It has been a
contention of proponents of online gaming that engagement in this
hyper-connected world can lead to uses of technology that have not yet been
conceptualised. Well, seemingly on
the 20th of September of 2011, this ‘prophesized’ event came to
pass. According to Katia Moskvitch,
technology reporter for the BBC News, the collaborative efforts of online
gamers has lead to a breakthrough in an area of science that has long puzzled
the experts. These gamers
used an easy to install, freely available program to determine the structure of
an enzyme referred to as the M-PMV retroviral protease. Although known for the previous decade,
this enzyme has remained a mystery to the most advanced probing of the academic
scientific community. As it plays
a central role in the development of a virus similar to HIV, a breakthrough in
defining its nature would have enormous implications as a possible future
stepping stone in finding a cure for Aids. One can but imagine the scientists’ pleasure, on their
discovery that in using the Foldit program, online gamers were able to resolve
the structure of this organic compound in a matter of days. Seth Cooper, the lead designer and co-creator of Foldit,
observed that this game scaffolded the "bringing together [of] the
strengths of computers and humans". He went on to claim that in this hybrid entity,
"people have spatial reasoning”, which is “something computers are not yet
good at" (Moskivitch, 2011). If I were to draw my own
conclusion they would be that Marc Prensky’s concept of hyper-connectivity (see
below) has now taken that next great conceptual leap forward. In solving this puzzle, these gamers
were no longer acting as individuals, but rather as a new sort of ‘hive
mind’. If this same sort of
problem solving could be applied to other contexts, just imagine what could be
achieved.
Delaney, A. (2011).
Digital Living: gaming and your brain [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from
http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2011/10/06/3333588.htm
lwf (2010). Handheld
Learning 2007 - Marc Prensky, Keynote [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha04eLLsV3A
Moskivitch, K. (2011,
September 20). Online game Foldit helps anti-Aids drug quest. BBC News.
Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14986013
When first
engaging with the research and writing for this team blog, I had the
expectation that the knowledge that I gained would force a personal
re-adjustment of my prior teaching practices.Gaming, with its ability to give precise feedback to the
learner and connect the out-of-school youth popular culture with classroom
learning, was to transform the current pedagogies that I employed (Williamson,
2009).I was eager to embrace this
technology, as I had with so many of the previous ‘innovative pedagogies’ suggested
by my university lecturers and teaching colleagues.However, unfortunately in the case of gaming, what I
discovered made me more cautious than I had previously been in implementing
this particular technology in the classroom.This bias, although informed by evidence drawn from the
discipline of neuroscience, is perhaps not the intended end to my personal
journey as scaffolded by this unit’s assessment process.
(Harden, 2011)
A re-conceptualisation of gaming in teaching practice
I, like the
researchers identified in Foster and Mishra’s study (2009), had not taken into
account how pedagogical affordances of different games interacted with the
learning, social and cultural context.Although, this personal stance does not mean that I will adopt a policy
against the use of gaming as a means to meet the future learning needs of my
students, rather I will be more cautious in locating and embedding gaming
resources in the units of work I create.Gaming is not merely a
‘carrot’ in the form of entertainment that I can use to motivate my students to
engage with curriculum area content.An example of a more fundamental educational level of support that
gaming can offer is its ability to increase student automaticity in information
processing.Developing this
understanding of how and why learning occurs in its interaction between
technology, content and the students’ curriculum knowledge is perhaps one of
the greatest future challenges I face.To achieve this goal I will use what the academic literature and my own
prior experiences suggests is best practice in implementing a gaming informed
pedagogy in the classroom.
What place does gaming have in pedagogy?
