Multiliteracies in ELA Classrooms

Gee brings up the interesting point that after playing video games for “eight straight hours” he found it to be a “life- enhancing experience without even knowing what [he] meant by that. This demonstrates the power of video games as discussed in David Perry’s TED talk titled “Are games better than life?” In his talk, Perry explores the potential of video games to explicate emotion from its player. The ability for video game stimuli to make one feel happy, sad, nervous or whatever other emotion is created through the player’s ability to interact with their environment while creating a fluidity between reality and virtual reality.

Perry mentions another interesting point that propaganda and brainwashing can have more success if done through video games as opposed to traditional means. The ability to connect with the masses in a “fun and engaging” (Perry) way that “leave[s] the brain vulnerable to programming”. The ability for video games to ignite an emotional response from the player can a powerful tool.

The following are a few facts about video gaming from 2006. Some of the facts disspel some myths. [Perry’s TED talk was given in 2006 and Gee’s book was published in 2003]

-43% of gamers are female

-the average age of gamers is 30 years old

-the people who buy the most games are 37 years old

-83% of games do not contain mature content (i.e. violence)

According to the Entertainment Software Association these statistics have minimally changed (this data was collected in 2012).

-45% of all gamers are female

-the average age of gamers is 30 years old

-the people who buy the most games are 35 years old

However, with smartphones (purchase of apps) and increased use of social networking games this area accounted for 40 percent of game sales in 2012.

It is interesting to note that although there is constant debate over whether violent video game content makes players violent- parents are present when games are purchased or rented 89 percent of the time.

I wonder as educators, what our role is in the real/ virtual landscape? As video games become more complex and contain layers that players explicate a lot of meaning, it is necessary to educate our students on video game literacy. Asking students how they feel after playing a game and what created these feelings. Discussions we had on film studies need to occur with video game studies and the same questions need to be asked about emotion, design, etc. As many of our students are fully engaged in the world of video games, it is imperative we incorporate video games and discussions of video games into our teaching practice.

Fatima Ali

Blog post #2

Works Cited

Gee, J.  (2005).  “Good Video Games And Good Learning.”  Phi Kappa Phi Forum, 85.2, 33-37

“David Perry: Are games better than life?”. Youtube. TED talk. Feb 2006. Web. July 15, 2013.

As I started reading James Paul Gee’s article, Good Video Games and Good Learning, I was expecting some sort of general look at why playing video games can actually be good for learning. I am a gamer, so I didn’t anticipate any big revelations or ‘a-ha!’ moments about how video games aren’t actually the worst pastime you can have.

However, I was surprised to find the article so inspiring in terms of actual change that could be happening in the education system that so many of us are currently trying to find work in. I’m so intrigued by the idea, not that we should be having more video games, but that we should be using the “learning principles” (p. 34) that video games use to improve the way we teach students.

From Gee’s list of sixteen principles, there are a few that really stood out for me. The first on the list, Identity, is a hugely important concept for high school students. The comparison he makes between an in-game identity and the identity of a scientist or furniture-maker connects also to the idea that being a student is another form of identity that young people adopt while they are in school. The unfortunate part of this is that so much of that student identity is determined by outside forces – some of which can be actively hostile towards young people! How great it could be to have students proud of their educational identity and engaged in improving within it.

The fourth principle is Risk Taking and it put me in mind of the feedback provided to students by teachers. I’m thinking more specifically of English classes where students often submit work that isn’t marked by a simple ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. While I was on my practicum I often felt that there was not enough time to adequately use the feedback I had for students’ writing assignments in order to help them improve their writing. There were times that I had to just hope they would read and absorb my comments so that their next assignment could be better. Yet, the mark they received on that first assignment had consequences that might inhibit a student from doing just that. This is very much related to principle eight, Challenge and Consolidation. The learning that Gee describes sounds to me a lot like an apprenticeship – or, similar to experiences I’ve heard about graduate school. The anxiety of failure is lessened and students are encouraged to master a topic and are given the personal learning space in which to become dedicated to improvement.

