ARTé: Mecenas provides an immersive gaming experience to help
students better apply and analyze the effects of complex social, cultural,
economic, political and ecclesiastical networks on artwork, monuments and
institutions of the Italian Renaissance.
Featuring the most influential artworks of the 15th
and 16th centuries, the game includes over 130 pieces of art by more than 70
artists.
The game also enables instructors to create
custom classes with an integrated portal that monitors students’ progress and engagement.
Results In The News Via PRWEB
Recently released results from Triseum’s Fall
2016 research study aimed at measuring the learning efficacy of its ARTé: Mecenas game indicate that, after
approximately two hours of game play, art history students who participated in
the experimental group had a knowledge gain of 24.7 percent from pre-test to
post-test.
“Too often in art history we see students
memorizing and regurgitating facts, but with ARTé: Mecenas, they are empowered to be a more active and engaged
participant in the learning process,” said André Thomas, CEO of Triseum™. “In
developing the game, we relied heavily on faculty, subject matter experts and
instructional designers, in tandem with research, to not only understand how to
teach the concepts, but also how to test them so we can make sure students are
comprehending and retaining the material.”
“As faculty, we have limited classroom time to
thoroughly convey the complexities that surround the works of art and the
broader societal norms of the time period, yet by playing ARTé: Mecenas, students have the opportunity to understand the
ideas and their relevance more deeply,” said Carey Rote, Professor of Art
History at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. “ARTé: Mecenas gets students excited about the subject matter,
enabling them to learn in a fun and competitive manner and truly experience the
concepts that might be harder to grasp in a lecture format.”
“We have incorporated ARTé: Mecenas into our curriculum again for the Spring 2017 term
and the feedback we are getting from students and faculty is inspiring,” said
Kelly M. Quintanilla, Ph.D., Interim President & CEO at Texas A&M
University-Corpus Christi. “By allowing students to explore and develop innate
insights through the game, they are more connected to and familiar with the
subject.”
Triseum is committed to pushing the boundaries
of educational games, making them as sophisticated and imaginative as their
entertainment counterparts, yet preserving learning efficacy supported by data.
ARTé: Mecenas adheres to rigorous
scientific standards and the latest research. Purposeful sampling was used in
Triseum’s recent study, which is detailed on its website. Participants were
recruited from a pool of students in college-level art history survey courses
(the target audience for the game). In total, 184 participants consented to
join the study, and 173 participants completed the study and earned extra
credit in their course for participating. The nearly 25 percent gain is
practically significant (Cohen’s d = 1.14, large effect) in an educational
setting for a single unit of complementary instruction.
Additionally, in Spring 2017, Triseum is
conducting additional research studies within the state of Texas. Triseum is
also seeking independent researchers to replicate the study. If interested in
conducting research on ARTé: Mecenas,
please contact learning at triseum dot com.