A systemic
implementation of gaming as a pedagogic tool in classrooms faces a range of barriers
and enablers that can impede or promote the use of this technology.Internationally, the TALIS Report
(2008) identified the challenges that schools and teachers faced in the early
adoption of new technologies for the benefit of student learning.Technology was characterized as
being subject to such rapid change that educational authorities often lacked
clear guidance in how to best use ICT in the classroom.It is, therefore, not surprising that
TALIS found a positive correlation between the use of technologies like gaming,
and teacher participation in ICT-related professional development.It is likely that teachers are
unwilling to use new technologies, if they are not aware of the affordances
that this change of behaviour in their everyday teaching practice will have on
their students' learning.In
Australia, this conservative tendency runs contrary to the stated intentions of
the government's recent Digital Education
Revolution [DER] Program (Australian Government, n.d.).However, as a teacher I found
this initiative tended to emphasize the provision of the physical requirements
necessary to implement this program, but not the less tangible elements needed
to support the pedagogic shift that should accompany this process. Thus
computers were provided to all staff members at my rural school, but the
opportunity to engage in the PD required to exploit this technology was not
readily available.This resulted
in a sporadic uptake of different elements of this program, with teachers who
were "tech-savy" much more willing to engage with the outcomes
identified in the DER.Unfortunately
in this context there were also teachers who used 'token' ICT elements in their
lessons, unsupported by a strong understanding of whether their choices were
pedagogically appropriate.This approach
resulted in negative experiences that were then reported back in subject area
team meetings, resulting a dismissal of what might otherwise be a potentially
worthwhile learning resource for our curriculum area.
The cognitive impacts of living in a wire world
As a qualified
Learning Support Teacher I was perhaps most interested in the potential effects
of gaming on cognition.I had
previously used the program Mathletics
to develop automaticity in Year 9 students who struggled with information
processing.According to my
understanding of meta-cognition, the increased speed that these students
demonstrated was due to a reduction in the cognitive load placed on their
working memories (Dunlosky & Metcalfe, 2009).What I did not realise, until I had viewed the speech given
by the neuroscience Baroness Susan Greenfield (2011) (see below), was the
physiological response that too much exposure to this sort of rapid fire
stimulus and a reward-based gaming system could have.Greenfield proposes that if this sort of process is allowed
to dominate, a child will experience exposure to higher levels of dopamine,
reducing their attention span, stimulating the need to repetitively practice
the reward inducing behaviour and inhibiting the functioning of their
pre-frontal cortex.Literally, this sort of game can rewire a student’s brain and
personality if engaged with to excess.As one might imagine I was horrified.In interacting with these ideas I
learnt to treat gaming as a pedagogic tool with respect.It is not always an innocuous fun
activity; gaming can be both a powerful tool for positive or negative learning
outcomes, depending on how the student engages with it.It can also increase our students’
ability to process information, but does not necessarily lead to knowledge
construction (Greendfield, 2011).
Baroness
Susan Greenfield's Seminar at Science World 2011
References:
Australian
Government.(n.d.) Digital
Education Revolution.Retrieved
October 18, 2011 from
http://www.deewr.gov.au/Schooling/DigitalEducationRevolution/Pages/default.aspx
Dunlosky, J., &
Metcalfe, J. (2009). Metacognition. Los Angeles: SAGE.
Foster, A. N., &
Mishra, P. (2009). Games, claims, genres, and learning.In R. E. Ferdig (Ed.), Handbook of
research on discrete event simulation environments: Technologies and
applications [IGI Global edition] (pp.33-50). doi:
10.4018/978-1-59904-808-6.ch002
FisherScientificUK.(2011). Baroness Susan Greenfield's
Seminar at Science World 2011 Part 1 [Video file].Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMLEWryTdSc&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
FisherScientificUK.(2011). Baroness Susan Greenfield's
Seminar at Science World 2011 Part 2 [Video file].Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcejJN8RRbU&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
FisherScientificUK.(2011). Baroness Susan Greenfield's
Seminar at Science World 2011 Part 2 [Video file].Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LyvZZAVxnw
Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD]. (2009). Creating effective teaching and learning environments: First results
from TALIS.OECD
Publishing.Retrieved online from www.oecd.org/dataoecd/46/17/43044074.pdf
Williamson, B.
