According to Boyer, scholarship is the generating and acquiring of knowledge through research or teaching and involves four functions: discovery, integration, application and teaching (Veletsianos, 2012). Unsworth describes the basic functions of scholarship as discovering, annotating, comparing, referring, sampling, illustrating and representing (Weller, 2011). These activities can be carried out in a traditional analogue manner or enacted using digital tools and workflows. Contemporary scholars are using technology, to varying degrees, to undertake the scholarship activities that Boyer describes.
When I included this paragraph in my digital scholarship interpretive discussion paper it prompted me to reflect on my own digital practices. How have I enacted these functions in my own scholarly activities at CSU over the past three years?
Produced a learning module (collaboratively) for teacher professional development
utilised a variety of open resources developed by other educators
My studies at CSU have contributed greatly to me being an open, digital and networked scholar (Weller, 2011). Before my studies, as a teacher librarian, I was already sharing openly online (mainly in the area of curation) and had begun to develop a personal learning network (PLN) but I have been exposed to so many more possibilities in the last three years.
Is your experience similar or different to mine? What tools would be in your digital scholarship toolkit?
During colloquium two with Mike Hourahine of Think Global School, the following question was posed, what is the purpose of education? Mike refined the question further and commented that the purpose of required secondary education is essentially to prepare students for university, whether they are suited to it or not. This comment resonated with me because I have been contemplating what school could be like without the constraint of assessment for tertiary admission. Mike believes it is important that students learn how to learn, learn about themselves and be able to collaborate, and Think Global School attempts to do this by building changemakers.
I had not encountered the term changemakers in K-12 education so I went looking for examples other than Think Global School and found the Ashoka Changemaker Schools website. Like Think Global School, they want students to thrive in a modern world and find solutions to complex problems. According to the information on the Ashoka Changemaker Schools website (n.d.), a changemaker is:
an active contributor
thinks boldly
asks why?
wants to make a positive change in their community
actively solves problems
They also identified the skills required to be a changemaker:
empathy
creativity
thoughtfulness
leadership
teamwork
I could not find any evidence of schools in Australia promoting themselves as changemaker schools. However, I do think some schools attempt aspects of a changemaker curriculum using project-based learning or through extra-curricular programmes. I have come across students who are aspiring changemakers within our social justice programme, however this is an extra-curricular activity and not part of the curriculum.
Changemaker schools are re-imagining education despite the challenges. This video explains more about the movement and the challenges they have faced.
I am sharing this subject with some familiar people who I have interacted with in online meetings, forums and Twitter, and collaborated with using wikis, shared documents and Google hangouts. I have enjoyed the participatory aspects of my studies immensely and have learned so much from my peers as well as the subject coordinators. Feeling isolated is a common complaint about online learning but I believe my decision to make myself visible, contribute in the forums and reflect openly on my blog and Twitter has mitigated this feeling, and instead I have felt connected to people who I have never even met in real life. Does this make me a modern learner?
The first guest colloquium with Bruce Dixon founder of Anywhere, Anytime Learning Foundation and Modern Learners discussed what it is to be a modern learner today and whether schools are meeting the needs of modern learners. Along with Will Richardson he has produced a white paper 10 principles for schools of modern learning to help school leaders reimagine, redefine and transform student learning in schools. The general consensus amongst participants was that the current Australian school system and some international systems are too dependent on testing and assessment to truly meet the needs of modern learners. Bruce advocates change in the current model of schooling so that schools can develop students who are “deep, powerful, curious, agile learners” (Richardson & Dixon, 2017). In the colloquium he elaborated that modern learners are inquiry-based, social learners (connected) and self-directed. I think that according to the aforementioned quote, I possess the attributes of a modern learner. During the colloquium Bruce suggested that we learn best when learning is relevant to our context and and I have appreciated that I have been given agency to direct some of my own learning experiences during this course.
I am excited that I have been given an optional extra opportunity (along with INF532) to connect with a class at Rutgers University in the USA. Although this commitment places additional demands on my time, I believe this online global interaction will be very worthwhile. It will put network learning into practice for me, expose me to new tools, ideas and people.
Google Hangout for CSU/Rutgers University Online Global Interaction
The depth of discussion that has already taken place in the INF537 forums and during the colloquium has been a bit overwhelming but I am doing my best to keep up and contribute. The subject I did last session was not as interactive and participatory so I am grateful that this cohort of modern learners is so giving and dynamic because discussion really helps my understanding.