There was definitely a great deal in this article that had me thinking twice about educational reform and from what arena the inspiration for it should come. In fact…I think I might head to the library and take a look at Gee’s book!

-Cristina R.

As a self-identified gamer, I am willing to say that I am thrilled to discover the incorporation of “gaming” into the educational curriculum.  I believe it is a fitting that the gaming sphere should be incorporated into education considering the different types of learning that is discovered in video games.  When I was a child, my grandfather bought my sister and I a Nintendo; however, my sister found no entertainment with it, but I discovered the different interactive functions of the game.  It was Super Mario Brothers the original edition.  The game was the foundation of the start of my educational building: the foundation being the problem solving skills and quick thinking strategies.  As the years progressed, I challenged myself with more difficult games, pushing my capability to do so.  I can’t recall where I have seen it (perhaps in the Anthropology of Education course at SFU), but James Paul Gee states in a video about the evolution of video games in the education system that this genre pushes children to progress through harder levels.  The more difficult the game, the more problem solving and quick thinking the player has to do in order to achieve the completion of the level.  With how complicated games are becoming, it requires more thinking and problem solving to complete certain levels and/or missions.  Games have evolved from the side-scrolling platform to a range of genres that children can choose from.  In my case, I do enjoy the occasional retro games (Super Mario Brothers, Castlevania, Mega Man etc.), but at my age I enjoy a good first person shooter (Mass Effect, Left 4 Dead) or a Mass Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) such as World of Warcraft (WoW) or Diablo 3.  In this case, these games require quick thinking, multitasking, problem solving as well as additional traits that can be incorporated when playing these types of games.  What is profound is the interaction ability and challenge and consolidation capability Gee mentions in his article “Good Video Games and Good Learning”.

I believe that is a fascinating feat for players to “become” their character.  From experience, as I play my Pandarian Hunter on WoW, I escape into a world of fantasy and I become the character.  Through this game, I help create the story, as Gee states that not only are the players the “readers” but we are also the “writers” as well.  We create our own narrative and it is through WoW that I can create my story.  There is also the sense agency and responsibility when playing the game: I am in charge of the strategies I use in order to complete different quests and raids that I partake.  The quick thinking does come into play.  There are also times that I find my gaming to be pleasantly frustrating.  With the mistakes I make, I can see what I have done wrong in order to correct it for the replay, just as Gee states.  Gee mentions WoW for the class specialization aspect.  Having only played the game for three years, I can see the complications of the different classes.  In order to play my Pandarian Hunter, I have to know the specializations, the weapons and armor needed, how I need to reforge and gem my gear as well as consider the rotation and cooldowns I need while I am in raid.  If I were to play my Night Elf Monk that would be a different situation where I would need to research the specialization for this class.  This is a great learning tool for those that are entering the game, as they are able to use the various gaming strategies that Gee mentions.  With the cross-functional teams, WoW incorporates the methods of collaboration and control in which teammates must work together in strategic and defensive methods in order to “down” a raid boss.  Not only are the members helping one another, but also communication is passed on and knowledge is transmitted to one another to help better their characters and their class.

The incorporation of video games in the education system is a fascinating and exciting concept that should be intergraded in the secondary curriculum, particularly in the English department.  The story lines of each characters would be great study and this form of text would engage students further for the English classroom.