(2009).Computer games, schools,
and young people:A report on
using games for learning.Futurelab.Retrieved at
http://archive.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/project_reports/becta/Games_and_Learning_educators_report.pdf
Being an active member of this blog has been an experience which I feel
has greatly added to my knowledge about video games and their potential to
serve as tools in education. The research carried out for my own
contributions, coupled with the stimulating articles submitted by my fellow
team-bloggers has afforded me an insight into the way in which games could
prove to play a key role in future pedagogic practices, and thinking of my own
context, I am now very keen to see games implemented into the English as a
foreign language (EFL) curriculum.
Up until January of this year, I was working in junior high schools in
Yokohama, Japan, where students’ ages range from twelve to fifteen years. Japan
is a very technologically advanced society, with a high volume of extremely digitally-literate
youth. Initially, I encountered difficulties in interacting with students due
to their lack of confidence in speaking English. Furthermore, I believe that many
students assumed we shared little in common to discuss. This situation quickly changed when I demonstrated
my knowledge of computer games and computer game culture, and students, both
male and female, soon lost their inhibitions when they had the opportunity
to talk with me about the latest version of "Monster Hunter", or what their
favourite Nintendo DS title was.
Japan and Video Games: Symbiotic
Williamson (2009) discusses issues of educators using video games as
part of their teaching repertoire, and statistics in his report reveal that
teachers in the U.K., for example, do not make up a significant percentage of
the nation’s gaming population. It is fortunate that from a young age, I have
been an avid gamer and consumer of digital technologies, as this enabled me to maintain a level playing field with many of my students, and I quickly developed a
rapport with these young learners. At the time this was something that I took
for granted, but I now realise the importance for teachers to become
digitally-literate if they are to engage students in new and motivating forms
of instruction.
Students at my school were particularly big fans of simulation type
games which require text-based interactions with in-game characters in order
to successfully progress to higher levels. With this in mind, I believe that a
game from “The SIMs” series would prove particularly motivating for my students
as a language teaching tool.
The SIMs - Authentic English interactions without having to go anywhere.
Ranalli (2008) has looked at the pedagogical benefits of “The SIMs”
within an ESL learning environment, and found that structured play of the game,
together with supplementary materials to assist the language learner resulted
in successful vocabulary acquisition. Students also reported the game as being
an enjoyable way of learning a language. The research mirrored results from another
study by Miller and Hegelheimer (2006) which also targeted “The SIMs” as a plausible
mainstream English game that could be incorporated into the language-learning
classroom.
Both studies were carried out on a small scale and results largely relied
on self-reported participant data. Nevertheless, the studies have laid the
groundwork for studies into the possible implementation of an innovative language learning program,
using a video game based form of foreign language instruction.
Students at my school have regular PC lab sessions for a variety of
subjects including mathematics and geography, yet to date their English
syllabus does not take advantage of any digital technology. I would like to test-run
a game title such as “The SIMs” as a supplementary English session once a week with
my students in the language lab, to ascertain whether such an innovation within
the EFL curriculum would be a motivating factor for students’ learning
abilities. I believe that weekly sessions using game software such as “The SIMS”
could provide students with a great supplementary source of linguistic exposure
which could complement regular coursework, and of course, break the monotony of
repetitive traditional forms of learning that are still so common in the EFL
context in Asia.
Some limitations do exist however, and it is possible that modifications
to the software would have to be made if an effective program is desired. Miller and Hegelheimer (2006) note, for
example, that “The SIMs” is largely culturally based, and
research has shown that student resistance to foreign acculturation can lead to a hindrance in learning. For this reason, it would be ideal to implement a modified version of
the software that incorporated some elements of Japanese culture into the virtual
world, as was the case for Native American Indian learners using the “RezWorld”software.
The other limitation is that, as an off-the-shelf title, “The SIMs”
would require supplementary material to provide EFL students with specific
language-learning tasks and more explicit procedural instructions.
