Gaming for literacy

Is this learning or gaming as ‘babysitter’?

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

Gamification!?

Blog Entry by Daniel Donahoo: Researcher and author on
 childhood learning and development technology

23 August 2011

Gamification in Education : Should we play?

Firstly, for those who are unfamiliar with gamification, it is the use of game design techniques and mechanics to solve problems and engage audiences. In education, it relates to ways educators can use games (and not just video games) to create engaging learning experiences for children. What struck me about this topic was the similarities it has to James Paul Gee’s literature on how teachers can learn from games. He advocates that teachers should examine how ‘good games’ engage children in meaningful learning and apply this to their own practice.  

Donahoo (2011) comments on the criticisms gamification is receiving in the business sector for ‘butchering the essence of play by aligning it to sales targets.’ He goes on to explain that this should not apply to education and that teachers are using gamification to engage students in learning 21^st century skills. His focus shifts throughout the blog and he also makes comments about the importance of play to human development, not just for children, and how games can assist in this development. 

 What I found most interesting were his views on standardised testing and the barriers these kinds of practices put in the way of schools really engaging in gamification. Such a backlash against gamification ,whether it is related to the education sector or not can have dire consequences. People who already believe that education should stay the way it is, with skill and drill and standardised subject matter have more ammunition for their cause. This, Donahoo (2011) says, is very problematic. 

Donahoo (2011) closes by saying that video games are as entrenched in our popular culture as movies or books and will inevitably attract criticism from both lovers and haters depending on how and why they are being used. What is important, he says is that “games and game-based learning should have a place in our schools and curriculum, now and in the future.”

Task-based language learning and video games. The wonder that would be RezWorld

The rapid pace at which digital and interactive gaming technologies have advanced in recent years has strong implications for the future of pedagogical approaches to language learning. The above video article features collaboration between forward-thinking designers and educators who wish to embrace new gaming technology and harness its potential as an effective teaching tool.

“RezWorld” is a fully immersive video game designed to teach languages to young learners using the task-based teaching methodology commonly adhered to in modern language teaching (Ellis, 2000). The game was primarily designed to teach, and therefore preserve the language of the native Cherokee Indians, but since then it has been adapted to other languages, and has, for example, been 3^rd party tested on over 25,000 learners of Arabic.  Users are immersed in a virtual 3D world where they must interact with characters exclusively in the target language. As Dr Johnson points out in the video, the strength of the game in relation to task-based learning is that players can take part in a variety of realistic tasks that would be unrealistic or impossible to complete in a classroom context.

In spite of the successful rates of learning and positive reviews received from those who participated in the piloting program for the software, the full version is still yet to see the light of day due to a lack of investors. The developer attributes this to the current financial climate; however, in my opinion this lack of support could also reflect the slow rate at which many educators are accepting new digital media and the need for an understanding of current youth cultures.

A lack of teacher knowledge regarding media education (Jenkins et al., 2006) could well result in a resistance to the implementation of a variety of digital media in education, including games. Nevertheless, at the very least this video demonstrates the existence of a belief among certain educators who are beginning to recognise the need to adapt pedagogies to meet the needs of youth and changing culture.

References:

Ellis, R. (2000). Task-based research and language pedagogy. Language Teaching Research, 4 (3), 193−220.

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.

(Posted by Josh)

Books Versus Video Games

Books - image from Creative
Commons Retrieved 19 October 2011 from
http://www.lindseypollak.com/uploads/2010/05/books-pile.jpg

The world it seems is quite divided when it comes to the use and educational benefit of video games for children of today.  Yet the same scepticism does not appear to surround the use of books.  In fact I think there would be an uprising if education systems worldwide decided to discontinue the use of books to educate students. So, why does there seem to be so much controversy over the introduction of video games as an educational tool into modern classrooms?

10 Truths About Books and What They Have to do with Video Games, a post on James Paul Gee’s blog, makes some interesting comparisons between these two highly powerful tools of education.  Gee (2011) explains that books have the ability to promote peace if read and nurtured in the correct environment however books can also have the complete opposite effect and promote aggression and violence, such as has occurred with some extremist religious groups.  Aggression and violence is a common reason people use when advocating against the use of video gaming in educational settings, however as Gee (2011) points out video games to date do not yield the same amount of power that books can. This viewpoint makes one really begin to question the emphasis that we as educators place upon books as a tool for learning.

Are books positive learning experiences for all students?  Are books the best way for students to learn?  Are books the way of the future? Or will gaming and technology reign supreme?

This post makes for an interesting read because it points out that books have their good and bad points just like every other educational tool.  As Gee (2011) explains, on their own books will not make for a more educated person.  So if books are just one method of educating why not begin to explore other options: options that have cultural significance to students of today; options that offer technology devices from which students can create meaning.  Gee (2010) is not advocating for the use of books to disappear from classrooms, he is simple pointing out that video games can operate effectively in the classroom alongside books as both are “suited for certain jobs and best used in certain ways” (par.1).   

References:

Gee, J. (2011, May 15). 10 Truths About Books and What They Have to do With Video Games (Web log post).  Retrieved from http://www.jamespaulgee.com/node/52

Video games - image from Creative
Commons Retrieved 19 October 2011 from
http://schoolkids09.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/video-games4.jpg