David Williamson Shaffer
David Williamson Shaffer is a Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the departments of Educational Psychology and Curriculum and Instruction, a Game Scientist at the Academic Advanced Distributed Learning Co-Laboratory and a Research Associate in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Communication and Democracy.
Background
Before coming to the University of Wisconsin, Dr. Shaffer taught grades 4-12 in the United States and abroad, including two years working with the Asian Development Bank and US Peace Corps in Nepal. His M.S. and Ph.D. are from the Media Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and he taught in the Technology and Education Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Dr. Shaffer has a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award for his work on Alternate Routes to Technology and Science and was the recipient of a Spencer Foundation National Academy of Education Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Dr. Shaffer studies how new technologies change the way people think and learn. His particular area of interest is in the development of epistemic games: computer and video games in which players become professionals to develop innovative and creative ways of thinking.
Recent publications
Shaffer, D. W. (2007). How computer games help children learn.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Available online
Shaffer, D. W., Squire, K. D., Halverson, R., & Gee, J. P. (2005). Video Games and the Future of Learning. Phi Delta Kappan, 87(2), 104-111. http://coweb.wcer.wisc.edu/cv/papers/videogamesfuturelearning_pdk_2005.pdf
Shaffer, D. W. (2004). Pedagogical praxis: The professions as models for post-industrial education. Teachers College Record, 106(7), 1401-1421. http://coweb.wcer.wisc.edu/cv/papers/TCRpedprax.pdf
Shaffer, D. W., & Serlin, R. (2004). What good are statistics that don’t generalize? Educational Researcher, 33(9), 14-25. http://www.aera.net/uploadedFiles/Journals_and_Publications/Journals/
Educational_Researcher/Volume_33_No_9/ 03_ERv33n9_Shaffer.pdf
Contact information
David Williamson Shaffer
Professor of Learning Science
Department of Educational Psychology
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Educational Sciences Building, Room 1069
1025 West Johnson Street
Madison, WI 53711
v/f: +1 608 265 4602
e: dws at education dot wisc dot edu
For the press
David Williamson Shaffer, author of How Computer Games Help Children Learn is available for interviews. Please contact him by phone (+1 608 265 4602) or email (dws@education.wisc.edu). His bio and other information are available online.
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