Such modifications obviously have financial implications, but I believe that I as a teacher could create and provide many of these supplements myself, and
personally involve myself in the orchestration of the game sessions by participating as a character in the game myself. In this way, I would have the ability to monitor student
activity and act as a passive guide during tasks when required.
Although it would take some time to refine the process, I believe that the integration of simulation games
into EFL language-lab sessions at schools could prove to be an exciting
innovation in the language-teaching curriculum. Unfortunately, public school syllabi
are strictly controlled in Japan by the city Boards of Education, so it would
perhaps be wiser to initially test the effectiveness of the software by hosting pilot
sessions in after school English club meets. If proven to be effective over time, then who is to say that the higher powers that be wouldn't consider taking a chance and revising the course syllabus?
References:
Miller, M. & Hegelheimer, V. (2006). The SIMs meet ESL:
Incorporating authentic computer simulation games into the language classroom. Interactive
Technology & Smart Education,4, 311-328.
Ranalli, J. (2008). Learning English with The Sims: exploiting authentic
computer simulation games for L2 learning. Computer Assisted Language Learning,
21:5, 441-455.
Williamson, B. (2009). Computer games, schools, and young people. A
report for educators on using games for learning. Retrieved from:
Academic literature and frameworks as a source of guidance
The intrinsic
worth of gaming as a pedagogical tool has in recent years come under
considerable scrutiny. This niche
study area is part of a paradigm shift of social, cultural and economic aspects
of humanity’s daily life that has accompanied a recent global surge in new
technologies. Governments and
individuals, seeking to ride this wave to greater prosperity, have called on
educational institutions, teachers and academics to provide clear guidance in
this brave new digital world(Australian
Government, n.d.).Thus a whole academic publishing industry has
been conceived by and grown around this perceived need to document, define and
evaluate the use of technologies like gaming in the classroom. Publications like The Radical Teacher, The British Journal of Educational Technology,
Journal of Online Learning and Teaching and
the International Journal of Learning and
New Media each have presented a series of articles from leading academics
on these issues. Each seeks to
propose how technology may best be exploited in schools to raise the learning
outcomes of students or to evaluate current practice. Educators, considering potential future social,
economic, and cultural fallouts, need a critical framework to help choose the
right direction to lead their students through this quagmire of claim and
counterclaim. Until the value and
effectiveness of learning supported by these technologies can be readily verified,
schools and educators may be resistant to the idea of an early adoption and
integration of gaming in the classroom.
Bearing in mind existing cultural perceptions of gaming as a low
literacy activity, often engaged with by students for out-of school
entertainment purposes, there exists a need for a body of research to affirm
the positive use of this technology in the classroom (Neuman
& Celana, 2006; OECD, 2009).
South
Koreans as early adopters of the infrastructure
required for mass online gaming:
Cultural affect
My position in this ideological tug of war
As a postgraduate
student and teacher I am sometimes wary of the specialist nature of these
publications, as it is in the career interests of their author’s to convince
their readers of the relevance or effect size of using one technology over
another. This leads me to the subject
of today’s post, a 2009 offering from Michigan State University academics
Foster and Mishra. Titled Games, claims, genres, and learning, it
is the second chapter of the Handbook of
research on effective electronic gaming in education. As its’ naming suggests, it firstly
provides an overview of the negative and positive claims previously levelled at
gaming as a pedagogic device. Foster
and Mishra (2009) then proceed to suggest a new theoretical framework that may
be used to address the deficits they have identified in the current scholarship
that surround the use of gaming in education. As these stated aims may provide assistance in my developing
greater clarity on these issues, I have chosen to present a summary of the
major concepts discussed in this text.
Games, claims, genres, and
learning (Foster & Mishra, 2009)
Foster and Mishra’s
literature review is framed by a categorization scheme that divides the range
of claims made for games into the physiological and psychological (see Figure 1). In their assessment of the
methodologies used to generate this body of literature they identified three
critical issues. Firstly they
concluded that to draw accurate judgements with high external validity from
this academic field, there were an insufficient number of authentic, situated
research studies on the effects of gaming on learning outcomes. Secondly, they identified a propensity
among researcher to be insensitive to the different pedagogical affordances of
specific game genres.
