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How will I use Video Games in my Future Teaching Practice?

After many hours of reading, looking at data and gathering my thoughts, I now believe that I have enough knowledge to consider using video games in my teaching practice. Video games are motivational, engaging, support cognitive development, ICT development and higher order thinking skills. Lenhart (Teens, Mobile & Games) discovered that in the USA, 97% of children aged 12-17 play computer games and in the UK, 78% aged 16-19 play computer games. Computer games are now as much a part of the media culture young people are growing up in, as television, film and music.
The Games and Learning Educators Report argue that there are four big ideas around games based learning that prepare young people to be successful workers and citizens in the 21st century. They believe games are a 'persuasive medium' with the capacity to influence players thoughts and actions, they offer ideal environments for practicing skills, they are an important format for consideration in media literacy studies and they support the construction of knowledge.
This all sounds pretty good, but I know that there will be barriers that lie ahead. From cost, lack of teacher knowledge, licensing agreements, young people not seeing the connection between gaming and learning to more ethical issues, such as violence, gender representations and social isolation.
This is why I spent some time becoming familiar with the Film, Television and New Media - Senior Syllabus (QSA). As I work in a primary school, I will have to adjust these ideas to suit my context. The focus is on five key concepts that are used to study moving image products (in my case video games) and there contexts of production (Nintendo) and use (to influence children). For student's to design, produce and critique their own and others' products, these concepts apply. The five key concepts are: languages, representations, technologies, audiences and institutions. When applied to games based learning, they encompass both game study and critical literacy.
After studying each concept (with some help from Michael's notes), I came up with some ideas as to how I could incorporate them into my teaching and learning.

1. Languages - Design a game using narrative and symbolic codes used by familiar video games taking into account the features of the game and the ways in which they communicate with players.
2. Representations - Choose three different games and identify the different roles males and females play. How are they represented (appearance, emotions, ideas)? Misrepresented? What sorts of social and cultural assumptions underlie these portrayals?
3. Technologies - Evaluate the effectiveness of two different game consoles (eg Wii and Xbox). How will people access and play them? Which one is what the market wants and why?
4. Audiences - Design a game for two different audiences (eg mainstream and alternative). What is the relationship between the game and the players? Who has the power? How are you going to sell your product? What strategy will you use to target your audience (eg merchandising, product placement)?
5. Institutions - Investigate how the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) regulate the content for games. Which companies dominate the production of video game consoles? Why or why not? 

Another great resource I found is the Games in Learning (EQ) project through Education Queensland's The Learning Place. The project recognises that games hold an important part in learning by engaging audiences, challenging imaginations, developing life skills, actively engaging student's in the learning process and developing social skills as student's become involved in the teaching of others. The project focuses on four areas - game study, game making, game play and game innovation.

To date, one of the most successful programs that has come out of the project is, Integrating Xbox into a Critical Literacy Unit, taken on by Kurwongbah State School in June 2006, incorporating platform games into learning through investigating and evaluating Xbox games. A program I would like to consider taking on myself at school in the near future.

Similar, in some ways, to the five concepts model, the Games in Learning project teaches student's how to think critically about games without becoming disengaged. To do this, as Michael Dezuanni has also mentioned, 'para-textual' practices are used. These involve online chats, 'walk-throughs', forum discussions, blogging, games mashups and more. In addition, through game making, student's experiment with modding, machinima, game design, making 2D games and some aspects of 3D games. They gain higher order thinking skills such as problem solving, teamwork, communication, technical skills, engage with ethical issues and have an opportunity to expand their creative and artistic abilities. 

Although problems may arise, like hype around a product, poor teaching pedagogy, lack of teacher confidence and time, accessibility and budget constraints, I am now willing to take on this challenge and believe that I can start to offer student's an avenue to 21st century learning.    

Video Games for learning: What does this mean for me?

