Edutainment

IMD employs the best practices in design and advanced technologies to produce and publish Edutainment content that enlightens and supports the lessons found in the Bible. The impact of Edutainment is undeniable, however, IMD understands the value and efficacy is greatly dependent on the application. Bridging the expectations of both education and entertainment is not easily accomplished. The challenge and downfall of edutainment efforts are recognized when content fails either discipline – if the instruction is too rigorous, a participant may lose the necessary engagement and if the narrative is erroneous, the application loses credibility. This has been an unfortunate, common occurrence in Bible-based gaming.

IMD solves these challenges by faithfully representing stories with minimal deviations and just the right amount of contextual gameplay. Furthermore, IMD presents a “scaffolding” approach to the instructional aspect that is supported by ancillary resources – like tutorials, parental guides, lesson plans, videos and analytics. Compelling content and truth-through-scripture are guiding principles that are enhanced by deliberate in-game functionality. IMD relies on the foundation of 3 Core elements in all of its products – Immersion, Virtuosity and Pedagogy. The balanced combination of these three vital elements is what sets IMD products apart.  

Immersion

Deep mental connection to content, where the player embraces the emotional and empathetic resolution of the game character, gameplay, and/or game narrative. Live the story!

Virtuosity

The result of progressive performance challenges and outcomes, where mental, emotional, and physical attributes are increased within a specific game construct. Master the gameplay!

Pedagogy

The strategic teaching methods used to provide learning experiences that are tailored to the audience with lessons designed to be useful in the player’s own life. Use what is learned! 

Edutainment allows instruction to REACH the target consumer with great success and in the medium they prefer. IMD has established a team of Educators, Game Developers, Parents, and Church Leaders that support its efforts to produce the very best in Bible-based edutainment and with it – change lives through the Word of God.  

History of Edutainment

Edutainment describes entertainment that is designed and programmed for the specific purpose of education. The neologistic portmanteau noun often applies to movies/television, music, and games. Walt Disney coined the term in 1954 to describe the True Life Adventures series, and later in 1973 Robert Heyman used it while producing documentaries for the National Geographic Society. Edutainment can take many forms, whether it is a school field trip, a children’s TV show, a military simulator, or an app that teaches languages. In recent decades, technology has helped advance the adoption of edutainment with richer content and more accessibility. And, its evolution into the interactive world continues to grow in popularity. The largest growth and greatest potential for edutainment follows this trend into the “gaming’ world.