Finally Foster and Mishra criticized the lack of emphasis placed on the
acquisition of disciplinary knowledge as a prerequisite of using gaming
platforms designed to improve automaticity in subject area content knowledge or
problem solving. If I was to link
this argument back to my previous post on
Intrepica, I would conclude that children who have not adequately mastered
competencies in oral language, would find this site's literacy activities
frustrating (Ellis, 2005). Thus,
rather than leading to a rise in motivation, this site may have the opposite
affect for some students. This
conclusion is in line with Foster and Mishra’s later argument that the value of
electronic games lies not in their mode or mandatory presence in the
curriculum, but rather in how these games reflect and support the pedagogical
strategies that allow for learning.
In defining the nature of this learning the teacher needs to first
examine what skills and content that his or her students need to master in this
disciplinary area. Once this is
defined, the actual context and social dynamics within the class need to be
considered relative to the potential responses of these students to this
technology. According to this
literature review, both the proponents and opponents of gaming agreed that it
had a marked effect on student learning.
What seemed less certain was whether this effect was a positive or
negative one.
The chief
argument that Foster and Mishra's (2009) chapter presented that I found
particularly relevant to my own prior teaching experiences, was the idea that
'Gaming' was not a monolithic entity.
Rather, in this analysis there were 10 main genres of games examined,
including: platform games, sports, adventure, parlor, rhythm/ dance, strategy,
simulation, role-playing, fighting and action/ shooter. As one might imagine the content,
skills and cultural capital embedded in each of these gaming types can differ
markedly. It is thus not erroneous
to suggest that the potential effect on the learning experience may also be
varied. So to integrate this
technology in the classroom the TPCK framework proposed may help teachers to
identify how game design impacts on student learning. The interactions between technology (T), pedagogy (P),
content (C) and the disciplinary specific knowledge structures (K), provides a
dynamic critical framework to evaluate the implementation of a game in a
specific context (See Figure 2). It gives a conceptual model for educators to
explain and justify their reasons for incorporating particular games into their
subject curriculum.
(Foster
& Mishra, 2009)
References:
AlJazeeraEnglish (2010).
S Korean young caught up in web gaming addiction [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70gvUAtvltk
Australian
Government. (n.d.) Digital Education
Revolution. Retrieved October 18,
2011 from
http://www.deewr.gov.au/Schooling/DigitalEducationRevolution/Pages/default.aspx
Ellis, L.A. (2005).
Balancing approaches : Revisiting the educational psychology research on
teaching students with learning difficulties. (Research paper published by the Australian Educational
Review). Retrieved from http://research.acer.edu.au/aer/6
Foster, A. N., &
Mishra, P. (2009). Games, claims, genres, and learning. In R. E. Ferdig (Ed.), Handbook of
research on discrete event simulation environments: Technologies and
applications [IGI Global edition] (pp.33-50). doi:
10.4018/978-1-59904-808-6.ch002
Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD]. (2009). Creating effective teaching and learning environments: First results
from TALIS. OECD
Publishing. Retrieved online from
www.oecd.org/dataoecd/46/17/43044074.pdf
Neuman, S.B., &
Celana, D. (2006). The knowledge gap: Implications of leveling the playing
field for low-income and middle-income children. Reading Research Quarterly, 41( 2), 176-201
I recently had
the pleasure of spending my holidays completing a full-time university
Practicum at my local library. To
those of you who do not know, as a teacher-librarian in training, I am allowed
secret entry to the hidden world of the librarian. If any of you educators out there have ever wondered what
goes on behind the library counter, I recommend enrolling in postgraduate study
in this knowledge domain to find out.
Anyway, back to the story.
