International Journal of Distance Education Technologies, 13(2), 55w73, April-June 2015 55 Motivating Game- Based Learning Efforts in Higher Education Gina Moylan, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA Ann W Burgess, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA Charles Figley, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA Michael Bernstein, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA ABSTRACT Though there is considerable research to support using Game-Based Learning (GBL) in higher education, its implementation is lagging behind K-12 education by an order of magnitude. By considering the current state ofGBLfrom leadership, primary consumer, academic and technical perspectives, the authors frame the main issues involved with successfully implementing these efforts. These issues involve obtaining the resources required to make mature serious games that are similar in presentation, functionality and effectiveness to the commercial-basedproducts so widely used today, wh;/e ensuring that they are imbued with academic content worthy of college cwTicu/a, After motivating a compelling cw:;efor GBL, despite a number of constraints and difficulties, the authors present two higher education efforts that are designed to augment the core curriculum for w1dergraduate and graduate level courses associated with the field ofTrauma···-afield enhanced by virtual efforts due to its challenging subject matte1: Keywords: Applications, Game-BasedLearning, Online Distance Higher Education, Simulations, leaching/ Learning Strategies 1. INTRODUCTION Today's economic realities and computer-driven culture are forcing the staid 11 111 century model of higher education to adapt to 2 P 1 century lifestyles and innovations. This has become particularly evident in the last few decades when we lookattheprogressionfrom classroom media such as overhead and slide projection in the 1960's, to the multiple interactive technolo· gies and multimedia elements available-anytime, DOl: 10.40!8/IJDET.20!5040l04 anywhere via the Internet today. The progression of technology is transforming the traditional one-dimensional classroom medium into one of many possible dimensions, increasing the need to convey and implement instruction using a mixture of classroom and digital technologies. This presents a challenge to administrators and professors to embrace 21st century technologies more fully, while simultaneously dealing with the financial realities those technologies present. Copy1'ight © 2015, TGI Glob11l. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written pennission of!GI Global is prohibited.