MediaSpark's GoVenture educational gamesComputer giant IBM and Sydney, NS-based MediaSpark Inc. have won a national tender to provide 900 Ontario schools with educational games and simulation software designed to sharpen their business and financial skills as they prepare to meet the growing demands of the 21st Century.

Four of MediaSpark's GoVenture educational games and simulation software solutions will provide students from grades seven to 12 with realistic simulations emphasizing Entrepreneurship, Accounting, Financial Literacy, and Personal Finance skills.

Using the specialty software students gain experience through immersion in simulated worlds created with experiential learning and gaming techniques. In the Entrepreneurship module students learn how to run a clothing or sporting goods store by testing their abilities with scenarios that map to real challenges faced by new entrepreneurs. They conduct business, get advice, attend training seminars or sell their companies. In the Personal Finance module, students live up to 50 years of their financial futures, virtually, making decisions about money and credit.

Gaming technology is also increasingly being used in higher education institutions to complement and extend traditional teaching methods. Currently, more than 1,000 colleges and universities use IBM games in their curricula.

MediaSpark worked with IBM Canada to win the tender issued by the Ministry of Education through the Ontario Software Acquisition Program Advisory Committee (OSAPAC).

Learn more about MediaSpark.

With files from the Friends of Nova Scotia Newsletter published by Nova Scotia Come to life.