Author: njessa

Castell, Jenson, and Taylor’s article discusses the development of a web-based game titled Contagion and how all aspects of the game should be educationally valued. The authors explain how one of the biggest challenges with gaming is having society view web-based games as information-rich cultural texts. Web-based games are known for their “high-speed shooting, killing, the melee, destruction, and havoc” (592), Castell, Jenson, and Taylor state. Contagion breaks this stereotype; this game is a “role-playing adventure game…[that develops through] health-regarding knowledge, orientations and behaviours necessary for promoting individual and community well-being in the face of four quite different, but equally virulent diseases” (591). As this article continues to explain about the game and how the designers of the game created it, the more of a believer I became on how games could be introduced in classrooms. The “learning” does not take place explicitly by playing the game; instead, it happens through relational aspects of the game, such as picking a character, goals, and game structure. The article perfectly sums up how the learning goal of any educational game is “to stay in a game that invites and enables you to learn and try and be things that everyday life defers” (597). Educational games give students the opportunity to learn about issues that they would not be able to experience otherwise. By playing Contagion, students are able to use their critical thinking skills to analyze ethical dilemmas, character development, social responsibility, and much more.

I really enjoyed reading this article because although I have always thought about introducing web-based game to my future classrooms, I was not sure how this would exactly work out. I believe one of the biggest issues teachers may have in introducing gaming in classrooms is that there is concern on how students would be assessed. How can a teacher assess students based on their score in a game? In addition to assessments, stigma surrounds gaming because of the mainstream games that exist. As a future teacher, I would not know where to even start to look for educational web-based games to use in high school classrooms. Workshops that focus on web-based games and how to incorporate them in classrooms would be very beneficial. By merging gaming and education, students would be far more engaged than using the traditional methods of teaching. Gaming does not have to hold a negative connotation to it; perspectives must change in order to slowly integrate gaming into classrooms.

-Nabila

References

In this article, Len Unsworth discusses how teachers who are entering the workfield need to have an understanding of the literary forms that are emerging online, and must try to incorporate these new literary forms in their teaching. Unsworth uses one example of video games in his article. As Gee states, in Unsworth’s article, “video games are a new form of art. They will not replace books; they will sit beside them, interact with them, and change them and their role in society in various ways” (63). New literary forms are not trying to replace traditional forms in Unsworth’s perspective; they are meant to be supplemental to traditional forms and have the ability to work side by side to strengthen student engagement, resulting in new ways of learning.

In detail, Unsworth discusses three frameworks that work to develop e-literature and online literary resources in classrooms. The first is an organisational framework, which describes the articulation of book and computer-based literary narratives. The interpretive framework addresses the correlation of images and text to construct meaning. The last framework is pedagogic and concerns itself with e-literature and classroom literary learning.

After explaining each framework in much detail, Unsworth goes on to state that teachers feel unconfident in their abilities when it comes to using new literary forms in their classrooms. By using teachers’ knowledge on content and students’ knowledge on new literary forms, Unsworth believes that teachers and students can merge together to share the enjoyment of learning, where each side is benefitting. As Unsworth discusses, “On the basis of students’ greater familiarity with systematic knowledge of the topic, the teacher then moves to emphasise more critical framing to provoke critical questioning by students and a shift towards transformative knowledge” (71). The classroom will become much more student-centered as students are able to take on a more hands-on approach while teachers give the students the autonomy to work.

As a future teacher, I feel like it is quite impossible for teachers to use all types of new online literary forms in the classroom. Not all students would benefit from using e-literature; to this day, I prefer reading a book in hard copy than reading it online, and I’m sure many others feel the same as well. Of course, teachers must keep up with mainstream culture to help students create links between schooling and their lives. But where do we draw the line?

References

Unsworth, L. (2008). “Multiliteracies, e-literature and English teaching.” Language and Education, 22(1), 62-75.

Nabila Jessa