Research into the effectiveness of new technologies in education is still in its early stages. Educators are still trying to discover what students are learning through digital mediums and how. What is known, however, is that technology is ‘already a prevalent fixture in the lives of contemporary students, so waiting for research to confirm the promise of digital innovation before committing to expanded experimentation is unwise’ (Wellings & Levine, 2009, 3). Basically, researchers are saying that students are immersed in this new digital era in an increasing manner, and this is not likely to change so rather than fight it, why not ride the wave and learn what works and how and why along the way. If educators are to keep students engaged and interested and able to participate effectively in the 21^st Century, then transforming learning with innovative uses of technology is not only a wise choice but also a necessary one.

The White Paper titled ‘The Digital Promise: Transforming Learning with Innovative Uses of Technology’ provides a list of many of the benefits technology provides education, when it is deliberately and comprehensively integrated into the teaching program. Researchers note there is a strong view that ‘technology is not a passing phenomenon’. In light of this view it is important for students to be equipped with technology and new media literacy skills in order to participate and function successfully within society and the workforce.

For these skills and goals to be achieved the teacher plays a key role. In the article ‘What Makes a Great Teacher’ Ripley writes, ‘more than any other variable in education – more than schools or curriculum – teachers matter’ (2010). A teacher can make or break the learning experiences that their students have. They have the potential to make the learning experience relevant, beneficial and engaging or dull and dated. One of the characteristics of a great teacher that Ripley notes is someone who is constantly changing things up, re-evaluating what they do and moving with the times. A great teacher is someone that puts the students’ needs first and is constantly adapting their approach to cater for these.

So what does this mean for me, as a teacher librarian in the 21^st century?

Firstly, it means being aware that learning is not strictly limited to the classroom. Being aware that authentic and beneficial learning is constantly taking place in an informal way in everyday life. This learning can often be at a deeper level than what students would experience within the classroom. James Gee in ‘Public Pedagogy through Video Games’ states, ‘Humans seem to learn more deeply, and more equitably, without gaps between rich and poor, when they learn outside of school in areas they choose and for which they are motivated’ (2003 in 2009). Gee believes these informal learning arenas, which include television, anime and video games, are growing increasingly more complex and demanding. Video games in particular are ‘highly challenging, involve deep problem solving, and require gamers to keep track of many goals and sub-goals’ (Gee, 2009).

If as the research suggests students are successfully participating within the culture they belong, my job as an educator is to take those principles and skills that they might be learning on their own and implement them into the learning program. I am responsible for creating an environment where authentic learning and collaboration between students is occurring. This means making sure that my approach goes beyond ‘skills-drills’ and ‘chalk and talk’ and remains student-centred and focused.

As a new beginning teacher librarian in a P-12 college next year, I’m not quite sure how this is going to look. What I do know is that I’m determined to continue learning, determined to keep student learning relevant, and determined to equip the students under my care with the tools they need to succeed. One way I can ensure that students have access to the sorts of skills/abilities that gaming provides is through promotion to the class and subject teachers when collaborating with them on curriculum and unit planning. It is important for me to advocate the benefits of implementing video games into the learning program as well as demonstrate this myself in the lessons I teach. Many teachers who have been in the system for years, and who haven’t necessarily upgraded their own professional development may not be aware of the new innovations that technology such as video games can bring to the classroom. By constantly providing updates to teachers and suggestions of how these innovations can and might be implemented I can help in keeping them aware of what current research says is working.

For many teachers time is the main factor in their practices staying the same. A big complaint of many teachers when it comes to new technologies and the like is that while they would love to try new things out, they just don’t have the time. Being a teacher librarian, I believe my role is to not only help students with their research and information literacy skills but to also support the teachers in my school. Once way that I can do this is by providing a list of various digital games, both in the COTS and educational field that fit in with the units they are teaching. This way they don’t need to go searching but rather have resources at their fingertips. If I can make it easier for classroom teachers, then maybe it will be more possible for them to incorporate video games into the curriculum.