I took up the challenge in module 4.1 to select a game from the top ten list of AAA titles and an interactive fiction game and explore the communities, networks and knowledge systems that support them. From the top ten AAA titles I chose Minecraft and the interactive fiction game I chose was 80 Days.
I am familiar with web communities in general but because I do not play digital games I had never encountered game related communities. Interest-driven sites or affinity spaces are where players go to engage further with the game (Gee, 2012). These affinity spaces include forums, wikis, cheats, videos, reviews, fan-fiction, mods and social media.
Affinity spaces offer powerful opportunities for learning, Gee argues, because they are sustained by common endeavors that bridge differences—age, class, race, gender, and educational level—and because people can participate in various ways according to their skills and interests, because they depend on peer-to-peer teaching with each participant constantly motivated to acquire new knowledge or refine their existing skills, and because they allow each participant to feel like an expert while tapping the expertise of others. (Jenkins, Weigel, Clinton & Robinson, 2009)
I have curated two Pearltrees boards to illustrate these communities and the enormous amount of time and effort players go to to expand upon their game experience, learn more about their chosen games and help others.
As an individual and an information professional I relate to this kind of information seeking behaviour. After I watch a film or read a book I often want to learn more and delve deeper into the themes, location and setting by reading reviews and forum postings. I am a consumer and have not become an active participant or creator by contributing to such spaces. I admire the passion that many game players have to contribute to such knowledge networks.
References
Gee, J. P. (2012). Digital games and libraries. Knowledge Quest, 41(1), 60-64.
Henry Jenkins , R. P., Margaret Weigel, Katie Clinton, Alice Robinson. (2009). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Retrieved from https://www.macfound.org/media/article_pdfs/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF
I studied Psychology as part of my undergraduate degree so I was drawn to the readings on game and player types. In 1996 Bartle recognised that not all players are the same and devised a taxonomy of player types. This video explains his theory.
Retrieved from https://youtu.be/yxpW2ltDNow
Westwood & Griffiths (2010) describe six types of gamers and infer that they prefer certain types of games.
Created by K. Malbon
Player types serve as a guide for game designers in developing games but they can also be of use to educators. Educators need to be aware that just as students like different genres of books and movies, they may prefer certain genres of games. This has implications for game based learning because one game will not necessarily motivate or engage every student. It also highlights how difficult it is to design educational games to meet pedagogical goals. Such challenges were evident in the study by Markey & Leeder (2011) where a game was built to teach information literacy concepts.
Westwood, D., & Griffiths, M. D. (2010). The Role of Structural Characteristics in Video-Game Play Motivation: A Q-Methodology Study. CyberPsychology, Behavior & Social Networking, 13(5), 581-585. doi:10.1089/cyber.2009.0361
I enjoy reading fiction in my leisure time because it is relaxing and allows me to leave my ordinary world behind and enter another. I empathise with characters, learn new things and experience a range of emotions through language and narrative. When I am immersed in an enthralling storyline nothing else matters. Reading is mostly a solitary activity for me but can also be social through discussions of books with family and friends either face-to-face or online.
While reading the article The structural characteristics of video games: a psycho-structural analysis (Wood, Griffiths, Chappell & Davies, 2004) it struck me that game players enjoy video games for many of the same reasons that I enjoy reading fiction. According to the article the following psychological features contribute to the enjoyment of games:
ability to enter a fantasy world and escape from our ordinary lives
losing track of time when playing
impact on our mood, emotions and arousal levels
These psychological features sound very familiar to me as a fiction reader and help me to understand why games are such a compelling leisure activity for so many people.
I spoke to three mature digital game players (40 years plus) about the features of digital games that were important to them. Two played various games on Facebook such as Candy Crush, Farmville and Criminal Case and the other played chess online against other people. The chess player was competitive and wanted to achieve a high ranking, while the other two said competing or interacting with/against friends was most important to them. This illustrates the importance of the social side of games that Wood, Griffiths, Chappell & Davies allude to in the aforementioned article (2004). Realistic sound was a high ranking feature in their study, closely followed by graphics. Neither of these characteristics were deemed important to the three players I spoke to. Interestingly the two players of Facebook games mute the sound when they play as they find it annoying (and I would suggest unrealistic). All three said games were an enjoyable leisure time activity that they experienced daily if they had the time, just like I do with my reading.