–Stephanie

Within the first page of his article, Good Video Games and Good Learning, James Gee says, “all of my Baby-Boomer ways of learning and thinking did not work, and I felt myself using learning muscles that has not had this much of a workout since my graduate school days in theoretical linguistics” (Gee 2005, 34). I’m pretty sure I’m not a Baby-Boomer, and I know I’ve never taken theoretical linguistics,  but I’ve definitely been in this same situation. My gaming experience includes : Mario Party, Mario-kart, and Paper Mario, all from the summers of my childhood. Since then I have not interacted with gaming at the level that Gee discusses in his article. I appreciate his research and many of the point he makes, especially when he says “customized curricula in school should not just be about self-pacing, but about real intersections between the curriculum and the learner’s interests, desires, and styles” (Gee 2005, 35). From what I understand, gaming helps students recognize these interests and styles through creating a character and game customization. These were the two things that stuck out to me because I believe that they would be the most useful for bringing into the classroom. As the article mentions, I don’t believe that games necessarily need to be brought into the classroom (even though that would be great as well) but the classroom needs to be “more game-like in the sense of using sorts of learning principals that young people see in good games everyday” (Gee 2005, 37).  I think that giving the students the power of customizing their classroom setting and the curriculum is so important. If students are able to customize themselves within games and the games themselves and they enjoy themselves and are succeeding, why not offer them the same challenge and experience in school. I went to a self-paced high school were I was able to plan my schedule every week and plan a lot of my own unique projects as well. While it didn’t always work out, (see my last posting re: the MSN Macbeth catastrophe), I truly enjoyed filling out my day planned every Monday in homeroom while figuring out what subjects I need to work on in order to meet my weekly goals. I was able to design my week, choose where I wanted to work and what kind of work I wanted to do. I realize that this may seem like a subtle connection between gaming and schooling, I believe that the fact that I was able to create and explore within a learning model that I had some say in was truly beneficial for me. I definitely had some struggles but for the most part they were, like Gee mentions, “pleasantly frustrating”, school was always do-able and the challenging aspect added motivation.

Through this article I’ve realized that you don’t need to be a gaming expert in order to find ways to draw connections between the learning that students experience in gaming and the learning that they experience in the classroom.

Gee, J.  (2005).  “Good Video Games And Good Learning.”  Phi Kappa Phi Forum, 85.2, 33-37

Blog post #2

My sister’s fiancé is a serious, serious gamer. He has friends he socializes with more online, in Ventrilo, than he does face-to-face, and when he does see his friends in person it is frequently to play games beside each other in LAN parties. He becomes so engrossed in these alternate realities that he even forgets to eat. Admittedly, I have tsk-tsked and haughtily wagged my finger at his hobby, wondering why he doesn’t do something more worthwhile. After reading this article, I began to question what I mean by “worthwhile”. Why do I consider the hours he spends on games to be a waste of time, especially after this article outlines all the different kinds of learning that occurs in gaming.  I then asked my husband what he thought about it, and we talked about how he enjoys games, but feels like it’s a waste of time because he has nothing tangible to show for all the hours he put into this virtual reality. At the end of the day, there’s no short story written, or pictures from a day outside, or a drawing in a sketchbook. Why did he and I both consider learning, in which there is no concrete end-product, a waste of time?

In my practicum school, the teachers were frequently frustrated because the students in the school were overall very mark-hungry. Many of the students in the school only cared about getting an “A”, but showed complete disregard for the learning that needed to happen in the process. I was a lot like these students growing up. I worried and stressed about my report card and so did my parents. I could work hard in a class and only manage to get a “C”, but that “C” would not be as highly regarded to my parents as a class in which I put in very little effort to get an “A”. To them and to me, the end product was more important that the mistakes and successes I encountered along the way. A quote in this article that resonated with me was “How can we make learning in and out of school, with or without using games, more game-like in the sense of using the sorts of learning principles that young people see in good games everyday, when and if they are playing these games reflectively and strategically?” (37). I think this question is really important because schools do need to make learning more game-like, in emphasizing that learning is fun and the end result not as important as the process.

Blog Post #2

The Gee article “Good Video Games and Good Learning” presents the value of video games in a new light.  Gee explains that the value of video games lies not in the games themselves, in their potential for educational application, or in their explicit educational content.  Instead, the value of video games to education is how we as teachers can apply game-like qualities to enrich the classroom.