Video Games and Learning - Daniel Floyd

For many teacher's (myself included), a question being asked is, how can video games enable learning.
The information in Daniel Floyd's Video Games and Learning can help. It describes how video games have a huge advantage because the enthusiasm is there and we care about what we are doing when we play games, which ultimately, as Daniel describes, leads to tangential learning. The video game, Deus Ex (mentioned in James Gee's books), is an example of how this concept works.
You may ask, what does this mean? In a humorous and entertaining way, Daniel describes it as, what you learn by being exposed to things in a context in which you are already engaged in. Have you ever played a video game and gone away and wanted to learn more about that topic? Daniel uses an example, whereby Role Playing Game fans, whom had never been to a temple, now know what a Sephiroth is, as the Final Fantasy game named a character after it. I immediately went and looked it up. In addition, many of the comments left on Daniel's page where about people who had done exactly the same. Hence, tangential learning!
He then goes on to mention how video game designers could enable learning by making available a source of information, such as Wikipedia, whereby the links can be implemented into any game. An example, which could be used in the classroom, is Civilization, which provides a huge quantity of information about ancient structures and leaders via its Civilopedia (Civilization IV). But, like all information, we do have to be careful about distinguishing what is truth and what is fiction.
I believe, and as Daniel also suggests, we should be pressuring game companies and designers to go a little further than just providing entertainment and focus on them adding accurate facts and data to their world. By doing this we'll not only end up with a better game, but a better experience as well.

For other videos in this series, please see Talking About These.

Intrepica

Recently a friend of mine started an education program for students who are in foster care that weren’t responding well to the traditional school setting. As part of the curriculum that he has developed, he incorporated a games-based literacy program that he came across called Intrepica.

Intrepica is an online digital learning environment full of visually rich activities that covers topics such as phonics, vocabulary, comprehension and so on. When participating in this online world ‘students are engaged in quality game-based literacy activities that reward achievement, and encourage personal development’. Each activity that the student completes is rewarded with virtual credits which can be spent either in The Shop, on accessories and clothing for their personal avatar or in The Arcade, on entertaining and challenging arcade-style games. Tasks can be set by the teacher in order to fit inline with curriculum requirements etc. Students can also explore the content themselves in the free learning section of the site.

My friend has seen great improvement in motivation to complete literacy tasks since implementing this games-based program. He says that all kids love working on the computer, so that, in itself is an incentive to get the work done. The young students around 10-12 especially love the program and quite often complete extra tasks in order to have more virtual credits to spend.

These kinds of learning entertainment programs are often referred to as ‘edutainment’ – trust the teachers to think of a name like that! They are games that are often curriculum based and attempt to teach key content in an easy and fun way. Some believe however, that although they bear the name ‘games’ they don’t resemble anything to the commercial off the shelf games ‘COTS’ that students are playing today. Many believe that ‘COTS’ promote learning of 21^st century skills, while edutainment provides nothing more than interactive quizzes. Both views sit at very different ends of the spectrum.

I believe that both have their place within the classroom. Not all students are interested by ‘COTS’ and likewise with edutainment programs. I think my friend’s experience is perfect example that in some cases they can and do work. It is a matter of finding the games and programs that are right for your students and implementing them in a way that will meet the skills needed to effectively participate in the 21^st century as well as be engaging, fun and interactive.

For further reading on what developments are happening in the world of ‘edutainment’ Moving Learning Games Forward is a great article put out by The Education Arcade.

Video Gaming Revolution - A Current Affair

A Current Affair - Video Gaming Revolution



On June 16, 2010, Channel 9's A Current Affair program, reported about a revolution in video gaming - The Xbox 360 Kinect, at the biggest gaming launch of the year. This device has the potential to change the way video games are played forever. Maybe even give educators more opportunity to integrate video games into the curriculum.
Students will be able to experience controller free gaming, which may later be supported by PC's via Windows 8, at which point, the potential in the classroom could be endless. After having experienced this new technology, Steven Seagal (on the Xbox website), was quoted as saying "For children, it is amazing. They get to be really involved. It teaches them how to react, think and move. This is only the beginning."
Onlookers at the launch were stimulated, mentally challenged and became immersed in a variety of games that were easy to use and instantly fun. Imagine what it could be like for students (and teachers) within the classroom. The games to be released include, Kinectimals, Dancing, Sports, Your Shape Fitness Evolved and Kinect Adventures. They all have the potential to support learning in the classroom in a variety of ways. According to James Gee, there are many learning principles that are built into good video games. He believes that when children interact with video games, they are learning and learning in deep ways.
Kinect also has the potential to support those students who are unwilling to speak, as it has been programmed with voice recognition. Students can talk to the box and it understands. The launch, in Australia, of the Xbox 360 Kinect is on November 18. It will cost around $200 and can be attached to either your old or your new Xbox. For those teachers out there who lack confidence in using video games, this technology has the potential to bridge the gap between gamers and those who don't know anything about gaming.
Will it be able to compete with the Nintendo Wii?