So, as part of the program that I negotiated with my lovely public
librarians, I was able to take a couple of children’s holiday ‘activities’
(apparently this is public librarian speak for what we might call
‘lessons’). One of these
activities was designed to encourage the younger library patrons to use what
was referred to as the “Children’s Databases”. As a secondary teacher I was expecting perhaps a catalogue
or actual database as one might have in a high school or academic library. However the children I was to be
teaching ranged from four to ten and the ‘database’ that we were using centred
on age-specific literacy activities prepared by the company Intrepica. For those in Australia who do not know this resource, it
is freely available through most public libraries, and it uses a system of
games and rewards to motivate students to engage in literacy activities. According to personal communications
from several of my primary teaching colleagues, this resource is also
frequently used in this school context.
Essentially students sign up, work through a wide range of literacy
activities to gain points and then ‘spend’ these points on their avatar. There are virtual prizes and students
are ranked according to their demonstrated ability. It certainly seemed, in my observations of the
children I introduced to this online resource, that this was a highly enjoyable
way to master the components of literacy.
However, I would sound a word of warning to those who might choose Intrepica as they believe it is an
educationally sound ‘babysitter’.
According to the recent research out of America (Common Sense Media,
2011), paediatricians stated that the oral language of children below the age
of eight who overused media was often less developed than their peers who did
not. This of course has immediate
implications for their long-term literacy development.
References:
Common Sense Media.
(2011). Zero to eight: Chilren's
media use in America. A Common
Sense Media Research Study.
Retrieved from
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/zero-eight-childrens-media-use-america Intrepica Pty. Ltd (2011).
Intrepica: A whole world
of literacy. Retrieved from http://www.intrepica.com.au/index.html
In a previous post, I made reference to the growing awareness of the way in which video games can play an important role within the language-learning context. Traditional pedagogic practices generally confine the learner to a classroom environment and require the presence of a teacher, but with the advent of digital technology, independent home-based learning has become a viable option for students. Reasons of convenience and accessibility aside, opportunities for class-independent language learning have strong implications for today’s digitally literate youth. Ito et al (2010) stresses the way in which young people today learn with and can relate to new digital media such as video games, and it is these forms of media which tend to be most motivating for younger learners. Games have the ability to place these learners in naturalistic contexts, and the medium allows for autonomous learning within a relevant and motivating environment outside of the classroom.
Influential articles such as those by Jenkins (2010) and Gee (2007) point at the recent attention video games have drawn to themselves as informal learning tools, and this academic interest is also apparent in language-learning research. Alice Chik’s (2011) article entitled“Learner autonomy development through digital play” is an example of this interest as it explores the potential benefits for young people playing games as a means of becoming independent language learners.
Learner perspectives:
Chik’s (2011) article focuses on the Hong Kong English as a foreign language (EFL) context, and the way in which research has shown Hong Kong youths to be strong consumers of and participators in digital culture, especially in the vein of online digital games and forums. Although Chinese online games are readily available, Chik (2010) states that many of the most popular games in the country are English-only titles. Surprisingly, this has apparently not led to a diminishing of the market demand in Hong Kong for such games. Instead, young gamers are increasingly interacting with others online in the second language (L2) used in the game as a consequence of their desire to participate within popular “globalised gaming platforms” (Thorne, Black & Sykes, 2009). Thorne et al. (2009) and Ito et al. (2010) both report that such digital interactions occur in the game player’s free time and outside of the classroom; two features of the learning context that deviate greatly from the characteristics of traditional classroom-based pedagogic practice.
Chik’s (2011) article expands upon the research by focusing on the practices of young Hong Kong gamers and bringing together their collective attitudes about using foreign games as language learning aids.
Autonomous language-learning through in-game texts
The research:
The research design involved ten participants (four females and six males) who investigated each other’s learning patters whilst gaming, by video-recording their game play and interviewing each other. Blogs were also set up for gamers to contribute and respond to in relation to their respective gaming and language learning habits. The blogs and interviews shed light upon the various attitudes participants had in regard to motivation, learning styles and playing games in a foreign language.
Although language-learning techniques differed from player to player, two principal forms of motivation were identified from the interview and survey data.
