Game Based Learning .:: Video Games, Social Media & Learning ::.

Computer games as learning tools, who'd have thought it? Those modern day folk devils that up until recently have lurked in children's bedrooms are now not only sitting centre stage in living rooms but also, now in classrooms! What on earth is going on you may ask? What on earth has a game for the Wii, the Xbox360, DS or PSP got to do with the world of school? I mean, aren’t these machines just frivolous time wasters that induce cognitive stagnation, cause obesity and turn our children into bedroom dwelling loners?!

Well take another look I say, but not at the world of worthy edutainment titles that children have tolerated for years in school and also not particularly in the direction of Serious Games. No, take a long hard look at the world of commercially available computer games that you can buy from any high street store and wonder at how many of these resources are not just great fun but designed around the principles that underpin the most effective teaching and learning.

Good teachers know about creating contexts for learning. You know, a collaborative story or a process of enquiry that provides a supportive framework upon which a teacher can build on what learners already know and can do in order to move them forward and continually bridge the zone of proximal development. Good teachers know about differentiation, adjusting the learning to suit the abilities and pace of a learner. Good teachers know about progression and continuity that allows the learner to develop a skill or knowledge set from the position of novice into that of someone with mastery and confidence in what they have been learning. Good games do all of these things and more and in the hands of good teachers they have the potential to do great things.

In schools in Scotland we have been working with very many teachers to retro-fit commercial off the shelf games in to the teaching and learning that happens in nursery, primary and secondary classes.  We have put Dr Kawashima for the Nintendo DS in to P.6 to impact on mental maths attainment; we have used games such as Endless Ocean, Nintendogs and Guitar Hero to become the contextual hub about which a whole series of cross-curricular learning can take place. We have even issued the completion of Chapter 1 of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney as homework to S.2 pupils prior to classroom exploration of the narrative and a whole host of creative writing activities.

The pupils that we work with, test or interview talk so enthusiastically about learning through games. Reluctant writers talk about being inspired to write because of the worlds of the games and the images that they find themselves immersed in. Children identified as having lesser ability in maths are observed to be more confident and able in mental maths. Teachers talk about children buying in to earning through games because it’s something that is from their world. We need to ensure that school is a place that children want to be. I am definitely not saying that school is completely broken and that only commercial games can fix it but we need to look at the experiences that school presents to our children.  School as it is works for many children but it clearly doesn’t work for many others. Our work with commercial games may have its success in the idea that we are somehow meeting children on their own terms by introducing what we want them to learn in the context of something that sits comfortably within a domain that they belong to, a domain in which they have ownership, mastery and expertise. For many children the domain of the computer game is on in which they are very comfortable. But for many children the domain of the school with its uniform, curriculum, curriculum architecture etc. is a domain in which they are a visitor. Shouldn’t learners be resident in the domains in which their learning takes place?  If we can somehow enable these domains to intersect then maybe we can re-engage the learner for whom school isn’t working and ensure that they are at home in school.  We are finding that games are helping us do this.

Let’s not forget the importance of the teacher here though. The teachers that we work with talk in the most excited and animated fashion about the learning that has been happening in their class via games technologies, and how much they have enjoyed what has been happening. What they don’t talk about are the technical difficulties and worries that many teachers experience when using traditional ICTs. Why is this? What is it about games that is enabling a ‘focus on the teach and not the tech?’ Almost all games consoles have a low technology skills threshold.  You get almost instantaneous success when using a games device. A well-designed and accessible HCI partnered by an engaging game structured around context, differentiation, progression and continuity ensures this.  If only all ICT in-service and CPD was this easy…

The games industry knows how to engage challenge and reward its audience.  We have talked about how it already uses context, how it differentiates for ability, how progression and continuity is embedded in the game play experience. Maybe, just maybe we have something to learn from an industry that is already talking the language that teachers understand.

Let’s get the games out and let’s get learning.

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