References
Wood, R. T. A., Griffiths, M. D., Chappell, D., & Davies, M. N. O. (2004). The Structural Characteristics of Video Games: A Psycho-Structural Analysis. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 7(1), 1-10. doi:10.1089/109493104322820057
This blog post documents my experience with the digital game Ingress. Ingress is a multiplayer location-based mobile game (LBMG) that utilises the features of mobile devices such as GPS and location data and adds augmented reality (Hulsey & Reeves, 2014). These technical features are combined with a detailed narrative supported by websites, videos and social media. The Ingress app requires the player to get outside and explore the real world using their mobile device to discover “portals” located at significant landmarks. The following beginners guide video explains Ingress in more detail.
Retrieved from https://youtu.be/HgvHV155gvo
Resistance Agent kleem9’s experience with Ingress
Here is a timeline of my first encounter with Ingress. I was quite pleased that I figured out the basic features of the app and looked forward to having more time to explore the game over the Easter break as Resistance Agent kleem9.
My second attempt took a more targeted approach and I was so immersed that I lost track of time. I was thrilled when I levelled up and captured portals but disappointed that my attacks on enemy portals were unsuccessful. How could I improve?
I decided to utilise the community aspect of Ingress and joined the Resistance Melbourne Community. I participated in a new agent chat and found out that I was on the right track by hacking as many portals as I could and by capturing neutral portals. I also found out that I probably would not be successful in attacking enemy portals until I was level 6. I did a walk along the Yarra River at Heide and Fairfield with my sister (who was not interested in the game at all despite my attempts) to get more resources and access points.
I am already intrinsically motivated to exercise so I incorporated my play into my usual daily exercise routine and was was playing alone. I intended to keep playing the game for a few more days but I got sick and did not have the energy. Playing Ingress is time consuming and other interests compete especially when you are working full time and studying part time. The gaming experience was initially compelling but my interest waned as it became a bit repetitive.
Positive aspects of Ingress for me
physically active
enjoyed discovering new things in my neighbourhood
improved my navigational skills
could be played with family or friends
ability to connect to a community of players
Negative aspects of Ingress for me
resource heavy – battery life and data
Narrative did not appeal to me and was intimidating for a new player
Security – could I be tracked?
Time consuming
Educational applications
While playing Ingress it is clear that it could have educational applications in almost every subject area. Without much thought the following came to mind:
Geography – navigation, mapping and spatial skills
Mathematics – measurement and geometry
History – stories behind landmarks, exploration of conflict
Art – study of landmarks artistic qualities, creation of artistic works based on the game
I don’t know much about augmented reality, the technology that augments the physical world with information, audio, vision or GPS data from virtual sources (“Augmented reality”, 2017). I have heard the term and read a few articles about it in the news but only have a basic understanding of it. Last year I watched on but didn’t get involved with Pokemon Go. I chuckled as I walked past people glued to their phones and wondered what all the fuss was about.
Last week I downloaded Ingress to my phone, put my headphones on and took a five kilometre walk around my neighbourhood figuring out how to hack portals and deploy resonators. To my utter surprise I really enjoyed the experience. I discovered places close to home that I didn’t know existed with the aid of the Ingress app that uses geo-location technologies of GPS, Google Maps and Google Streetview to guide you to portals within the game’s science fiction narrative. Stay tuned for more about my experiences with Ingress in a later blog post.
Now I can see the appeal of games that use augmented reality. Augmented reality can show you things that you are unaware of. I was excited by the application of augmented reality outlined by Jay David Bolter (Art Line, 2013, June 3) where the physical and virtual world combine. Museums, galleries and sites of historical or cultural heritage can be enhanced using your own personal device using augmented reality technology. The video below shows one such example.
It is difficult to predict what the future will hold for augmented reality and virtual reality but it looks exciting for games and education, as long as we are willing to accept change. This idea is explored in the following Ted Talk, Will virtual and augmented reality move us into the knowledge age?
Topic 1 : How might games be used to develop a more socially inclusive classroom or workplace using Gee’s viewpoint?
A socially inclusive classroom endeavours to meet the individual needs of all students (Cologon, 2015). Students are encouraged to learn together with guidance from the teacher who utilises a variety of resources. Games are one such resource that a teacher could employ to cater for the diverse learning needs within a class.