Gee suggests that “good” games are constructed based on 16 different principles.  These principles are included as follows: identity, interaction, production, risk taking, customization, agency, well-ordered problems, challenge and consolidation, “just in time” and “on demand” instructions, situated meanings, a pleasantly frustrating tone, encouragement of systemic thinking and exploration, smart tools and distributed knowledge, the cross-functionality of teams, and a focus on performance before competence.

Of these principles I am most interested in the concept of encouraging students to take risks and focus their efforts on performance before competence.  Gee writes that “school too often allows much less space for risk, exploration, and failure” (35).  The format of video games allows students to explore that which they know and apply it immediately in a relevant context.  Students are focusing on the process and their performance in the game, and how to use what they have learned while playing the game to further explore and eventually succeed.  Failure then, is a necessary and valuable part of the process, and the process requires an understanding of the value of failure to gaining competency.  For students this lessens the fear of risk-taking, and as a consequence, lessens their fear of failure.

The second of these principles that I find intriguing is the idea of customization.  Gee writes, “Players can usually, in one way or another, customize a game to fit their learning and playing styles. Games often have different difficulty levels, and many good games allow players to solve problems in different ways… Customized curricula in school should not just be about self-pacing, but about real intersections between the curriculum and the learner’s interests, desires, and styles” (35).  This is not to say that students have to completely select their own content, and the public school system is constructed completely of individualized learning plans.  But instead, students have a say in their own learning process while exploring important aspects of the curriculum.  In addition, students should be able to voice their concerns regarding whether or not they feel they are able to effectively explore the curriculum and content utilizing their own learning styles.

Third, I am interested in the concept that Gee presents regarding “just in time” and “on demand” instructions.  According to the article, “People are quite poor at dealing with lots of words out of context; that is why textbooks are so inefficient” (36).  In contrast, video games provide instructions or relevant information exactly when players require it.  The article explains that people learn best when they can relate and apply new information in an experiential context.  Scaffolding of information is highly effective in this way, as it is provided only in relevant contexts.  Students then, are not over-loaded by too much frontloading, and instead are able to apply relevant information as they are given it; thus strengthening their connection to the material.

Finally, as an added point, I think it would be beneficial if we extended this to utilize cross-disciplinary subject matter.  The recommended article by de Castell “Digital Games for Education: When Meanings Play,” suggests that examining games such as Contagion, which simultaneously explore technology, biology, medical, human and social science, not only encourages interdisciplinary lessons, but also fosters collaboration between educators across subject areas.

My group and I are curious about how the elements presented in Gee’s article can and/or have been applied into modern classrooms.  Furthermore, we are curious about the following questions:

1. What kind of effects do video games have on our students?
2. What kind of effects do video games have on the 21st Century classroom?
3. In your teaching experience, have you been able to bring gaming technology or principles into your classrooms?
4. Would it be beneficial for students to have as much input into their own learning, as they do in the context of a video game?  Are there any repercussions?

Works Cited:

de Castell, S., Jenson, J., & Taylor, N.  (2007).  Digital Games for education: When Meanings Play.  Situated Play, DiGRA Conference, Tokyo, Japan.  590-599.

Gee, J.  (2005).  “Good Video Games And Good Learning.”  Phi Kappa Phi Forum, 85.2, 33-37.

By: Christa Wolbers

Though James Gee, in his article, Good Video Games and Good Learning, argues that video games and learning should come together, rather than be viewed as two contrasting dichotomies, it is not to say that we, as teachers, should physically bring video games into the classroom. Instead, what Gee argues is that we should bring the practices that “gamers” utilize while playing video games, and harness these practices within the classroom, thus encouraging students to treat their learning with the same focus and skill that they would the games that they play at home.

