Читать книгу Using Digital Games as Assessment and Instruction Tools - Ryan L Schaaf - Страница 9

Introduction: The Gamer in All of Us

My seven-year-old son loves to play digital games! Whether on a gaming console or tablet, he enjoys this form of entertainment the most. Although he enjoys reading books, watching movies, and researching using the web, the interactive nature of a video game draws him in. He is proud of his accomplishments during gameplay. My little man boasts about upgrading his characters or unlocking a new tool during gameplay with as much of a sense of pride and accomplishment as he would have for scoring a touchdown in his football game, getting an “A” on his spelling test, or catching a fish. It takes a great deal of work, time, strategy, and commitment to achieve goals during gameplay—perhaps as much as it does to score a touchdown or earn an A on a test. Despite the constant time and mental energy he sacrifices in the pursuit of virtual fame and fortune, my son has fun—deep fun! This book explores what happens when hard work is paired with deep fun; it will help solve the following equation: Hard Work + Deep Fun = ?.

My son is not alone. Young Cordell Steiner, a third-grade student from Minnesota, makes a passionate plea in a TEDx conference for teachers to use digital games in their classrooms for teaching, learning, and assessment (Steiner, 2014). He speaks of the benefits of individualized learning—learning specifically focused on the particular needs of a student. For instance, if a student must learn or review geometric angles, then he or she plays a game where the concept is explored in a highly immersive and interactive manner with immediate feedback. Cordell also conveys the point that games allow players to fail and try again. In traditional forms of classroom assessment, this type of failure is often rewarded with a low grade. If a player fails in a digital game, then the player clicks the reset button (in the game and on the learning process). Truth be told, digital games have a lot to teach our students and a great deal to teach educators about learning and assessment during the digital age.

My son and Cordell are growing up surrounded by digital games. The global video game industry is big business. With projected global revenue of over $80 billion a year, the gaming industry is attracting new users every day. As of 2013, more than 1.2 billion people play some form of digital game. Ninety-one percent of U.S. children between the ages of two and seventeen play video games as of 2011 (NPD Group, 2011).

If the results focus only on teens, then “97% play computer, web, portable, or console games” as indicated by Lenhart et al. (2008) in a Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project survey. Of these teenage video game players, 99 percent of the boys and 94 percent of the girls surveyed said they played some form of video game (Lenhart et al., 2008). Although male players outnumbered female players in 2008, this demographic is quickly changing. When comparing the gender of game players, women over the age of thirty-five outnumber men. This trend in data is quickly changing the preconceived notion that digital games are played only by male teens in isolated, dark basements at all hours of the night. More and more people from all walks of life are picking up a controller, downloading an app, or logging into these imaginative worlds for entertainment.

The popularity of gaming has not gone unnoticed. Corporate powerhouses such as McDonald’s, Nike, and Starbucks use elements of games to bolster their customer loyalty programs and boost sales (Chou, 2013). Other companies such as Cold Stone Creamery, the Miller Brewing Company, Bank of America, Marriott, Canon, Pfizer, and Cisco Systems use digital games or simulations to train their employees in skills involving human resources, customer service, or professional development (Entertainment Software Association, 2014; Kane & Meyers, 2010; Malhoit, 2012; University of Colorado Denver, 2010). Even the military, which is grounded in decades of tradition and is very particular in how it trains its recruits, uses digital games as recruiting and training tools. Video games have become ubiquitous in today’s digital culture.

Gaming’s next logical step is to integrate into the field of education. Although in the past digital games were adopted sparsely in small pockets of classrooms, the meteoric rise of gaming’s mainstream popularity and appeal has caused educators to take another serious look at digital games as tools and learning environments for deep, fun, and engaging learning.

From Entertainment to Edutainment to Education

Playing digital games is a popular form of entertainment—this is a fairly safe assumption to make. Simple real-world observations attest to gaming’s connection to our youth. Go to a restaurant such as Buffalo Wild Wings, and the restaurant passes out tablets for its patrons’ children to use. On each tablet (besides germs and barbeque sauce) are digital games ready to engage children in gameplay, allowing their parents to have a conversation that doesn’t involve children’s television shows like Barney or Teletubbies. This recurring pattern of turning over mobile devices to children is occurring elsewhere. A quick scan at restaurants, in the backseats of cars, or in homes draws a simple, crystal-clear conclusion—our youth love to ingest media: “Seventy-two percent of children age 8 and under have used a mobile device for some type of media activity such as playing games, watching videos, or using apps” (Rideout, 2013). These children, the members of the always-on generation, are growing up with hundreds of ways to consume and produce information using media.