Initially, teachers, such as myself, who have had little experience playing video games may see barriers and tensions rather than opportunities. The traditional role of the teacher is challenged when video games are used in the classroom (Sandford, Facer & Williamson, 2011) and this can be unsettling. At first, barriers such as technology infrastructure and the time required to learn about games seem insurmountable. However these barriers can be overcome if teachers are willing to rethink their teaching (Becker, 2011).
Created by Karen Malbon
According to James Paul Gee, good games incorporate learning principles that can be have a positive impact on education (Turkay, 2014). Gee asserts that video games entertain and motivate people through challenge and learning. Gee’s viewpoint is backed up by cognitive science research (2005) and is persuasive enough to make me rethink the place of games in schools and libraries.
Of the sixteen learning principles described by Gee (2005), the following four resonated with me as beneficial to a socially inclusive classroom; risk taking, customisation, situated meanings and cross-functional teams.
Risk taking
Video games encourage players to take risks and explore. Failure is not the end result but the chance to receive feedback in order to try again (Gee, 2005). Video games provide a safe environment to try out different choices and consider other points of view (Turkay, 2014). Ethical understanding is a general capability in the Australian Curriculum and video games could be useful resources.
Customisation
Many video games allow the player to adjust difficulty levels. The same game could be used within a classroom but differentiated according to the needs of individual students. Students can also customise games in other ways to suit their learning or playing styles (Gee, 2005). For example sounds can be turned on or off. Customisation also assists in managing cognitive load, the mental effort required for a task (Turkay, 2014).
Situated meanings
Video games could improve vocabulary by situating the meaning of words and language within the context of the game. Verbal and non-verbal cues are contained in images, actions and the dialogue of video games (Gee,2005) and could be beneficial to learners with learning difficulties.
Cross-functional teams Massively multiplayer online games rely on a diverse range of skills from multiple players. Players have the opportunity to specialise in a particular skill and contribute to the game. Enjoyment is often derived by the commitment to a common goal and the affiliation with others revolves around this commitment regardless of individual differences (Gee, 2005). Forums, cheat sites, game wikis are learning communities that evolve when players have a shared interest and are part of a participatory culture (Turkay, 2014). In a socially inclusive classroom problem solving, sharing and discussion could leverage different modalities of expression to suit different students.
My concerns about using video games in schools and libraries are beginning to diminish as I become more aware of the relationship video games have with learning theories, learning principles and participatory culture. My next big challenge is to identify games that are suitable for libraries and classrooms. James Paul Gee from New Learning Institute on Vimeo.
References
Becker, K. (2010). Distinctions Between Games and Learning: A Review of Current Literature on Games in Education Gaming and Cognition: Theories and Practice from the Learning Sciences (pp. 22-54). doi:10.4018/978-1-61520-717-6.ch002
Turkay, S., Hoffman, D., Kinzer, C. K., Chantes, P., & Vicari, C. (2014). Toward Understanding the Potential of Games for Learning: Learning Theory, Game Design Characteristics, and Situating Video Games in Classrooms. Computers in the Schools, 31(1/2), 2-22. doi:10.1080/07380569.2014.890879
Last week I perused the most recent NMC/CoSN Horizon Report: 2016 K-12 Edition and identified the trends and developments in educational technology I think are related to game based learning.
Trends
Coding as Literacy is a short-term trend for adoption in one to two years
Students as creators is a short-term trend for adoption in one to two years
Collaborative learning is a mid-term trend for adoption in three to five years
Redesigning learning spaces is a long-term trend for adoption in four to five years
Rethinking how schools work is a long-term trend for adoption in four to five years
Developments in technology
Makerspaces is near term (1 year or less)
Virtual reality is mid-term (2-3 years)
As you can see from the image below, a significant number of trends and developments in technology could involve game based learning. Of particular interest to me as a teacher librarian are Makerspaces. Makerspaces are found in school and public libraries and can support game based learning, STEM and 21st century skills. With this in mind I intend exploring games throughout this subject that could be included in a library Makerspace.
Another area I am interested in exploring is storytelling and games. Writing is a focus at my school this year so this news report How a nonprofit is using video games to strengthen students’ writing skills caught my attention. I feel that this report has clarified the direction I should be heading as a teacher librarian in relation to game based learning.
