The Gee article \u201cGood Video Games and Good Learning\u201d presents the value of video games in education in a unique way.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Instead, the value of video games to education is how we as teachers can apply game-like qualities to enrich the classroom.\u00a0 In bringing about \u201cgaming practices\u201d into the classroom, Gee suggests a number of focus areas that video game practice and classroom practice share:<\/p>\n
Identity:<\/span><\/p>\n In starting a new video games, a gamer will assume a \u2018new\u2019 identity within the game, whether it is already a pre-established character, such as Snake from Metal Gear Solid<\/i>\u00a0(Gee, p. 34) or build their character (i.e. name, attributes, abilities) from scratch, as in games like\u00a0Mass Effect<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0World of Warcraft<\/i>\u00a0(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\u00a0are<\/i>\u00a0in the classroom.<\/p>\n Interaction:<\/span><\/p>\n As a gamer plays the game, they will\u00a0interact<\/i>\u00a0with 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\u2019s world as the game progresses and allows the gamer feel as if they are\u00a0a part<\/i>\u00a0of the actually game world itself. Hence, Gee argues that by encouraging students to engage with their textbooks in the same way (i.e. providing \u2018real world\u2019 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.<\/p>\n Production:<\/span><\/p>\n In larger world games (i.e. Role Playing Games or Massive Multiplayer Online), gamers are actually producing and adding to the game\u2019s 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\u00a0modify<\/i>\u00a0or \u2018mod\u2019 a game to such an extent that they create a new games (i.e. Valve\u2019s\u00a0Half Life<\/i>\u00a0was modified into a new game called\u00a0Counter-Strike<\/i>, both of which are hugely successful).\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n Risk Taking:<\/span><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Customization and Agency:<\/span><\/p>\n 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 \u2018production\u2019.\u00a0 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\u00a0and<\/b>\u00a0teacher. By doing so, we are allowing students to feel a sense of\u00a0agency<\/i>\u00a0over their education and learning, something that Gee argues is very uncommon within the classroom. (Gee, p. 36)<\/p>\n Well-ordered Problems; Challenge and Consolation; and \u201cJust-in-time\u201d and \u201cOn Demand:<\/span><\/p>\n 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\u2019\u00a0The Walking Dead: Season One<\/i>). 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 \u201cjust-in-time\u201d instruction, requiring gamers to act in a hands-on way. Or, it will sometimes provide games with \u201con demand\u201d cues, or \u2018hints\u2019, to allow gamers to learn as they go along. By doing so, gamers on continually developing newer skills without necessarily realizing it.\u00a0 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 \u201czone of proximal development\u201d, and encouraging our students to slowly step outside of their \u2018zone of comfort\u2019 and to develop new skills to face newer challenges without burdening and\/or scaring them with these challenges.<\/p>\n The article explains that people learn best when they can relate and apply new information in an experiential context.\u00a0 Scaffolding of information is highly effective in this way, as it is provided only in relevant contexts.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n Performance before Competence:<\/span><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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 \u201cwrite\u201d their own version of the story and have their own experience with the material.\u00a0Video games can also be a great tool in the classroom by looking at different aspects of video games.<\/p>\n Our group is curious about how the elements presented in Gee\u2019s article can and\/or have been applied into modern classrooms.\u00a0 Furthermore, we are curious about the following questions:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Link to Prezi Presentation: \u00a0http:\/\/prezi.com\/cadscfbsxjtj\/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy<\/p>\n <\/p>\n –Christa, Chris & Cat<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Works Cited:<\/b><\/p>\n de Castell, S., Jenson, J., & Taylor, N.\u00a0 (2007).\u00a0 Digital Games for education: When Meanings Play.\u00a0 Situated Play, DiGRA Conference, Tokyo, Japan.\u00a0 590-599.<\/p>\n Gee, J.\u00a0 (2005).\u00a0 \u201cGood Video Games And Good Learning.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Phi Kappa Phi Forum<\/i>, 85.2, 33-37.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Gee article \u201cGood Video Games and Good Learning\u201d presents the value of video games in education in a unique way.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Instead, the value of video games to education […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18433,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564429],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gaming-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lled368\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lled368\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lled368\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lled368\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18433"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lled368\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1975"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lled368\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1983,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lled368\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975\/revisions\/1983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lled368\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lled368\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lled368\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n