Wii instead of PE

The Sunday Telegraph recently featured an article titled ‘This is the future of sport in schools – Wii instead of PE’. The article talks about the inclusion of the Nintendo Wii console and several of its sports related games as part of the curriculum in several NSW schools. It highlights the concept of students now being able to opt to play Wii Fit in some PE classes.

Sure to encounter controversy, some NSW schools are trialing the technology as an alternative to other outdoor activities. Students are still able to choose those more traditional sports; the choice of Wii activities is now an extra option. Several parents interviewed were very opposed to the idea surprised that the Education Department would endorse such an act.

As mentioned in my previous post Game Changer, researchers have recommended Wii as a tool in helping students to develop in their physical fitness and general sports skills and techniques. Wii Sports, Wii Fit and many of the other sports related games do require physical activity and engage students in new and motivating ways. It is important for schools to be providing students access to these sorts of popular culture products, the question remains however, how far do schools/ teachers go in providing this sort of access to students? At what expense does all this come?

I agree with sports commission consultant Melinda Turner’s comment in the article that anything that gets children interested in sport is a good thing. I would be concerned however, if these new technologies replace students engaging in sport and physical activity outdoors. I love playing games such as Wii Sports and Wii Fit; they have provided many a night’s entertainment. In a small group setting Wii is fabulous. In a large class setting, I would be interested to see how the whole class can remain engaged in activity, particularly when it is not their turn with the controller.

In conditions when the weather is bad and outdoor sport is not an option, Wii would be a fantastic solution! There are definitely great benefits to the inclusion of this popular product within the school curriculum, just hopefully not to the detriment of classic schoolyard antics such as kicking the footy around!

Learning and Identity: What Does it Mean to be Half-Elf?

Can identity work and reflection on identities, that go into the process of playing video games, improve student’s learning? James Gee, in his book, What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy (2007), in particular Chapter 3 Learning and Identity: What does it mean to be half-elf, suggests that if schools encourage this, learning in schools would be more successful and powerful. But do we, as teachers, really think this way?

You may ask, what is identity work and why so much emphasis on identities in video games and learning? Gee suggests that Role Playing Games involve playing with three different identities. There are virtual, real-world and projective identities. All three work together, at once. The first being one’s identity as a virtual character, the second being a nonvirtual person playing a video game and the third being the line between one’s real-world identity and the virtual identity whereby you can project your values and desires into the virtual character. This third identity plays a significant part in the learning puzzle, as you will understand further on.

Some young people, when playing a first-person shooter game, take on a character that makes them think differently about what they value and what they don’t about that character. For example, they may redo a fight scene because they have let the character down or they pull off a victory in a more spectacular fashion that would suit a superhero. They feel responsible to and for the character, therefore projecting an identity on that character (Gee, 2007).

Gee then goes on to suggest that when players develop these projective identities, they learn to ‘own’ the character identities they create, a model that has interesting potential for the classroom. He suggests that students may take on projective identities (and uses scientists as an example), both working within that role and having a critical overview of the role from outside of it.  Maybe this is a way to help teachers create more new and exciting learning experiences.  

However, according to Gee, each identity can fail (or succeed) in different sorts of ways. The virtual identity can fail to defeat another character in battle, the real-world identity can fail to use the game controls in an effective way and the projective identity can fail because the real-world identity has caused the virtual identity to do something in the game that the character you want it to be would not or should not do. These scenarios can be important experiences in a student’s learning cycle.

