Clark Aldrich

Clark Aldrich (born 3 January 1967) is an American author and a practitioner in the field of educational simulations. Since 1999, Aldrich has developed alternative approaches to traditional education, with a focus on interactive learning and the potential of computer game-based simulations. Through six published books, he has proposed new types of computer games that could be developed to serve both educational and entertainment purposes, sometimes colloquially known as the edutainment genre.^[1]

Clark Aldrich
Born	(1967-01-03) January 3, 1967 (age 58) Concord, Massachusetts, United States
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Brown University (B.A. in Cognitive Science, 1989)
Occupation(s)	Author, Simulation Designer, Educational Technologist
Years active	1999–present
Known for	Educational simulations and serious games
Notable work	Virtual Leader, six books on education and simulations

Background

Education

Aldrich grew up in Concord, Massachusetts, where he attended The Fenn School, a private middle school for boys. Aldrich then attended the Lawrence Academy at Groton, a private co-educational preparatory high school. He later studied cognitive science at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he earned his Bachelor's degree in the aforementioned course in 1989.^[2][3][4][5]

Career

Aldrich initially worked at Xerox as the speechwriter for the Executive Vice President Wayland Hicks.^{[citation needed]} He transitioned out of this role when he became the governor’s appointee to the Joint Committee on Educational Technology, and served in this role from 1996 to 2000.^{[citation needed]} He then moved to Gartner, where he launched Gartner's e-learning coverage and reported on topics related to the formal analysis of education.^{[citation needed]}

Later, he left Gartner to design educational simulations as an independent. Aldrich founded SimuLearn, which developed training simulations for use in corporate learning environments.^{[citation needed]} The first product released by the company was Virtual Leader, which simulated the conduct of a series of business meetings while balancing professional interactions.^[6]

Personal life

Books

• Aldrich, Clark (2004). Simulations and the Future of Learning. San Diego: Pfeiffer. ISBN 978-0-7879-6962-2.^[7]
• Aldrich, Clark (2005). Learning by Doing: A Comprehensive Guide to Simulations, Computer Games and Pedagogy in E-learning and Other Educational Experiences. San Diego: Pfeiffer. ISBN 978-0-7879-7735-1.^[8][9]
• Gibson, David V.; Aldrich, Clark; Prensky, Marc (2006). Games And Simulations in Online Learning: Research and Development Frameworks. IGI Global. ISBN 978-1-59904-304-3.
• Aldrich, Clark (2009). The Complete Guide to Simulations and Serious Games. San Diego: Pfeiffer. ISBN 978-0-470-46273-7.^[10][11][12]
• Aldrich, Clark (2009). Learning Online with Games, Simulations, and Virtual Worlds: Strategies for Online Instruction. San Diego: Pfeiffer. ISBN 978-0-470-43834-3.^[13]
• Aldrich, Clark (2011). Unschooling Rules: 55 Ways to Unlearn What We Know About Schools and Rediscover Education. Austin: Greenleaf. ISBN 978-1-60832-116-2.^[14]