Blogalisation

No gamer left behind is a vodcast regarding the use of gaming technology in leraning, it may be accessed here. The video presents a number of examples where gaming is being used for educational purposes to great effect. The U.S. military is a high profile example of simulation gaming being used for training purposes. More relevant to the secondary school is the example of using civilisation to interest students in social sciences/history. The students in the video use the COTS (commercial off the shelf) game of civilisation to learn about how civilisations have been constructed and the different influences which shape the ways in which the different societies develop. The video states that the students in the program have become A grade students after the introduction of using civilisation as a means through which to learn the subject. I have always enjoyed computer games, I feel they have been a great help to my own development of problem solving abilities among other skills. Of particular interest to me as a language teacher I’m very interested in the use of MMORPGs as a tool through which learning can occur. I have recently taken to playing a free MMORPG by the name of Rappelz which can be accessed here (French version). The reason I chose to start playing the French version is because I see this game as being a means through which I can foster a virtual French community with my students, however fantastic the community may be, it’s a medium through which I can provide my students with the opportunity to create meaninful language in a context that interests them. All of the games quests, characters and beasts have French names, and communicate with the player in French, meaning if the students are to succeed in the game, they will have to understand the language. Further to this, the game has a guild function, through which I can organise a team with my students and we can play through the world together, communicating solely in the target language to achieve our goals of slaying whatever beast or conquering whatever quest is thrown at us. I find the idea of this game very exciting, I have mentioned the game to students in my class before who have already mentioned that they play it and other games such as silk road, which is another free MMORPG. Finding the right game to use to stimulate the interest of the class is something a teacher will need to consider, and also whether the RPG type game is more suited to boys or girls or whether both can play, however I feel at the very least this type of game can provide a very meaninful learning experience to students in the language subject area.

Van Eck has written an article on the use of digital game-based learning, it may be accessed here. The article discusses the history of technology in education and details the struggle to have game based learning accepted by the educational community as a valid means through which students can be educated. The main arguments put forward for the validation of this teaching method is that learning conducted through games is meaningful by the way that the knowledge learnt is learnt in a specific context and must be applied within that context in order to succeed at the game. Secondly, play is a ‘primary socialisation and learning mechanism’ the article uses lions as an example of a way in animals (just like people) learn how to conduct themselves through the use of play, and that the lion learns to hunt through playing as a cub.  The article then continues to discuss why games better teaching/learning. Primarily the article mentions Piaget and that games are masters of creating cognitive disequilibrium and resolution through assimilation and accommodation, and according to Piaget, this is how we learn. The article proceeds next to discuss the different types of games and their differing strengths when it comes to education… for example a card game is best for “promoting the ability to match concepts, manipulate numbers, and recognise patterns.” Finally the article discusses the difference between using media and integrating media. It mentions that a major flaw of the use of technology in education is that it has been ‘used’ not integrated into the learning process. Integration requires analysing the strengths and weaknesses of the media and then making any necessary accommodations for weaknesses and employing the strengths of the media. It also makes note that if the media has no significant strength… it shouldn’t be used. Seems common sense, however a lot of technology has been used simply because it’s novel and seems attractive. This point is at the heart of designing learning for a digital generation… to make learning meaningful to our students we must integrate technologies into our classrooms, not only deliver the same old instructional methods through the new media. The real strength of ICT at the current point in time, in my view is its ability to allow students to learn independently, through creation and discovery, this type of learning is the deepest level of learning and will be life long for our students… the next question then is how to we guide this discovery learning to areas applicable to the curriculum? A somewhat difficult question… ideally we could throw away the curriculum and have students learn things they’re truly interested in in any given subject, unfortunately this too has its problems. Things to think about.