So why are these identities such an important part of learning outside video games? Gee suggests, that when playing video games, such as Arcanum, all deep learning, both active and critical, is inextricably caught up with identity in a variety of ways. He believes you have to commit yourself to the learning in terms of time, effort and active engagement. If you don’t, you can’t learn in a deep way. Students have to see themselves in terms of a new identity.  In Gee’s science classroom example, in order to become a virtual scientist you need to engage in words, interactions and actions that allow you to take on the identity of the scientist.  In the classroom, students could choose their own styles of virtual identities by asking certain questions, working in close collaborations, studying texts before/after experimentation and many more.

Continuing this idea, in the science classroom, Gee then goes onto suggest that if a child brings to science learning a real-world identity as a learner, a school learner or a science learner who is damaged, this identity needs to be repaired before any active and/or critical learning can occur. You may ask, how can I do this? It all comes down to good teaching and we can all do it. Learning for all types of students. Gee recommends three things:

1.     The learner must be enticed to try

2.     The learner must be enticed to put in lots of effort even if he/she begins with little motivation to do so

3.     The learner must achieve some meaningful success when he/she has expended this effort

Are these recommendations discussed in education often enough today? Do teachers talk about the identities learners bring to school and how these identities relate to motivation and effort (or their lack of) in relation to specific sorts of pedagogies? Gee makes a strong point that video games are good at these three things. He also adds, that they are only for some types of learners, and uses himself as an example, in that he became interested in video games through his son playing.

Pursuing the third recommendation further, good video games offer players a feeling of achievement. One of these feelings, James Gee calls, is the “amplification of input principle”. For a little input, learners get a lot of output. Like in science, have you ever felt satisfied when what you actually do, seems so small compared to what you get? Like that time, in high school chemistry, when you added two chemicals together in the glass container on the Bunsen burner, for it to result in the perfect chemical reaction.  

When it comes to taking on a projective identity in the science classroom, Gee suggests students must project their own values and desires into being a ‘virtual scientist’. They must decide on what type of person they want this scientist to be and what type of history this person will have. Will they be persistent, resilient when facing failure, collaborative, a risk taker or even creative? It is not just role-playing. Students proactively build a virtual identity, a certain type of person with a certain type of history. What they are trying to do is project their own hopes and desires onto that person.  Gee believes that if learners can carry on so far as to take on this projective identity, magic happens. Students have a chance to feel what it’s like to actually be that sort of scientist (or person) they have wanted and built their character in the classroom to be. Be given a chance to take on the virtual identity as a real-world identity. As quoted by Gee, “If learning deeply, student’s learn through the projective identities new values and new ways of being in the world based on a combination of their real-world identities and the virtual identity at stake in the learning. “ 

In final consideration, when you consider using identity work and reflection on identities, that go into the process of playing video games, to improve student’s learning, Gee makes a good point, that it is important for teachers to pick the particular virtual identities and worlds they will create in their classrooms - carefully. If children are learning deeply, they will learn through their projective identities, new values and new ways of being in the world. 

Gee, J. P. (2007). Learning and Identity: What Does it Mean to be a Half-Elf? In What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Game Changer

‘Can digital games, especially well-designed educational games, help reshape our nation’s approach to learning and growing?’ This is the question Ann My Thai, David Lowenstein, Dixie Ching and David Rejeski have sought to answer in their report for The Joan Ganz Cooney Center titled Game Changer: Investing in digital play to advance children’s learning and health. Can it? I don’t know…but I am keen to keep learning more about this new concept.

According to statistics based on American children, three-quarters play computer and video games, and on average children as young as eight can spend as long as they spend in school engaged in media activity (Thai et al, 2009, 6). I think it is fair to say that many children, teenagers and even adults love playing computer games. What the current research out is saying is that instead of seeing computer games as ‘the enemy’ why not harness the potential that they possess to actually add to the learning and education that these students are receiving.

At present more information and research is needed into gaming and education. Throughout their research Thai et al have found that ‘the research has not fully demonstrated with precision why or how they work, as well as how to design them for specific learning goals’ (2009, 7). They believe that in order to really harness the benefits of digital games these issues need to be addressed:

• · Deepening the knowledge base about the benefits and limitations of games for children’s learning;
• · Designing games that increase learning, whether about health, literacy, science, history, or problem-solving;
• · Identifying what elements (i.e., which settings, program interventions, or types of adult guidance) make game-playing more effective;
• · Determining how games can best be integrated into the classroom and other learning environments (2009, 7).

