Gaming in Education

What shall we do with gaming, simulations, and VR?

More often than not, I am fully a supporter and advocate of technology in the classroom. However, on this topic, I am not sure I am entirely on the gaming bandwagon (and I am also trying to play ‘devil’s advocate’ here on this issue). Though I support many different technologies in the classroom, gaming may actually be an area that I just cannot make myself completely embrace and champion.

Lately, gaming, and the idea of including gaming into educational curriculum, has been discussed in our mainstream media. Much of this debate has focused on the digital native generation. Digital natives are the generation who has grown up in the world of technology. This generation has always had access to a computer, has always known there was an Internet and a World Wide Web, and has always had access to more advanced computer interactions, like gaming. According to Van Eck (2006), our digital native generation has become disconnected with conventional classroom instruction. Digital natives are the generation who has grown up in the world of technology. This generation has always had access to a computer, has always known there was an Internet and a World Wide Web, and has always had access to more advanced computer interactions, like gaming. As an instructor in higher education, I have seen this transformation within the last five years.

This generation learns differently than any other and I have had to adopt changes in my curriculum because of this. “They [digital natives] require multiple streams of information, prefer inductive reasoning, want frequent and quick interactions with content, and have exceptional visual literacy skills¹—characteristics that are all matched well with DGBL [digital game-based learning].” (Van Eck, 2006). These students are multi-taskers to the n^th degree. They tend to juggle many different things at once and can generally do a good job at most of what they try to tackle. In traditional standards, this could be viewed as pretty impressive.

However, there are plenty of other technological methods available that may be better choices, as gaming can, at a certain point, become almost unhealthy and may not be our best choice for educating our youth. Some children are already spending too much time gaming after they have left their respective school buildings. Gaming, quite simply put, can be addictive. By fostering the use of gaming at school, are we really helping these children? In 2007, the American Medical Association began lobbying for gaming addiction to be classified as a psychiatric disorder. They wanted this classification to “raise awareness and enable sufferers to get insurance coverage for treatment.” (Tanner, MSNBC news online article, 2007). If the AMA is looking at this as a problem, then does the problem not really exist? According to an MSNBC report on this topic, there are over 15% of young gamers (representing 90% of our youth generation) who are addicted to video games. That equates to over 5 million young people across our country alone! [Please see a MSNBC video report to the right on gaming addiction].

As documented in the Discovery Channel’s series on the Gamer Generation, these addictions have also been related to dire consequences. Playing first-person shooter games, for example, have actually been medically proven to cause aggressive impulses in the player’s brain. Although there is no direct link (yet) in aggressive brain activity and aggressive behavior, people are still worried that this territory has just yet to be found. The documentary continues to report that in the last decade, for example, there have been over 20 shooting sprees carried out by young people. Can these tragedies be linked to first-person gaming? Maybe. Were these young people probably already a bit troubled? More than likely; but, perhaps being immersed in the world of first-person shooter games perpetuated their unstable thoughts and gave them the confidence to then act in unthinkable ways.

I know this last example is an extreme. Honestly, I believe it falls along the same lines as blaming heavy metal for irrational behaviors. However, maybe there is a correlation. Only further studies will indeed bring us to any further realizations here.

However, gaming addictions are real and are as possible as gambling addictions. I have three children and one of them, I can honestly say, is already what I would consider to be a gamer. His father is a gamer (yes, my husband) and my brother-in-law is a gamer (my husband’s brother). He has seen and witnessed Daddy immersed in his games and my son’s gaming activities have been encouraged by my husband. At first, I thought this was harmless and cute, even though I had been aware of gaming addictions in the past (I had a friend who was addicted at one point and actually went to counseling because of it).

My son does not spend regularly spend countless hours on his games (PS2 is his current gaming console of choice, Lego Star Wars is his favorite), as I set a timer (30 minutes max.) so he knows how long he has. (However, we have been on occasion guilty of allowing him to participate in longer stretches.) Once the timer rings, the rule is to turn off the game. However lately, after his timer goes off, he has been quick to complain, pout and actually get a bit frustrated and mad. This emotional expression of frustration happened as recently as two days ago. The PS2 console has since been sitting on top of my kitchen cabinet since.

