I'm still only a few days removed from the 2009 Games, Learning and Society conference - just enough time to begin reflecting, though not enough time to fully make sense of it all yet. Be that as it may, I wanted to take a few minutes and at least recap some of the sessions/ ideas that were explored during my stay in Madison. There are some bigger thoughts brewing as well, but they may still require a few more days of ripening before they are ready to pick off the vine. So I'll try and keep this somewhat brief (or at least bite sized). Stay tuned for slightly more reflective post or two. Now for some general thoughts/ recaps. Stay tuned for more posts to come.
Augmented Reality
ARG/ Moble gaming experiences were well represented at this year's GLS. Arizona State's SMALLab (video below) was a cool example of a game based non traditional learning space. Who needs a Microsoft Surface when you can have an entire room? The presenters, who I did not have a chance to speak to personally, stressed that it was a relatively low cost solution - but the specifics of that cost as well as the development demands associated with building for it were not covered in detail.
Two other interesting examples were Re:Activism (a game out of Parsons' PETLab, which incorporates SMS and Amazing Race style challenges to get people to visit the site of famous activist moments in Manhattan) and Mentira (a reality game out of the University of New Mexico, which used location aware mobile devices to encourage students to solve a mystery, while interacting with members of the locale community and learning Spanish in the city of Albuquerque).
Wheres the (Commercial Gaming) Beef?
Admittedly I'm biased since this is an area of particular interest to me, but I was a bit disappointed by the lack of sessions that dealt with the use of commercial games for educational purposes. Or perhaps, more specifically, commercial games that are not titled "World of Warcraft". I absolutely love the work that so many groups and institutions are doing with regard to custom built games. But in many cases, these games are created to suit the needs of a specific demographic, often at the cost of substantial time or financial resources. Some of these solutions are looking to position themselves as a platform upon which other educators can eventually build and add additional content. Some, but not all. The result was several, very interesting, extremely well thought out games ideas that can't really be applied outside of the context in which they were developed.
Bringing ideas back home to apply in your own way is a huge part of the conference experience and I most certainly don't attend GLS just to survey the tools that I can use. But it feels like a missed opportunity not to discuss the $60 off the shelf title that any teacher could purchase, for the x year, x hundred thousand dollar project that only a handful of institutions or groups could replicate.
And , though I was excited about many of the games on display, I would be lying if I told you that my Stubby sense doesnt start to tingle when I hear educators talk about game design. I say that being an educational game designer =) I'm just saying.
The Reflecting Pool
One thing that really excited me to see was the degree to which teachers were using games as a means to inspire discussion and reflection. Games are the means to a separate ends, and its fantastic to see so many educators understanding that. I was particularly impressed with the Mission America team, who have built an RPG like experience with multiple decision points, meaning that two students might experience the game (and the events it portrays) from two totally different perspectives depending on their decisions. Students are then brought together and given the opportunity to learn from each other.
The idea that games must be paired with reflection and discussion is not a new one, but its often an under-appreciated principle, and it was good to see it out in full force at GLS.
Pecha What?
Pecha Kutcha, a micro presentation format which allows a presenter 20 slides (or images), which can be displayed for 20 seconds each (timed), was on display at GLS. Its a wonderful, socially considerate way to shut down the long talkers, who seem to be multiplying in the age of the endless powerpoint presentation.
An interesting take on the lightning talk that, as you can probably imagine, has both strengths and weakness. I happened to experience a well planned presentation. But I could also see how it could quickly spiral into a rushed, panicked disaster in the hands of the wrong presenter.
The Remix
One of the more interesting concepts to come out of GLS (though I hesitate to call it a game) was on display with Young American Heroes - a history experienced designed to help students build empathy with famous characters or human moments from America's past. Dramatized historical clips are used to set the scene for key historical moments, then paused during key cliffhanger moments. Students must then consult primary stories in order to finish the story, by building out a graphic novel scene. When finished, they compare their comic interpretation to how the actual scene turned out.
As I said, not exactly a game, but still a pretty slick way to get students engaging content.
Contrary To Popular Belief
Lawrence Kutner, co-author of Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games, gave an excellent closing keynote which touched our America's history of trying to ban and condemn new media which it perceived as potentially detrimental to the public good (to the point of absurdity). He also, as one would expect, shared the findings explained in his book - namely that the effects of video game violence are more a product of the political/ media hype machine than real science. And Kutner should know - he's done the research (with more than 1200 kids) and serves as director of Harvard Medical School's Center for Mental Health and Media.
Kutner's keynote was as clearly articulated as his book - which I highly recommend to anyone concerned with violent video games and children. There are a few risks - but they probably arent the ones you think. Kutner also offered up the quotes of the conference. "People never let data interfere with their preconceived notions" and "What we hear depends on what we're listening for".