In bringing about “gaming practices” into the classroom, Gee suggests a number of focus areas that video game practice and classroom practice share:

Identity:

In starting a new video games, a gamer will assume a ‘new’ identity within the game, whether it is already a pre-established character, such as Snake from Metal Gear Solid (Gee, p. 34) or build their character (i.e. name, attributes, abilities) from scratch, as in games like Mass Effect and World of Warcraft (Gee, p.34). If we were to adapt this to the classroom, as teachers, we should be encouraging students to explore their identities as a learner, a person, and a student. In doing so, it allows students to become more comfortable with who they are in the classroom.

Interaction:

 As a gamer plays the game, they will interact with the world (i.e. characters, environments, etc.) and in turn the world will provide them with feedback. As such, the gamer becomes fully engaged with the game’s world as the game progresses and allows the gamer feel as if they are a part of the actually game world itself. Hence, Gee argues that by encouraging students to engage with their textbooks in the same way (i.e. providing ‘real world’ contexts to the material in the textbook), it allows a back and forth interaction with the written text and the material they are engaging with.

Production:

In larger world games (i.e. Role Playing Games or Massive Multiplayer Online), gamers are actually producing and adding to the game’s world, creating new content in the form of characters, narrative, and physical spaces (i.e. buildings, structures, etc.). And, in some cases, gamers can even modify or ‘mod’ a game to such an extent that they create a new games (i.e. Valve’s Half Life was modified into a new game called Counter-Strike, both of which are hugely successful).  If we, in turn, encourage our students to contribute to the content that we are teaching to them (i.e. allowing students to provide feedback on course content), then it allows students to feel like they are more a part of the class.

Risk Taking:

This particular value, which Gee argues is seen more so in games than in the classroom (Gee, p. 35), is a really important one to focus upon. While gamers are willing to take more risks in the games that they play, because there are either no repercussions and the gamer is rewarded for such an act, in the classroom, the student is instead punished for taking risks. Hence, I think it is important that as teachers we encourage our students to take risks with their learning so that they may explore more than just one path of education.

Customization and Agency:

Tying into the value of production, Gee states that gamers can often customize their characters within games, particularly in role playing games, developing every minute aspect (i.e. hair/eye colour, personality, voice, etc.). In this regard, I think it is important that we allow students the opportunity to customize their curricula to an extent, as I mentioned in ‘production’.

This is not to say that they develop the entire course themselves, but that when creating the curricula of a course, we allow the process to be two-way, with interaction between student and teacher. By doing so, we are allowing students to feel a sense of agency over their education and learning, something that Gee argues is very uncommon within the classroom. (Gee, p. 36)

Well-ordered Problems; Challenge and Consolation; and “Just-in-time” and “On Demand:

 In any game, the player will engage countless problems and challenges along the way, whether it is a puzzle or a moral dilemma (i.e. Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead: Season One). However, regardless of these challenges, gamers are able to solve these challenges/problems because the game instinctively prepares gamers to face them as the game progresses. (Gee, p. 36) It does so by providing the gamer with “just-in-time” instruction, requiring gamers to act in a hands-on way. Or, it will sometimes provide games with “on demand” cues, or ‘hints’, to allow gamers to learn as they go along. By doing so, gamers on continually developing newer skills without necessarily realizing it.

In regards to the classroom, Gee argues that we should provide a constant challenge to our students, but also provide them with the skills and materials that they need throughout. (Gee, p. 36) In doing so, we are, as educators, utilizing the “zone of proximal development”, and encouraging our students to slowly step outside of their ‘zone of comfort’ and to develop new skills to face newer challenges without burdening and/or scaring them with these challenges.

Performance before Competence:

 The final argument that Gee makes is that in video games, the gamer is given the ability to perform an action before they are competent (i.e. being able to jump before being told how to), hence encouraging gamers to experiment with their character and its abilities before properly knowing how to. (Gee, p.37) Yet, in education, we require our students to be fully competent before we allow them the opportunity to perform an action within their field (i.e. students must go through the scientific method before conducting an experiment). Though we cannot necessarily allow students the opportunity to perform an action in their field of study before being fully competent, we can at least show them real world examples of such.

