Discover eLearning are delighted to have been named winners at this year’s prestigious Learning Technologies Awards.
Founder and director Chris Hodgson claimed the gold prize in the Best Learning Game category for his role in the well-received Alice in Typhoidland exhibition at the online awards evening.
The project, in collaboration with the University of Oxford and RenderHeads, focused on the eradication of Typhoid in Victorian Britain.
Chris designed two games aimed at teaching children how typhoid was spread throughout the population of Oxford and how Dean Henry Liddell worked to improve sanitation and control the disease between 1872 and 1901.
The exhibition followed the theme of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland due to Dean Liddell’s daughter Alice often being credited as the inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s famous character.
According to the Learning Technologies Awards, the judges were “particularly impressed with how the whole interpretation experience was thought through with the game playing a key role in engaging with the challenges of improving sanitary conditions.
“The design and the graphics were beautiful and the gameplay straightforward with no complex controls to learn… a strong and refreshing entry and one that was extremely topical in today’s Covid-challenged world.”
The project was up against other high-profile entries from tech giants such as Google and BT.
The Learning Technologies Awards gala evening is usually a glittering black-tie celebration that attracts guests from across the learning and development industry worldwide. However, this year it was held virtually due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The winners of this year’s Learning Technology Awards were announced during a live virtual event streamed over the Internet.
Despite the difference in presentation, the Learning Technologies Awards is still recognised as the most prestigious awards scheme in the industry, rewarding the past year’s most innovative and creative learning developers.
Now in its 16th year it is held in particularly high esteem due to the independent judging process from the eLearning Network, with winners being chosen by a team of leading professionals rather than the organisers themselves.
Winning the award for Best Learning Game is a proud moment for Chris, who has certainly built upon being named runner-up in two categories at the 2019 ceremony.
Chris said: “Typhoidland was such a fantastic project to be a part of that it was almost a reward in itself to have worked on it and seen it come to fruition on display at the University of Oxford. Winning the award for Best Learning Game is the icing on the cake, and is testament to the hard – but brilliant – work carried out by everyone involved.
“For me personally, it’s a career highlight. I was pleased with being nominated in previous years and this time we’ve gone one better! The judges’ comments are incredibly kind and I’d like to thank them for recognising all that we aimed to do with the interactive games.
“I hope everyone who saw the exhibition and played the games enjoyed them too, and learned a little more about the history of Oxford, typhoid, and how scientists work so hard to keep us safe from infectious diseases. Hopefully we’ll see an end soon to the one the world is currently battling.”
Alice in Typhoidland ran at the Weston Library at the University of Oxford until 22nd March and the History of Science Museum until 26th July.
It will move to the Museum of Oxford in Winter 2020, before going on tour to Atlanta, Georgia in January 2021. More information about the exhibition can be found at https://typhoidland.org.
Learn more about the 2020 Learning Technologies Awards including the full list of winners and nominees at https://www.learningtechnologies.co.uk/the-class-of-2020.
