I have long been thinking about gaming and its potential for use in educational settings. This first post on this issue outlines some of my ideas and their genesis.
1. I began thinking about computers, gaming and education through exposure to some great models. One of my earliest influences to educational gaming involved MOOs and MUDs – virtual environments that could be social, collaboarative, and potentially useful in developing learning spaces. Significant texts related to this area of gaming are Sherry Turkle’s “Life on the Screen“, Howard Rheingold’s “The Virtual Community” (full text linked here) as well as a dissertation by Amy Bruckman on her online environment and software called MOOSE Crossing. Taking in all this information, I developed a MOO for English as a Second Language Students that allowed them to practice English in a text-only online environment. The MOO (I dubbed MOOESL) was up for around 6 months when I discovered other text-based multi-user environments at a TESOL conference in Seattle. It seems I was thinking along the same lines as another group who had developed SchMOOze University for ESL adult students.
2. Another component of my experience and interest in digital game based learning involved following the innovative educational software approach of Tom Snyder productions. In the 1990′s they had some amazing things developed including software with lesson materials called “Rainforest Researchers“, “Science Court” “Decisions, Decisions” and other well-developed simulations geared toward a specific goal for K-12 learners. What made these software packages so useful was the inclusion of Audio/Video, and problem solving in groups to reach a goal. The team oriented approach was quite interesting and I used these programs with several courses I taught at the University of Cincinnati.
3. While group-based software simulations present one part of digital game based learning, simulations such as Sim City, Oregon Trail, and others by a company called Maxis were extremely entertaining. The most educational of these, however was Maxis’ “Sim Park” which introduced students to biodiversity, identification of plant and animal species, problem solving in the identification process, and the abiliity to work over time in a system that contains sets of rules. This approach spanned numerous titles including “The Sims” which essentially tries to replicate human interaction through communities of people. While the Sims is now online, Second Life, the recently developed 3-D online community, seems to be an outgrowth of this technology. One way I adapted this simple gaming concept is through a matching game combined with audio files to learn a Turkish and English version of Old McDonald.
4. Having this background led me to ideas about training proposed by Roger C. Schank. He wrote several books relating to educational and training applications for simulation. His company developed software to help with training using animated characters, personalizing the simulation approach by posing probing questions to learners providing opportunities for problem solving. Schank also wrote a book called “Engines for Education” that is still available online as a text tailored to be read by various individuals in different order based upon most relevant sections. One might call this a smart book. Schank also work with Harvard Business school to develop training and simultations along these lines. More recently, he updated this ideas in a book for ASTD about training using simulation.
5. Even more recently, Marc Prensky wrote “Digital Game Based Learning” and “Don’t Bother Me Mom, I’m Learning” describing an idea put forth by Prensky in an article called “Digital Immigrants, Digital Natives” that described the recent attempts by “Digital Immigrants” (those who did not always have access and exposure to digital technologies as a lifestyle” to teach “Digital Natives” (young adults who always grew up having computers all around them.) According to Prensky, these teaching experiences sometimes proved problematic for Digital Immigrants because these instructors don’t speak the same language as the natives. Prensky suggests that teaching should be fundamentally re-evaluated to bridge this gap and approach the learner in a way that reaches their true learning potential. He goes so far as to state that Digital Natives have minds that work differently from the minds of those teaching them. Thus, there is less understanding on the part of instructors of how to reach students who don’t respond to the same cues and assessments that might have worked well 10 years ago. For me, ”Digital Game-Based Learning” was a fantastic reading and learning experience. For a taste of this, his earlier article is online. Digital Immigrants, Digital Natives. Marc Prensky‘s website contains numerous recent articles on Digital Game-Based Learning.
6. Several simulations have been created to accompany higher-education courses in order to train students in a variety of disciplines. A couple to start off thinking about higher education course-related simulations are:
Teaching Human Rights Online
Glo-Bus Business Strategy Simulation
7. As I continue thinking about game-based learning, I also bring in some significant ideas about how people learn from B.F. Skinner and Behaviorism as well as a more social constructivist approach from David Jonassen – particularly his book “Learning to Solve Problems.” Studying the ways in which people solve problems is a study in how people put information together into a usable whole.
These influences have led me to a place now where I ask myself, in the immortal words of “Joshua” the defense department computer from the movie “War Games”, “Would you like to play a game?”
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