Though I went into Gee’s article expecting ways to incorporate video games into the classroom, I realize that it is not necessarily an effect practice to do. Yet, I do agree with Gee that if we could attempt to harness the focus and practice that gamers use while gaming and apply it to the classroom, then we can allow students to be more engaged with their learning and how they actively participate with their education.

Christopher Knapp – Blog Entry #2

I really enjoyed the article “Good Video Games and Good Learning.” (Throwback: Oregon Trails! You have died of dysentery.)  I think Gee outlines a number of great reasons to support the value of integrating video games into the curriculum.

I completely with Gee, who writes, “school too often allows much less space for risk, exploration, and failure” (35). We have talked about risk-taking in various courses in the Education program. It is essential that teachers support students in taking chances. Video games encourage learning from mistakes; when you fail at a level within a game, you try something different, you persevere until you succeed.

At the end of the article, Gee poses a question to the reader: “How can we make learning in and out of school, with or without using games, more game-like in the sense of using the sorts of learning principles that young people see in good games every day, when and if they are playing these games reflectively and strategically?” (37).

I found an article on edutopia that considers this question. “A Neurologist Makes the Case for the Video Game Model as a Learning Tool” outlines benefits of video games, because of the release of dopamine, and how to use these benefits in education. Judy Willis states that modeling the classroom like a video game and, thus, providing opportunities for “incremental progress feedback at students’ achievable challenge levels pays off with increased focus, resilience, and willingness to revise and preserve toward achievement of goals” (Willis).

It is really fascinating to consider the ways our students’ brains could benefit from both incorporating video games and also adapting our classrooms to make learning more like playing a game.  Willis writes, “When learners have opportunities to participate in learning challenges at their individualized achievable challenge level, their brains invest more effort to the task and are more responsive to the goals” (Willis). If they are given the opportunity to work towards “desirable goals within their range of perceived achievable challenge… [they can] reach levels of engagement much like the focus and perseverance we see when they play their video games” (Willis). Not only can our students learn from playing video games, but we can also learn from the way video games engage our students.

When I taught ESL in Okinawa, I used modifications of TV game shows and video games in the classroom. I remember playing a version of Jeopardy on the blackboard in school. Now, technology allows us to do so much more; creating my own version of ESL Super Mario (on power point… my tech skills are moderate, at best) was definitely a highlight of teaching in Japan, especially when I saw my students engage with the material.

My last thought, in reference to something I just read on Cat’s post about video games adapted into film. On my practicum, student’s had the option to create anything they wanted for their final project, as a way to demonstrate their learning. I had 2 boys create a video game commentary (they recorded themselves playing the game and talking about things they saw, relating it to their topic). They were not in love with the project at the beginning but when video games came into the picture, they were engaged and went above and beyond the expectations for the assignment.

Works Cited:

Gee, J. (2005). Good Video Games and Good Learning. Phi Kappa Phi Forum, 85(2), 33-37.

Willis, J. (April 14 2011). A Neurologist Makes the Case for the Video Game Model as a Learning Tool. Edutopia.

Sarra, Blog Post #2

Blog post #2 – Catherine Howes

In our classrooms, our students are spending countless hours playing video games. The media has attacked video games and presented them as mind numbing pieces of visual vomit that can affect the violence level of children. This, however, is a very narrow view of the possibilities of video games. Video games in essence are a form of interactive escapist fiction. Many have storylines options that allow the character to participate in episodes or chapters that must be completed before the story can progress. This allows students who have difficulty with the written word a way of interacting with fiction in a way that is tactile and understandable. Video games work when they, like novels, are able to pull the reader/user into the story when they have a certain amount of believability.

Many video game developers are coming out with games that are very similar to the choose your own adventure books that were once featured in my elementary school library. Each user/player is able to “write” their own version of the story and have their own experience with the material. Examples of these types of video games include:

Bioshock

–       You decide whether or not you want to harvest characters called little sisters who contain ADAM in them, which gives you super human strength. The ending of the game is dependent on your choices in the game

Skyrim

–       You choose a character and then choose their:

• race
• faction (gives certain diplomatic advantages)
• appearance
• gender
• skills

–       Each player has his or her own unique experience with the game.