The first involved the need for completing tasks in English in order to achieve game level advancement, which resulted in players paying more attention to in-game texts. The second involved the opportunity for players to authentically interact with other gamers in English, which also served as an aid to advance game levels.
Findings:
It is important to note that learning in the game was not considered to occur naturally for most participants, but instead required deliberate study of new vocabulary by using dictionaries or by asking other gamers the meanings of unfamiliar words. Upon confirmation of meaning, participants reported repetition of in-game language as being a principal cause for language acquisition.
Although deliberate learning was still deemed necessary, the driving force of the original motivational factors (game advancement, authentic English interactions) was seen to have created a “willingness” on the part of the gamers to put in the work required to advance their English skills. Such responses from participants help to reinforce the notions put forth by Jenkins (2010) and Ito et al. (2010) regarding the positive correlation between variables of youth learning ability and youth-relevant contexts.
Limitations:
Of course, findings such as these cannot be generalised to all gamers and all types of games, and Chik (2011) identified two main areas of limitation.
1) Genre Specificity
Depending on the type of game being played, a learner will often be limited to genre-specific language and terminology which is not necessarily going to be useful in real-world interactions. A good example of this was reported by a fan of the game Counter Strike, which is filled with military jargon. Another player commented on the limitations of playing online soccer games where soccer-related terms made up the bulk of new language acquired.
Military games - lots of jargon, but useful language for real-world contexts?
2) Medium of delivery
Depending on the game, mediums of English delivery also varied greatly, with the majority of games still providing more opportunities for listening and reading than for speaking or writing.
Limitations aside, the general consensus was that playing games offered a good opportunity to “learn while having fun”, as reported by one gamer (Chik, 2011, p. 37).
Potentials for autonomous learning through digital games:
The model below illustrates the relationship between learning and playing digital games, as deduced from comments made by participants in the study. Potentials for learning have been identified in three key areas:
1) In-game texts:
Features of the games including interactive dialogues, game play instructions and game audio commentary provide primary sources of language input gamers. As previously mentioned, these vary between game genres.
2) Online gaming platforms:
Interaction with fellow gamers allows live authentic language use in cases where game play assistance is required, or when group task work is necessary for game progression.
3) Online discussion forums:
Users can become members of online gaming communities to learn more about the games they are playing. These digital spaces provide gamers with the opportunity to seek assistance in the games they are playing by making posts in both their own language as well as the target game language. Forums are a good place for gamers to learn necessary words and phrases used in a game from more experienced players and from those with a higher proficiency in the target language.
Source: Chik, A. (2011). Learner autonomy development through digital gameplay. Digital Culture & Education, 3:1, 40.
Conclusions:
Qualitative research such as Chik’s (2011) helps to paint a clearer picture of the attitudes youth have toward games as being motivating language-learning tools. It is important to realise that practical application of such findings would obviously be at the mercy of realistic and financial constraints, and that attitudes may vary in different locations and contexts, but we can at least be aware that youth communities exist that see the potential benefits of games when utilised as language learning resources.
The next step is for more educators to see these same benefits!
References:
Chik, A. (2011). Learner autonomy development through digital gameplay. Digital Culture & Education, 3:1, 30-45.
Ito, M. et al. (2010). Hanging Out, Messing Around and Geeking Out: Kids Learning and Living in New Media. MIT Press.
Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robison, A. J., and Weigel, M. (2006). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century: The MacArthur Foundation.
Thorne, S. L., Black, R. W., and Sykes, J. L. (2009). Second language use, socialization, and learning in Internet interest communities and online gaming. The Modern Language Journal, 93s, 802-821.
As is the case with the vast majority of
schools, resource acquisition at my school is dependent upon funding and
generally occurs in a top down process i.e. Year 7 is the first and best
resourced area to ensure the students are prepared for secondary school and the
Preparatory Year is the last to be resourced. Thus as a teacher of the
Preparatory Year I discovered my own interest in adopting technology practices
slowly beginning to wane.
