Gaming in the Classroom

“Our inherent need for variety and challenge can

be buried by an overwhelming sense of responsibility.”

(Brown, M.D. and Vaughan, 2009)

Imaginations, no matter if you’re a child or an adult, are active; reaching into the future and microscopically seeking a ghost of a result prior to action. We run scenarios through our minds to ‘predict’ an outcome, be it an executive business decision, determining the next move in a chess game, etc. Gaming in the classroom involves educators, as well as students, relying on imagination to reach the next level of education – Classroom 2.0.

The thought of turning a classroom or some parts of it into a video game should not be frowned upon…it should be taken into consideration. I believe it’s worth a thought or two. Long, hard, complex, and arduous video games that has some variation of educational content, holds the interest of a player more so than a video game with not much substance to it. Why not do the same in the classroom?

 Keeping students engaged isn’t always easy. So why not try something that is close to their hearts? Like bringing a video game format into your curriculum, which is sure to peak their interest. It’s a sweeping concept that is slowly coming to ‘life’ in some classrooms.

“Ongoing research shows that students learn more quickly
and easily with instruction across multiple modalities or
through a variety of media. So educators are eager for new
 tools, especially ones that are a hit with students.”
(Weir, 2011)

Traditional teaching is about learning factual information and remembering those facts while taking written tests. One element is missing though….knowledge application. Being able to apply the knowledge you’ve learned is an essential element in a student’s learning process. Integrating a video game format into your curriculum brings excitement, the opportunity to apply knowledge and logical thinking, and satisfies multiple learning styles.

Taking a page from Lee Sheldon….

Lee Sheldon decided to redefine how his students learn. Thinking outside the box, he found a way to integrate video games into his curriculum. His grading system correlates with experience points (XP) instead of traditional grades (A, B, C, D, and F). All students begin with a level one avatar with zero XP, however, as they complete ‘quests’, conquer ‘monsters’, and craft ‘spells’ they earn XP. Of course, the more XP earned the better. Students can reach level twelve with as much as 1,800 XP or more. Simply put, quests can be giving presentations, monsters can be taking quizzes/tests, and spells can be researching. Groups or ‘guilds’ complete quests and can merge with other guilds for special quests.

Integrating elements of a video game into your curriculum isn’t hard to do. I believe it’s worth some serious thought. Adding this learning tool could make your classroom more enticing, memorable, and attractive.

References

Aamoth, D. (2010). College Game design Classes Graded Like World of Warcraft. Retrieved March 28, 2011 from http://techland.time.com/2010/03/18/college-game-design-classes-graded-like-world-of-warcraft/

Brown, M.D., S. with Vaughan, C. (2009). Play: how it shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul.  New York, NY: The Penguin Group.

Weir, L. (2011). Wii Love Learning: Using Gaming Technology to Engage Students: Put today's hottest game console to educational use. Retrieved March 28, 2011 from http://www.edutopia.org/ikid-wii-gaming-technology-classroom

Resources

1. Build Your Own Sheldon Syllabus - http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2010/03/build-your-own-sheldon-syllabus.html Digital Media and Learning as an Emerging Field, Part I: How We Got Here - http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/full/10.1162/ijlm.2009.0011
2. Notes & Observations: Additional Notes on the Syllabus & Observations - http://gamingtheclassroom.wordpress.com/notes-observations/
3. T366 Multiplayer Game Design Post Mortem - http://gamingtheclassroom.wordpress.com/t366-multiplayer-game-design-post-mortem/