Are You Game The Future of Learning With Technology (original) (raw)

Video games and the future of learning

Computers are changing our world: how we work . . . how we shop . . . how we entertain ourselves . . . how we communicate . . . how we engage in politics . . . how we care for our health. . . . The list goes on and on. But will computers change the way we learn?

Games, Learning, and Society

2012

Each year, the Games, Learning and Society (GLS) program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison hosts a conference to facilitate conversation about digital literacy learning in the spaces of popular culture, fandom, and interactive media-like games. Each year, we bring academics, designers, educators, and media fans together to share thoughts and findings on how digital media, commercial and otherwise, can enhance learning, culture, and education. The event has been a surprising success in many ways, and we now boast an acceptance rate (13-30%) more stringent than some peer-reviewed academic journals and a waiting list for entry each year. In response, we have not only expanded our capacity for participants each year but also increased our audience through special issues in journals central to our community such as E-Learning. This special issue represents one of our attempts to connect important research themes represented at GLS to broader conversations about the nature and quality of learning through digital media more broadly. Although the title GLS specifies 'games', our interests are better conceptualized as 'learning through interaction' in more comprehensive terms. The community and field has expanded over the past five years to include research and design in areas well beyond video games alone to include popular culture and fandom communities, digital/visual cultures, and interactive design more generally. In truth, we are going for less of a 'community of practice' (Lave & Wenger, 1991) than a 'fish-scale model of omniscience' (Campbell, 1969). And while there is no single common theory or research paradigm or context of study every community member adheres to or takes interest in (i.e. there is no 'hive mind'), there is enough overlap at the edges of each of our individual, narrow specialties to enable collective comprehensiveness in the face of our diversity (i.e. but there is 'collective intelligence' [Levy, 1999]). The articles included in this special issue represent the model; while there are identifiable common threads across many of the articles (e.g. commercial entertainment software, informal learning, design, discourse analysis, literacy broadly defined), no single theme dominates. Rather, different articles cluster around different commonalities. In the first article, '"Get Some Secured Credit Cards Homey": hip hop discourse, financial literacy and the design of digital media learning environments', DeVane presents a discourse analysis of hip hop forum discussions that highlights the characteristics of the online context which enable the space to function as a 'borderland Discourse' (Gee, 1999) bridging two seemingly disparate content areas: hip hop music (associated with urban youth culture and resistance) and personal finance (aligned with more traditional educational goals). In it, he argues for the usefulness of design heuristics, culled from studies of naturalistic contexts such as these, in the design of culturally relevant pedagogies for intentional learning environments such as those found in youth organizations. 'Conceptualizing Identity in Youth Media Arts Organizations: a comparative case study' examines just such culturally relevant youth organizations-in this case, focused not on games per se but on film making. In it, Erica Halverson and colleagues conduct a comparative case study of Constance Steinkuehler 'multi-voiced' format that highlights the interdisciplinary nature of this novel event, specifically, and GLS more generally. As chair of the GLS conference and guest editor of this special issue, it is my sincere hope that this growing community and concomitant body of research continues to both broaden and deepen conversations about digital media, online culture and community, and learning defined in its broadest sense. We welcome new voices and perspectives and encourage you to attend our next CONSTANCE STEINKUEHLER is an assistant professor in the Educational Communication and Technology program in the Curriculum and Instruction Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. Her research is on cognition, learning, and literacy in MMO games. Current interests include 'pop cosmopolitanism' in online worlds and the intellectual practices that underwrite such a disposition, including informal scientific reasoning, collaborative problem solving, media literacy (as production, not just consumption), computational literacy, and the social learning mechanisms that support the development of such expertise (e.g. reciprocal apprenticeship, collective intelligence).

A Literature Review of Gaming in Education Research Report

The use of simulations and digital games in learning and assessment is expected to increase over the next several years. Although there is much theoretical support for the benefits of digital games in learning and education, there is mixed empirical support. This research report provides an overview of the theoretical and empirical evidence behind five key claims about the use of digital games in education. The claims are that digital games (1) are built on sound learning principles, (2) provide more engagement for the learner, (3) provide personalized learning opportunities, (4) teach 21 st century skills, and (5) provide an environment for authentic and relevant assessment. The evidence for each claim is presented and directions for future research are discussed.