Oh – and have I mentioned that he isn’t quite 5-years old yet? Case in point.

I am not saying my son is addicted to gaming…at least, not yet. However, he is already showing a potential warning sign of gaming addiction. According to CBS News report entitled “Detox for Video Gamers?” in 2006, parents should be aware as to how a child reacts to time limits set to gaming. We were not happy with our son’s reaction to turning off his game, so we are taking measures now to be sure this does not become a problem. Again, my son is not quite 5-years old yet, so some of his reaction is somewhat typical of a kid of that age. However, you never know.

I know much of what I discussed may have been to an extreme and may not apply to all young people. I am very aware of that. However, I am also very aware that there is a potential for gaming to perhaps not be our educational tool of choice. To promote gaming in education is to add to the hours of gaming participated outside the classroom. I am not sold that this is our best pedagogical use of advanced technologies, at least not in our younger generation.

Change is upon us...Welcome Web 2.0!

Today's Question:
In what ways will the evolution of Web 2.0 potentially change the educational process? Will you look forward to these changes?

I am already looking forward to these changes. Course management systems, such as WebCT and Blackboard, paved the way to simplifying online course delivery. Initially, these seemed like very powerful utilities for delivering courses to the new online masses. However, in light of newer Web 2.0 technologies that are actually more user friendly, it turns out that these CMS’s are actually quite limiting, restricting, and most certainly, frustrating...to a certain degree.

This is where I see the future of Web 2.0 technologies; in how they can be developed and implemented in education. Curriculum building in Web 2.0, such as with wikis, blogs, moodle, writeboard, class blogmeister, survey monkey, etc., are going to begin to be more and more implemented in web-centric (web-enhanced) and completely asynchronous courses.

As pointed out in Read, Write Web, although these technologies were not specifically created for education and e-learning, they most certainly can be successfully employed to empower student learning and foster new, creative learning opportunities (blog entry, August 8, 2006). Stephen Downes, the gentleman credited with the phrase ‘e-learning 2.0’, defined this term as online learning enhanced by the implementation of social networks, blogging and podcasting, amongst other options (http://www.downes.ca/post/31741). Employing these technologies into a classroom curriculum is powerful, as we have already witnessed in this class alone. According to Downes (2005),

What happens when online learning ceases to be like a medium, and becomes more like a platform? What happens when online learning software ceases to be a type of content-consumption tool, where learning is "delivered," and becomes more like a content-authoring tool, where learning is created? The model of e-learning as being a type of content, produced by publishers, organized and structured into courses, and consumed by students, is turned on its head. Insofar as there is content, it is used rather than read— and is, in any case, more likely to be produced by students than courseware authors. And insofar as there is structure, it is more likely to resemble a language or a conversation rather than a book or a manual. The e-learning application, therefore, begins to look very much like a blogging tool.

Downes has such a powerful point here. It is much more comfortable to have an open discussion about a topic than to have content stiffly delivered in the form of a force-fed article or yet another tired PowerPoint presentation. Don’t get me wrong; do I still use both of these methods myself? Absolutely. However, am I excited about the possibilities Web 2.0 technologies have and will continue to bring to the classroom? Again, absolutely! Case in point, along with the other members of my graduate course I’m currently enrolled in, I just created my avatar in Second Life. Who knows…maybe, in the future, 'Annalyse Latte' will be teaching my students rather than Lisa Kidd.

Its scary, its exciting, and its most certainly the future. If you have time, please take a look at the keynote address given by Stephen Downes (along with his PowerPoint slides) to the right of this blog post. The keynote is about 50 minutes long, but if you’re interested in Web 2.0 in education, it is well worth your time.

Podcasting in Education

Based on this first experience with Podcasting, I could easily have a change of heart about the technology! I fancy myself to be above average in the use of technology, but I certainly felt like I had hit a brick wall these last couple of days using podomatic's site.