The members of the digital generation do not believe they live two separate lives, one digital and one real. They exist in both worlds simultaneously—a form of hybrid consciousness. According to Catherine Beavis (2012), “Popular culture and the digital world are an important part of many children’s lives. Computer games, virtual worlds and social networking sites are seamlessly integrated into their everyday work, relationships and play” (p. 17). What the digital generation learns and experiences digitally is just as relevant to these learners as their real-world experiences.

The adults in charge of the always-on generation must understand that these students learn differently and use different tools and approaches to accomplish their academic growth. In previous generations, there were three ways to communicate with friends—by telephone, via mail, or in person. In today’s world, the digital world, the digital generation has hundreds of ways to connect with friends. In the past, students consulted encyclopedias to search for information. Today, this generation uses Siri, Wikipedia, and Google to find facts and resources for its research. Previous generations of children were free to play outside from dawn until dusk with little to no adult supervision. Nowadays, the fear of predators has forced more and more children into their homes. They are not allowed to loiter at shopping malls or after school, so they connect digitally. The digital generation plays video games, watches and records YouTube videos, and shares its life experiences using social networks such as Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat.

In addition, these generations of children are far from being the first to flock to media at such a young age. After fifty triumphant years of entertaining children, Saturday morning cartoons are no more. Children simply don’t want to settle for a single morning a week of media programmed especially for them. Interactive media forms (such as digital games) are like brain candy to the digital generation and provide colorful, high-quality, highly expressive, and realistic graphics for them to ingest at their convenience. Although media like television, books, pictures, and music have an important role in communicating information, to some extent, interaction with these media can be a one-way street. Now this is not an assault on television, books, pictures, and music. They are still powerful forms of communication. However, in most cases viewers cannot alter a story line, change music lyrics, or change a static image. In digital games, the player controls the story line, characters, and outcomes in the game—giving young gamers a sense of ownership for the first time in their lives.

Using digital games to teach students is not a new endeavor. Edutainment is the process of educating through the use of popular forms of entertainment. In the 1980s, students were introduced to the first desktop computers. The Apple IIc introduced students to The Oregon Trail, Number Munchers, and Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? Despite the fun and excitement of these early learning games, many students failed to make the connection to what each game or tool was trying to convey to them. The main reason for this: teachers didn’t know how to implement these tools for deep, immersive learning. First, they lacked extensive training. The computers and games looked intriguing. Students would practice basic mathematics facts or explore geography and history, but once the game was over, where did it fit into the classroom? Many teachers let students play in isolation to keep students occupied during non-instructional filler time. Next, classrooms lacked enough computer workstations to attempt a widespread integration effort. Computers were very expensive and were purchased by schools over an extended period of time. Finally, there was a lack of game inventory to choose from—learning video games were still in their infancy, so there were slim pickings for teachers. These reasons relegated these early video games to the role of edutainment or fun digital centers to visit after students’ “real” work was completed.

As computer hardware and digital technologies evolved, digital learning games became more relevant to students, teachers, and parents. Many factors added to this newfound relevance involving gaming and learning. First, the prices for computers and mobile devices have decreased tremendously. Schools and parents now have the capability to buy desktop computers, laptops, tablets, or smartphones. Next, there is a wider range and variety of digital learning games to choose from. Every age level, every content area, and every technological platform now has an extensive catalog of games for purchase or download. Finally, other forms of nontraditional educational media such as video, social media, and web-based tools are more widely adopted and used at home and in schools. Parents would much rather have their kids play and learn on PBS KIDS online than another website they deem noneducational. In schools, educators are adopting new tools to teach with every day. Years ago, showing a YouTube video to a class would have been considered taboo. Nowadays, many educators are seeing the value of using video content to enrich their daily lessons. The times and tools in today’s classroom have changed.