Games, learning & society: Introduction to the special issue

2009

Each year, the Games, Learning and Society (GLS) program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison hosts a conference to facilitate conversation about digital literacy learning in the spaces of popular culture, fandom, and interactive media-like games. Each year, we bring academics, designers, educators, and media fans together to share thoughts and findings on how digital media, commercial and otherwise, can enhance learning, culture, and education. The event has been a surprising success in many ways, and we now boast an acceptance rate (13-30%) more stringent than some peer-reviewed academic journals and a waiting list for entry each year. In response, we have not only expanded our capacity for participants each year but also increased our audience through special issues in journals central to our community such as E-Learning. This special issue represents one of our attempts to connect important research themes represented at GLS to broader conversations about the nature and quality of learning through digital media more broadly. Although the title GLS specifies 'games', our interests are better conceptualized as 'learning through interaction' in more comprehensive terms. The community and field has expanded over the past five years to include research and design in areas well beyond video games alone to include popular culture and fandom communities, digital/visual cultures, and interactive design more generally.

Introduction. Games, Learning and Society

E-Learning, 2009

Each year, the Games, Learning and Society (GLS) program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison hosts a conference to facilitate conversation about digital literacy learning in the spaces of popular culture, fandom, and interactive media-like games. Each year, we bring academics, designers, educators, and media fans together to share thoughts and findings on how digital media, commercial and otherwise, can enhance learning, culture, and education. The event has been a surprising success in many ways, and we now boast an acceptance rate (13-30%) more stringent than some peer-reviewed academic journals and a waiting list for entry each year. In response, we have not only expanded our capacity for participants each year but also increased our audience through special issues in journals central to our community such as E-Learning. This special issue represents one of our attempts to connect important research themes represented at GLS to broader conversations about the nature and quality of learning through digital media more broadly. Although the title GLS specifies 'games', our interests are better conceptualized as 'learning through interaction' in more comprehensive terms. The community and field has expanded over the past five years to include research and design in areas well beyond video games alone to include popular culture and fandom communities, digital/visual cultures, and interactive design more generally. In truth, we are going for less of a 'community of practice' (Lave & Wenger, 1991) than a 'fish-scale model of omniscience' (Campbell, 1969). And while there is no single common theory or research paradigm or context of study every community member adheres to or takes interest in (i.e. there is no 'hive mind'), there is enough overlap at the edges of each of our individual, narrow specialties to enable collective comprehensiveness in the face of our diversity (i.e. but there is 'collective intelligence' [Levy, 1999]). The articles included in this special issue represent the model; while there are identifiable common threads across many of the articles (e.g. commercial entertainment software, informal learning, design, discourse analysis, literacy broadly defined), no single theme dominates. Rather, different articles cluster around different commonalities. In the first article, '"Get Some Secured Credit Cards Homey": hip hop discourse, financial literacy and the design of digital media learning environments', DeVane presents a discourse analysis of hip hop forum discussions that highlights the characteristics of the online context which enable the space to function as a 'borderland Discourse' (Gee, 1999) bridging two seemingly disparate content areas: hip hop music (associated with urban youth culture and resistance) and personal finance (aligned with more traditional educational goals). In it, he argues for the usefulness of design heuristics, culled from studies of naturalistic contexts such as these, in the design of culturally relevant pedagogies for intentional learning environments such as those found in youth organizations. 'Conceptualizing Identity in Youth Media Arts Organizations: a comparative case study' examines just such culturally relevant youth organizations-in this case, focused not on games per se but on film making. In it, Erica Halverson and colleagues conduct a comparative case study of Constance Steinkuehler 'multi-voiced' format that highlights the interdisciplinary nature of this novel event, specifically, and GLS more generally. As chair of the GLS conference and guest editor of this special issue, it is my sincere hope that this growing community and concomitant body of research continues to both broaden and deepen conversations about digital media, online culture and community, and learning defined in its broadest sense. We welcome new voices and perspectives and encourage you to attend our next CONSTANCE STEINKUEHLER is an assistant professor in the Educational Communication and Technology program in the Curriculum and Instruction Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. Her research is on cognition, learning, and literacy in MMO games. Current interests include 'pop cosmopolitanism' in online worlds and the intellectual practices that underwrite such a disposition, including informal scientific reasoning, collaborative problem solving, media literacy (as production, not just consumption), computational literacy, and the social learning mechanisms that support the development of such expertise (e.g. reciprocal apprenticeship, collective intelligence).

Commercial Video Games as Preparation for Future Learning

In the field of digital game-based learning there has been much focus on the development of educational games-games designed specifically to teach. Attention has also been paid to commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) games, but that work has focused mostly on the motivation, engagement, and community participation engendered by such games. Relatively little work has been done to examine the potential of incorporating COTS games into formal curricula, and to the best of my knowledge no one has studied what school-relevant learning benefits might accrue from simply playing COTS games in one's leisure time.