The Exergame Network (TEN) has created a next generation rating system which is ready for world wide release. TEN’s ratings system evaluates the holistic experience of an exergame in it’s Exergaming Experience Rating System (EERS)
TEN is a non-affliated, non-profit Games for Health exergaming advocacy. Its website portal is http://www.exergamenetwork.org/.

TEN represents an international collaboration of dedicated health and fitness practitioners, exergame developers, researchers and clinicians, wellness entrepreneurs, all devoted to promoting an active and healthy lifestyle through Exergaming.

The peer-reviewed EERS results have been compiled by a panel of world renowned Exergaming experts. The system used to rate the exergame experience has taken a collaboration of over 12 months, driven by the previous lack of real world consumer information into the genre.

ERNIE MEDINA, JR., DrPH – Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of MedPlay Technologies

Exergames are not only scored on exercise and game play, including the physical interface between the two, but also on the interaction of seven further attributes including sustainability and intervention capacity. Six popular video games with an exercise component have been scored in the first results, including Wii Fit, Dance Dance Revolution (DDR), Eyetoy Kinetic, Wii Sports, EA Sports Active and Rockband.

“With so many different games available on the market, a rating system for Exergames like the EERS by TEN, is a welcome tool for healthcare practitioners trying to help their patients make the most appropriate choices for their families.” says TEN contributor Dr Ernie Medina of MedPlay Technologies LLC.

The highest rated exergame, so far, is Dance Dance Revolution (DDR), which scored 63% with the popular Wii Fit making a mid-table position with 57%. TEN has a resource of over 40 Exergames listed that will be peer-reviewed and rated over the next 12 months.

STEPHEN P. YANG, PhD-ABD – Professor at Suny Cortland

“The EERS results compliment the research work being done in the Exergame Lab at SUNY Cortland. While there is no substitute for scientific research in PE, the thorough rating system is extremely useful to consumers when looking at which product to purchase.” says TEN contributor and exergame expert Stephen Yang.

The full Ratings table can be viewed at the TEN Blogsite

TEN – Social Networks:
LinkedIn, Facebook, Wiki,  Twitter, Skype: ExergameNework & email

Tavelli Spark Lab (Exergaming Lab)

What all school administrators are facing today is an increased demand for higher test scores, often times at the expense of reducing physical education or the amount of recess time elementary students receive each day. As a principal for over 30 years, I have to say that I certainly was victim to that pressure until I realized that the approach was fundamentally flawed.

We, as educational leaders, have moved too far away from the thought of a sound body and sound mind. In my former district, students received physical education only five times a month. In addition, the reduction of recess time and the increased seat time in the classroom mirrored what is happening nationally. We actually prescribed to the idea that if we worked harder at doing the same thing over and over, we would get better results. Thus, we had six year olds not receiving any physical activity for nearly three hours of morning instruction! It wasn’t that we were not well -intended, we just were not well-informed.

As a school we started to look deeply into the research on the effects of exercise and learning. It became very clear that we had not only lost balance in our approach to education, we were simply not putting students in the most advantageous position to learn. We began to realize that in this competitive world, the school system that wants to maximize students’ progress must provide a foundation of physical activity to prime cognitive functioning.

Beyond Exciting!!

Exergaming products inside Tavelli School – Colorado

As a school staff, we found compelling reasons to make changes in the amount of fitness our students were receiving. We decided to significantly increase the amount of fitness time for our students through innovative strategies. The most remarkable aspect of that change was the development of an Exercise 4 Learning lab that revolutionized our school. We implemented a 28-station Exergaming lab that changed almost every aspect of our school day. In 30 years as a school administrator, this was the most innovative and exciting intervention I had ever been a part of implementing.

The results were striking. The whole school experience changed when something so fun and so good for students was now embedded into their weekly schedule. The Exercise 4 Learning lab supplemented our current physical education program and enhanced the activity level of students by doubling the amount of exercise our kids were receiving each week. What was even more profound was the enthusiasm displayed by our students—they loved their new experience! When teachers listed their daily schedule on the board in the morning, their students would scream with delight when the schedule included a period of time in the lab. When students were surveyed about they liked most about the school, the lab was listed as their favorite activity. Furthermore, teachers reported a positive change in their students’ focus and attention levels after their students returned from the lab.

Why implement an Exergaming lab in your school? First, exercise fires up the brain for learning, making students better prepared for cognitive retention. Second, students who have daily physical activity demonstrate improved behavior and less disciplinary problems in the classroom. Third, Exergaming provides a new and exciting way to draw students into a healthy lifestyle by letting them experience the fun and confidence associated with being physically fit. Fourth, Exergaming is a powerful way to change the trend that reduces physical education in our schools and will actually enhance your current program. Fifth, from an efficiency point of view, our lab installation cost about half a staffing unit to create but serves over 500 students and will last a significant number of years. The Exercise 4 Learning lab is a very economical intervention for any school looking to improve academic achievement, student behavior, and fitness for all students. Finally, did I mention that we have an obesity and sedentary life style crisis in our country? Our Exergaming lab is the best intervention I have seen that counters both of these patterns while also improving school performance.

Dan Lawler

Dan Lawler, Ph.D.
Exergame Fitness Educational Consultant
www.exergamefitness.com
dlawler22@gmail.com

Original post by gamercize  on 25 May TEN website

In Boston this week, the annual Games for Health conference takes place. This is perhaps the premiere event fortheGames4Health fraternity and a time to highlight the solutions offered by Exergaming in the health, fitness, educationand rehabilitation sectors.

If you are a member of The Exergame Network’s (TEN) Website, Skype calls, Wiki, LinkedIn or Facebook collaboration groups then here’s a chance to meet outside the virtual world!

“The government expects these investments will catalyse the nation’s Serious Games sector growth to reach a market value of $400 million by 2012.”

The South Korean government and associated partners are to be applauded for the foresight. The market in Serious Gaming, Gaming for Health and Exergaming seems patently obvious, I hope the Australian government is being approached by lobby groups and can take some inspiration to what is happening elsewhere in Australasia.

With Rudds emphasis on bringing our region in from the Broadband abyss, the time seems ripe to develop parallel offline and online technology driven businesses. Australia could be very well placed to deliver worlds best practices in the brave new world of gaming, both for pleasure and enterprise.

Should any Australian ‘games’ practitioners/developers/innovators etc, be reading this, please lend your weight to our fledgling Exergaming google groups at http://groups.google.com/group/exergames-australia?hl=en