Traditional educational theorists such as Jean Piaget, John Dewey, Immanuel Kant, and Friedrich Fröebel indicate the power of play in childhood development and learning (Huang & Plass, 2009). As we fast-forward to the age of computers and the creation of the new digital landscape, the forms of play have evolved and multiplied extensively (although the old ways still work). The members of the digital generation play video games for fun and experience powerful learning in the virtual worlds they are immersed in. In these digital spaces, students are provided opportunities to learn through failure, take control of their actions, collaborate, and achieve goals with constant praise and reward. In many of these games and virtual worlds, there are opportunities to learn new content and explore new concepts.

Mathematician, computer scientist, and educator Seymour Papert helps link the educational theories of the past to the practices educators are using in today’s classrooms. He was perhaps the first “concerned with digital tools and children. His awareness that children effectively think differently than adults, and that their cognitive evolution requires designing rich toolkits and environments rather than force-feeding knowledge, has set the tone for decades of research” (Blikstein, 2013). Many digital games provide these rich toolkits and environments Papert refers to.

More and more teachers are using digital games in the classroom (Takeuchi & Vaala, 2014). The Cooney Center survey, which interviewed almost seven hundred K–8 teachers, focuses on understanding the ways teachers are using digital games in the classroom. Over 75 percent of teachers surveyed report using digital games in their classrooms. That is an increase of over 25 percent since 2012. “Teachers say they want to use digital games to deliver standards-based content and assess student knowledge and skills,” says Cooney Center’s senior director and research scientist (and survey designer) Lori Takeuchi. “But they’re mixed on how effective games have been in doing these things” (Korbey, 2014).

Alas, this struggle is a popular one when integrating digital games into classrooms. Teachers are under the preconceived notion that teaching has to be standard in a standards-based curriculum. Nothing is further from the truth. Although academic standards dictate what knowledge or skills educators must help engrain into their students, the strategies and methods at the educators’ disposal are not mandated. Using a fun, immersive, and engaging medium such as digital gaming invigorates lessons while still addressing Common Core State Standards or state, district, or local content standards.

This text helps educators integrate digital games into K–12 lessons. In chapter 1, readers uncover potential video games by exploring the numerous outlets and platforms they can search through. By chapter 2, readers first learn how to evaluate digital games for potential use then gain numerous instructional strategies to use with students. Next, chapter 3 introduces the idea of using digital games as summative and formative assessment tools for valuable insights into student performance. Finally, this text offers readers numerous takeaways for educators that are indoctrinated into using digital games for teaching and assessment. Using Digital Games as Assessment and Instruction Tools provides an easy-to-use resource for locating games to incorporate into lessons based on the content of the game. Dozens of assessment and instructional strategies are introduced and summarized for easy replication in classrooms of all grade levels. Readers will be able to participate in curating effective digital games for other educators to use in their classrooms.

Teachers Versus Facilitators

Throughout this text, the term teacher is used less and less. It will be replaced with the term facilitator. This isn’t an insult to teachers or their time-honored profession—it is just a term that better describes what role an educator assumes when utilizing digital game–based learning (DGBL). In traditional classroom settings, the teacher is the ultimate source of information. However, using games as instructional tools takes the focus off of teachers to provide information to students. In this learning approach, students use digital games as tools and virtual environments to explore new concepts and learn new information. In DGBL, students become the star and center of their own learning.

Game-based learning promotes a student-centered approach to instruction. Digital games allow teachers to step out of the spotlight during instruction and become guides in the classroom, rather than the source of all information. Students today prefer not to be lectured at, or to receive information from one source. They prefer to generate their own knowledge from the readily available resources (digital and human) around them. Students prefer participatory, collaborative learning communities in which the teacher assumes the role of facilitator or guide to help students as needed, to steer them when necessary, and to provide them with the resources and means to solve problems. (Schaaf & Mohan, 2014, p. 8)

Some educators might fear that the teaching profession will be replaced by digital technologies. The truth is the new tools and approaches teachers use to facilitate learning for their students will merely transform their role in classrooms. Change can be a scary ordeal, especially for educators who have taught for over ten, fifteen, or even twenty years and are comfortable with their teaching style: “Under these circumstances, an effective approach is to begin by starting small and selecting one lesson. By easing into this model, teachers can learn how to adopt a potentially powerful, appealing, and effective approach to learning” (Schaaf & Mohan, 2014, p. 8).

Educators must remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day. With practice, experimentation, and patience, new teaching approaches can reinvigorate the learning process for educators and students alike.