However, studying this course and
networking with other Prep teachers this year has opened my eyes to the
plethora of resources that are available that can greatly enhance the
implementation of the curriculum - resources that can excite and motivate the
students to learn. The acquisition of two ‘new’ second-hand computers and
aMimio
Interactive Whiteboardsystem
(that I share with another teacher) has started my journey of successfully
incorporating video games into the Prep curriculum. I do however acknowledge
that there is still a long way to go.
One such gaming resource that I have begun
to explore and incorporate into Maths group activities is theCopacabana
Public School Get Smartwebsite.
An explanation and critique of this resource is available on theMaster
Games Blog. As is explained by Magann (2010) it is important to note
however that users of this website still need to ensure games are individually
checked for applicability to the unique setting, concept and age of the
students they are teaching. Just because this is a teacher evaluated
games’ website does not instantly mean the games will be appropriate for the
needs of your students. Games accessed from this website are currently
being used to reinforce concepts being explicitly taught in the area of
mathematics. Not the most in-depth use of gaming but it is a start and
the students are enjoying the experience.
Another avenue I have begun to explore in
the later half of this year is theEducation Queensland Learning Placewebsite. I have attended
in-servicing and once again networked with other early childhood teachers about
the effective use of EdStudio to create a virtual classroom for the students.
This will allow me in future years to communicate with families outside of
school hours and provide links with the games websites we are utilizing in the
classroom. Furthermore it will provide a valuable connection between the
home and schooling lives of the children I teach. Currently I have been
providing parents with monthly newsletters to inform them of useful gaming
sites and other tips for incorporating computer use into the children's home
lives. I made the decision to encourage computer usage at home earlier
this year as I found that generally parents were reluctant to allow their young
children access due to uncertainty surrounding the internet or their general
belief that young children did not need to know how to navigate their way
around computers at such a young age.
A further method of enhancing the Prep
curriculum I have been trialing this year is the use of an online literacy
gaming resource calledReading Eggs. This program is
accessible by the children at home or at school and incorporates the use of
digital books or it can be accompanied by the same books in print
version. Utilizing both digital and print books to complement this gaming
program demonstrates to parents and students the connections between gaming and
books and the educational benefit that gaming can possess to support a child’s
learning experiences. Although this gaming program is designed
specifically to teach young children meta-linguistic knowledge it also introduces
the students to the concept of creating their own avatar which provides a link
to the more commercially available games. Annetta (2008) claims that allowing
the gamer to create their own avatar can lead to greater learning
satisfaction. In addition, I believe that it gives the students the sense
that gaming can be educational, fun and individualistic. I have found
that the children who have taken the time to create their own avatar are less
concerned about the virtual world achievements of their friends and more
concerned about their own avatar's path of educational learning. The use
of this game has had mixed success this year as only about half of the families
have opted to access it from home even after repeated explanations of the
educational benefits it has for the students.
To further expose the students to real
world technology devices and games, the teacher aide working alongside me has
allowed the students to utilize her personal iPad. The students have
thoroughly enjoyed this experience as many of the students I currently teach
have had little or no experience with touch screen technology. As a
result, to date the students have only participated in simple ‘games’ such as
Noughts and Crosses and dot-to-dots. However, as the students become more
familiar and confident using this device more complex games will be considered.
The resources I am currently utilizing
have been specifically designed for the educational benefit of students and do
not provide students with real world problem solving issues that some of the
more commercially produced games do. However, like all new pedagogical
approaches I believe that things have to occur one step at a time to ensure an
educationally balanced curriculum is provided for all students. As a future
Teacher Librarian however, I also need to ensure that I keep abreast of
technology issues as they relate to all year levels and not simple focus on the
Preparatory Year.
References:
Annetta, L.
(2008). Video Games in Education: Why They Should Be Used and How They Are
Being Used. Theory Into Practice.47(3), 229-239. Retrieved 20 October 2011, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00405840802153940