Fallout 3

–       At the very beginning of the game you decide what kind person you want to be a good person or a bad person in the game

• Good: Meet the sheriff, disarm the nuke
• Bad: Meet a stranger who tells you to blow the nuke up

–       Each decision has it’s own advantages and disadvantages

Through these different games, you can see how the game customizes itself for the user/reader. Much like no two readers have the same experience reading the same book, neither do the users have the same experience playing the game.

Video games can also be a great tool in the classroom by looking at different aspects of video games. Some discussion questions include:

–       How do video games market themselves?

• Who are their intended audience and what clues from commercials can tell you whom the game is designed for?

–       What does this video game tell us about a society?

• Why do we have these types of video games?
• Do the games hold the same values that we as a society do?

–       What types of archetypes can you find in the games?

• How does the game play with these archetypes and are their examples that you could link to real world people?

–       Can you plot a video game on a Freytag pyramid?

–       What types of foreshadowing can you see in video games to predict future events?

–       How does the P.O.V change how you perceive the game and your connection to it as a reader/player?

–       What types of characters do you find in the game? Are they flat, round, or stereotype? Are they dynamic or static?

Video games have also been adapted to film. You could watch a walkthrough of a game and compare it to the film version. What does the film keep? What does it take away? Is the film able to capture the essence of the video game? Why or why not? This could be used to help their critical thinking skills by looking at the storyline in the video game and piecing together the different aspects of it that are similar to a novel.

The Gee article “Good Video Games and Good Learning” presents the value of video games in education in a unique way.  Gee explains that the value of video games lies not in the games themselves, in their potential for educational application, or in their explicit educational content.  Instead, the value of video games to education is how we as teachers can apply game-like qualities to enrich the classroom.  In bringing about “gaming practices” into the classroom, Gee suggests a number of focus areas that video game practice and classroom practice share:

Identity:

In starting a new video games, a gamer will assume a ‘new’ identity within the game, whether it is already a pre-established character, such as Snake from Metal Gear Solid (Gee, p. 34) or build their character (i.e. name, attributes, abilities) from scratch, as in games like Mass Effect and World of Warcraft (Gee, p.34). If we were to adapt this to the classroom, as teachers, we should be encouraging students to explore their identities as a learner, a person, and a student. In doing so, it allows students to become more comfortable with who they are in the classroom.

Interaction:

As a gamer plays the game, they will interact with the world (i.e. characters, environments, etc.) and in turn the world will provide them with feedback. As such, the gamer becomes fully engaged with the game’s world as the game progresses and allows the gamer feel as if they are a part of the actually game world itself. Hence, Gee argues that by encouraging students to engage with their textbooks in the same way (i.e. providing ‘real world’ contexts to the material in the textbook), it allows a back and forth interaction with the written text and the material they are engaging with.

Production:

In larger world games (i.e. Role Playing Games or Massive Multiplayer Online), gamers are actually producing and adding to the game’s world, creating new content in the form of characters, narrative, and physical spaces (i.e. buildings, structures, etc.). And, in some cases, gamers can even modify or ‘mod’ a game to such an extent that they create a new games (i.e. Valve’s Half Life was modified into a new game called Counter-Strike, both of which are hugely successful).  If we, in turn, encourage our students to contribute to the content that we are teaching to them (i.e. allowing students to provide feedback on course content), then it allows students to feel like they are more a part of the class.

Risk Taking:

This particular value, which Gee argues is seen more so in games than in the classroom (Gee, p. 35), is a really important one to focus upon. While gamers are willing to take more risks in the games that they play, because there are either no repercussions and the gamer is rewarded for such an act, in the classroom, the student is instead punished for taking risks. Hence, I think it is important that as teachers we encourage our students to take risks with their learning so that they may explore more than just one path of education.