Advances in digital media have had an increasing impact on the transformation of children’s play. Studies have shown that children as early as preschool aged on are ‘actively immersed in play within a new, virtual playground’ (Thai et al, 2009, 11). Research would suggest that children start actively engaging in video game play by around 6 years of age in such mediums as digital games, feeding virtual pets, and creating online identities. This type of engagement has become almost second nature for 21^st century children who have been coined with the term ‘digital natives’ (2009, 11).

Children learning through ‘play’ is a concept that has been highlighted in many research studies of late that focuses on students learning in the digital world as part of a participatory culture. Henry Jenkins in his ‘White Paper’ identifies eleven core skills; play being one of them, which students need to participate within the new media landscape. These new skills, Jenkins believes ‘provide support systems to help youth improve their core competencies as readers and writers’ (2005, 19). These core skills include: play, performance, simulation, appropriation, multitasking, distributed cognition, collective intelligence, judgment, transmedia navigation, networking and negotiation (2005, 21). Many of these skills are developed through game playing.

The role of play in education is one that appears to be increasing and moving away from what traditional schooling consists of. Jenkins describes play as ‘the capacity to experiment with one’s surroundings as a form of problem-solving’ (Thai et al., 2009, 12). Students do this naturally through many different mediums and researchers have long been saying that this type of interaction between students and their environment actually helps in the development of their cognitive skills and would be beneficial in a classroom setting.

When you think about young children, play is an important factor in learning general norms e.g. the triangle block doesn’t fit in the square hole; it fits in this triangle hole here. It is in this relaxed environment that children learn about interactions with others, their environment and the tools/toys they are using. From a psychologist discipline play is considered one of the most important elements involved in child development. It is during this experimental stage that children start to give their cognitive skills a real workout as they are finding out things for themselves and learning how to engage within their environment.

Much of the research I have looked at that promotes video games for learning focuses on the whole cognitive area. Thai et al’s report also does this, but a key part of their research actually focuses on the benefits that video games can offer in terms of children’s health. This I thought was an interesting angle to take as I had thought that most popular opinion would argue that video games are cause for a lot of youth health concerns such as child obesity. As I have done further reading on the topic (and a basic Google scholar search), there seems to be quite a bit of research into this topic.

In their report they state,

“Well-designed digital games show significant potential to promote children’s growth and healthy development. They can foster skills and knowledge that help children with academic learning, as well as habits which contribute to better health” (2009, 18). The report notes that digital games can help in improving children’s health from physical fitness and health promotion to disease management.

There are many various types of games for health on the market. A common one that has the kids off the couch and actively engaging is the Wii Fit series. These games have become very popular over the past few years and have demonstrated great results in improving people’s physical fitness. I had a friend that was trying to lose weight who did half an hour of Wii Fit activities each day (as well as changing her diet) and lost 5kgs in 3 weeks.

Another game that promotes physical health is Dance Dance Revolution a game designed for the Playstation 3 console. It involves players moving their feet on a dance mat following the arrows and directions given on the screen. I have played this game personally and it is a lot of fun and a great workout…I was exhausted afterwards. These types of games would be perfect for a rainy day when the students are stuck in the classroom at lunch due to wet weather policy.

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While these games and many others have been designed to help increase physical fitness while having fun, there are many other games that target different areas such as developing healthy long-term habits and disease management. This featured article gives many examples of different types of games to cover each of these different aspects. I didn’t really know that these types of games existed on the market and am curious to see what else is out there.

This article and others I have read on my journey into the value of video games in education have really opened my eyes to the potential that they poses and the wide array of options that are available.

Welcome to our Video Game Blog

Welcome to our blog all about video games and education.  Over the next few weeks, Prue and Jo will take a look at various journal articles, book chapters, news articles, blogs and gaming websites  in our endeavour to learn and discuss what innovations and impacts this technology is having in the classroom.  We will look at what other people are saying and the wide range of opinions on the topic (Ripten Video Game Blog). To kick off we will both discuss and respond to either a book chapter or journal article.