Community College Uses a Video-Game Lab to Lure Students to Computer Courses

By JEFFREY R. YOUNG

A computer lab has become one of the most popular hangouts at Northern Virginia Community College after officials decided to load its PC's with popular video games, install a PlayStation and an Xbox, and declare it "for gamers only."

On an afternoon this fall, nearly all of the 15 computers were in use, and students stared in concentration — some gunning down bad guys in Counter-Strike, others strumming along with Guitar Hero. No one was doing any classwork.

But the

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Past Coverage

Programs and Courses in Video-Game Design - February 4, 2005
Entertaining While Teaching - October 25, 2005
Joysticks in the Classroom: Game-Design Programs Take Off - February 4, 2005
Freshmen Arrive Bearing Gadgets and Great Expectations - September 22, 2006
A Testing Ground for Video Games - August 18, 2005

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