Customization and Agency:

Tying into the value of production, Gee states that gamers can often customize their characters within games, particularly in role playing games, developing every minute aspect (i.e. hair/eye colour, personality, voice, etc.). In this regard, I think it is important that we allow students the opportunity to customize their curricula to an extent, as I mentioned in ‘production’.  This is not to say that they develop the entire course themselves, but that when creating the curricula of a course, we allow the process to be two-way, with interaction between student and teacher. By doing so, we are allowing students to feel a sense of agency over their education and learning, something that Gee argues is very uncommon within the classroom. (Gee, p. 36)

Well-ordered Problems; Challenge and Consolation; and “Just-in-time” and “On Demand:

In any game, the player will engage countless problems and challenges along the way, whether it is a puzzle or a moral dilemma (i.e. Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead: Season One). However, regardless of these challenges, gamers are able to solve these challenges/problems because the game instinctively prepares gamers to face them as the game progresses. (Gee, p. 36) It does so by providing the gamer with “just-in-time” instruction, requiring gamers to act in a hands-on way. Or, it will sometimes provide games with “on demand” cues, or ‘hints’, to allow gamers to learn as they go along. By doing so, gamers on continually developing newer skills without necessarily realizing it.  In regards to the classroom, Gee argues that we should provide a constant challenge to our students, but also provide them with the skills and materials that they need throughout. (Gee, p. 36) In doing so, we are, as educators, utilizing the “zone of proximal development”, and encouraging our students to slowly step outside of their ‘zone of comfort’ and to develop new skills to face newer challenges without burdening and/or scaring them with these challenges.

The article explains that people learn best when they can relate and apply new information in an experiential context.  Scaffolding of information is highly effective in this way, as it is provided only in relevant contexts.  Students then, are not over-loaded by too much frontloading, and instead are able to apply relevant information as they are given it; thus strengthening their connection to the material.

Performance before Competence:

The final argument that Gee makes is that in video games, the gamer is given the ability to perform an action before they are competent (i.e. being able to jump before being told how to), hence encouraging gamers to experiment with their character and its abilities before properly knowing how to. (Gee, p.37) Yet, in education, we require our students to be fully competent before we allow them the opportunity to perform an action within their field (i.e. students must go through the scientific method before conducting an experiment). Though we cannot necessarily allow students the opportunity to perform an action in their field of study before being fully competent, we can at least show them real world examples of such.

In our own understanding, video games in essence are a form of interactive escapist fiction. Many have storylines options that allow the character to participate in episodes or chapters that must be completed before the story can progress. This allows students who have difficulty with the written word a way of interacting with fiction in a way that is tactile and understandable. Video games work when they, like novels, are able to pull the reader/user into the story when they have a certain amount of believability.

Many video game developers are coming out with games that are very similar to choose your own adventure books that were once featured in my elementary school library. Each user/player is able to “write” their own version of the story and have their own experience with the material. Video games can also be a great tool in the classroom by looking at different aspects of video games.

Our group is curious about how the elements presented in Gee’s article can and/or have been applied into modern classrooms.  Furthermore, we are curious about the following questions:

1. What kind of effects do video games have on our students?
2. What kind of effects do video games have on the 21st Century classroom?
3. In your teaching experience, have you been able to bring gaming technology or principles into your classrooms?
4. Would it be beneficial for students to have as much input into their own learning, as they do in the context of a video game?  Are there any repercussions?

Link to Prezi Presentation:  http://prezi.com/cadscfbsxjtj/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

–Christa, Chris & Cat

Works Cited:

de Castell, S., Jenson, J., & Taylor, N.  (2007).  Digital Games for education: When Meanings Play.  Situated Play, DiGRA Conference, Tokyo, Japan.  590-599.

Gee, J.  (2005).  “Good Video Games And Good Learning.”  Phi Kappa Phi Forum, 85.2, 33-37.