A member of the Arts & Technology faculty at The University of Texas at Dallas, Dr. Marjorie “Marge” Zielke, will present a paper at the “Learning with Games 2007” conference scheduled for Sept. 24–26 in Sophia Antipolis, France.
Zielke’s paper, titled A Presumption of Reality: Exploring Virtual Behavior as a Predictive Mechanism for Real-Life Outcomes, details the extent to which human behavior in a virtual world mirrors real life.
“A virtual world that conveys an emergent environment could supply researchers with the opportunity to study manifestations of human behavior in a virtual environment,” Zielke said. “If there is a strong connection between virtual world interactions and real world outcomes, as we suspect, the implications would be astounding, and the credibility of serious and business games could supply useful business strategies.”
In addition to leading a course about digital learning systems at UT Dallas, Zielke is a project manager on a United States Army contract with the University that calls for the creation of virtual environments comparable to those in Afghanistan and that could be used to train military officers.
Zielke holds a B.S. degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, an M.B.A. from UT Arlington and a master’s degree in management from the University of Dallas. She received her Ph.D. degree in aesthetic studies from UT Dallas.
Contact Jenni Huffenberger, UT Dallas, (972) 883-4431, jennib@utdallas.edu