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.