Wow. I would have never considered
applying gaming to education. My perception of gaming was 100% negative. My
fiancé used to play quite often but I think I’ve pestered (playfully and
respectfully, of course!) him enough that he must hide it from me now. The
games seem so silly! I guess I was
comparing them to the mindless games my friends and I played as kids when we
should have been climbing trees in the backyard. So I never even gave modern
games a second thought. I was amazed to hear the applications to education, the
learning that occurs and the skills that are developed through this
underestimated form of technology. Amazing! I loved the Ted Talk but I’m a
sucker for those anyways. The games that were developed by the Institute for
the Future were a little . . . I don’t know, just not what I expected. But
seeing the examples really helped me to understand this woman’s vision of
gaming saving the world. Afterwards, reading the article about the
characteristics that are promoted by gaming allowed me to place it all within
the context of the classroom, whereas the video left me in awe, but
hard-pressed to design a captivating game for my classroom that would
accomplish all the proper goals as well as address physics content. Hmmm . . . maybe I’ll still keep that on the
burner for now. This topic could resurface in a later blog.
My main point is, and this seems to be
a recurring theme, “Way to go, profs. You may not have had me at hello but I
like where you’re going with this.”
Oh, and more Ted Talks would be
delightful.
I think what amazed me so much was the simple fact she was able to turn video games into a world solution for problems. Although her reasoning did make sense. I am glad to know that all my children are virtuoso's...who, who would have thunk it!
ReplyDeleteNothing better than some fun with friends and family while playing games...kind of like it was back in the olden days, except now, instead of board games we are playing video games...
I have been surprised in this class how averse to technology students much younger than I are, where I had expected to be generationally out of touch. As old school and culturally conservative as I am, I do not range as near the anti-tech pole as most of my classmates. I accurately predicted a backlash to the new wave of technology years ago. And indeed, electronic music has yielded to minimal acoustic singer-songwriters. Craftsmanship is at a premium. And, in education, we are intently focused on higher order thinking, despite the distraction of electronica.
ReplyDeleteSpelling bees are useful games. I'd love to learn more about electronic games that teach the multiplication tables and Latin verb conjugation. Undoubtedly someday game designers in the spirit of Jane McGonigal will design video games that actually *teach* ancient history. But Niguidula won no friend in me when he opposed Latin and Greek to "practical studies." Are video games "practical"? As opposed to learning Latin and Greek? You will discover that those outside your discipline have *no* idea what they are talking about when they opine about your field. My view is that is it as absurd to argue for the academic utility of video games as it is to argue for sports as promoting cognition. Athletics do not have to promote cognition to be worthwhile. Video games, on the other hand, have a validity problem. I liked McGonigal's talk, but perhaps she protesteth too much.
I second the motion for more Ted Talks, they are always so up beat!
ReplyDeleteI wasn't sure her examples would result in actual world saving, but they did make her vision more clear. It will be really interesting to hear some of the ideas our classmates might have for creating these educational games for theclassroom. I bet there will be some great ideas out there.
"Afterwards, reading the article about the characteristics that are promoted by gaming allowed me to place it all within the context of the classroom, whereas the video left me in awe, but hard-pressed to design a captivating game for my classroom that would accomplish all the proper goals as well as address physics content. Hmmm . . . maybe I’ll still keep that on the burner for now."
ReplyDeleteYou and I have similar issues here. Gaming promotes many positive characteristics, but they seem to be in a separate arena from the skills that are needed in an English class. I imagined a game where the students become virtual reporters who investigate a story, verify facts and publish articles according to deadlines. Students could virtually embody a choice of roles from editor to copy-writer with the opportunity for a tangible finished product at the end. Creative? Yes. An efficient use of time and technology? I'm not so sure. An ethically grey psychological trick to motivate students to learn without taking responsibility for learning? Maybe.
My point is that teaching with tech (video games in particular) has value - but should everything be a game? Aren't there some topics that don't translate into virtual reality? Like you, I'm still chewing this one over, but the seeming misuse of time is a big issue for me.