However, after two days worth of attempts (and even my husband recording on one computer while I did on another), I had to resort to downloading Audacity and working with that software instead. Thank goodness I did! I was able to successfully record my podcast, export it out as an mp3 and then upload that to the podomatic site. I still could not get the music intro/outro's to work, so those are absent from my podcast (which I'm quite distressed by as I was really digging the rock track! :) ).

Alas, I digress. Since I am a techno-geek, of course I would support using podcasting in education. I wrote a research paper on podcasting last summer, as a matter of fact, in hopes of better understanding this technology that I had not yet tackled.

From my paper (2007):
"Teachers already serve as publishers of content in the form of syllabi, documents, presentations, lectures and assignments. These publications, so to speak, are delivered both in text and, in many cases, in online environments via course management systems such as Blackboard and WebCT. Students, then, are really subscribers to the content, so to speak (Malan, 2007).

As a college educator, it is rare to see a student working in a computer lab without their mp3 player, or iPod‚, attached to their heads. With the popularity of these devices, it would seem a waste to not figure out how to integrate this technology into the classroom. This is part of the beauty of podcasting", or its visual counterpart, vodcasting.

As Stacie argued in her blog post (http://staciep.blogspot.com/), I, too, am a visual learner and having the opportunity to watch content, as well as hear it, would definitely help me as a learner. Since I teach visual communications, my students are much the same way, so I think the benefit for me would be in vodcasting.

For example, I am going to try to utilize vodcasting in my summer online course this year for the first time. There is software available that allows you to track mouse movements on your screen and I believe it would be quite helpful for students to see me walk-through an activity, just as I would in a synchronous lab classroom.

As far as the benefits of podcasting in education, for the right audience and demographic, online or distance delivery is sometimes not only the best option, but the only option. Let’s look at the people who really need non-traditional delivery of course content: location-bound students who cannot physically get to a college campus; students with disabilities; students who have to work swing shifts and cannot commit to a 12-16 week set schedule of classes. For these students, alternative learning styles, facilitated with podcasting or vodcasting, makes complete sense.

Would I use blogs? Absolutely!

I absolutely would utilize blogging in my classroom and in a workplace environment both! I am already considering the use of blogging in one of my classes (see question #4). I think it is incredibly positive for students to have an outlet to discuss topics that may have the restraint of time in a traditional classroom. Also, a more reserved student may benefit from the ‘protection’ of an online interface, therefore contributing more to class than they may have without this media.

I can foresee using blogging in many different ways in the future. For interactive media, we can use blogging to discuss different new medias and their uses. We could also discuss various design techniques and look at their origins, which would allow for further research from the students. For video classes and phogoraphy classes, we could utilize blogging as an online critiquing resource. I really think this idea could be very productive and may begin incorporating this in the next few weeks in my digital photography class.

As suggested in the P2P EFL/ESL Pedagogy and Technology blog (http://dekita.org/articles/p2p-eflesl-pedagogy-and-technology), I can also foresee using blogs for group projects. By requiring students to blog the production and status of a group project, the instructor can then see if everyone is participating and 'doing their share' without constantly asking group members for updates.

As far as blogging in the workplace, I think blogging would be incredibly useful for committee sub-groups, which are generally assigned for certain special projects and/or discussion topics. Actually, blogs would be a great resource, really, for any committee discussion and collaboration.

Moving Lights - Image #2

Things get pretty interesting when you leave your shutter open in the dark, don't they? Extending the length of time a shutter is open creates a great lighted trailing effect. If you want to experiment, put your camera on a tripod, set your shutter for 30 seconds (approx.) and aim it towards a busy street. The results are pretty fun! :)



Image by R'eyes

Nature and Technology - Image #1

This image was found under the heading "Nature and Technology". Since I am about to purchase a large screen digital monitor to showcase my students' work, I couldn't resist this image from Flickr. My students create works in print, photography, interactive media and video, so purchasing a digital format to showcase their talents is my best option.

Image by Sven