Sessions Attended
Augmented Reality
ARG/ Moble gaming experiences were well represented at this year's GLS. Arizona State's SMALLab (video below) was a cool example of a game based non traditional learning space. Who needs a Microsoft Surface when you can have an entire room? The presenters, who I did not have a chance to speak to personally, stressed that it was a relatively low cost solution - but the specifics of that cost as well as the development demands associated with building for it were not covered in detail.
SMALLab @ Arizona State University - 2009 from aisling kelliher on Vimeo.
Two other interesting examples were Re:Activism (a game out of Parsons' PETLab, which incorporates SMS and Amazing Race style challenges to get people to visit the site of famous activist moments in Manhattan) and Mentira (a reality game out of the University of New Mexico, which used location aware mobile devices to encourage students to solve a mystery, while interacting with members of the locale community and learning Spanish in the city of Albuquerque).
Wheres the (Commercial Gaming) Beef?
Admittedly I'm biased since this is an area of particular interest to me, but I was a bit disappointed by the lack of sessions that dealt with the use of commercial games for educational purposes. Or perhaps, more specifically, commercial games that are not titled "World of Warcraft". I absolutely love the work that so many groups and institutions are doing with regard to custom built games. But in many cases, these games are created to suit the needs of a specific demographic, often at the cost of substantial time or financial resources. Some of these solutions are looking to position themselves as a platform upon which other educators can eventually build and add additional content. Some, but not all. The result was several, very interesting, extremely well thought out games ideas that can't really be applied outside of the context in which they were developed.
Bringing ideas back home to apply in your own way is a huge part of the conference experience and I most certainly don't attend GLS just to survey the tools that I can use. But it feels like a missed opportunity not to discuss the $60 off the shelf title that any teacher could purchase, for the x year, x hundred thousand dollar project that only a handful of institutions or groups could replicate.
And , though I was excited about many of the games on display, I would be lying if I told you that my Stubby sense doesnt start to tingle when I hear educators talk about game design. I say that being an educational game designer =) I'm just saying.
The Reflecting Pool
One thing that really excited me to see was the degree to which teachers were using games as a means to inspire discussion and reflection. Games are the means to a separate ends, and its fantastic to see so many educators understanding that. I was particularly impressed with the Mission America team, who have built an RPG like experience with multiple decision points, meaning that two students might experience the game (and the events it portrays) from two totally different perspectives depending on their decisions. Students are then brought together and given the opportunity to learn from each other.
The idea that games must be paired with reflection and discussion is not a new one, but its often an under-appreciated principle, and it was good to see it out in full force at GLS.
Pecha What?
Pecha Kutcha, a micro presentation format which allows a presenter 20 slides (or images), which can be displayed for 20 seconds each (timed), was on display at GLS. Its a wonderful, socially considerate way to shut down the long talkers, who seem to be multiplying in the age of the endless powerpoint presentation.
An interesting take on the lightning talk that, as you can probably imagine, has both strengths and weakness. I happened to experience a well planned presentation. But I could also see how it could quickly spiral into a rushed, panicked disaster in the hands of the wrong presenter.
The Remix
One of the more interesting concepts to come out of GLS (though I hesitate to call it a game) was on display with Young American Heroes - a history experienced designed to help students build empathy with famous characters or human moments from America's past. Dramatized historical clips are used to set the scene for key historical moments, then paused during key cliffhanger moments. Students must then consult primary stories in order to finish the story, by building out a graphic novel scene. When finished, they compare their comic interpretation to how the actual scene turned out.
As I said, not exactly a game, but still a pretty slick way to get students engaging content.
Contrary To Popular Belief
Lawrence Kutner, co-author of Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games, gave an excellent closing keynote which touched our America's history of trying to ban and condemn new media which it perceived as potentially detrimental to the public good (to the point of absurdity). He also, as one would expect, shared the findings explained in his book - namely that the effects of video game violence are more a product of the political/ media hype machine than real science. And Kutner should know - he's done the research (with more than 1200 kids) and serves as director of Harvard Medical School's Center for Mental Health and Media.
Kutner's keynote was as clearly articulated as his book - which I highly recommend to anyone concerned with violent video games and children. There are a few risks - but they probably arent the ones you think. Kutner also offered up the quotes of the conference. "People never let data interfere with their preconceived notions" and "What we hear depends on what we're listening for".
Sessions Attended
- Embodying, Designing, and Learning Multimodally with SMALLab
- In Retrospect: Outcomes of Cosmos Chaos
- The Best of Both Worlds? Design Challenges for Developing Playable Historical Games for Classroom Learning
- Re:Activism NYC: Urban Interactions and Learning
- Designing Ethical Dilemmas
- Following Basic Directions In the Land of Destructible Delights: Learning and Exploration Patterns in the Virtual World
- Funeral Games: Ethics, Immersion, and Culture in MMO Games
- Need or Greed: An Analysis of Ethical Issues Across In Game and Out of Game Contexts
- Happiness if Mandatory: Emergent Ethics in Massive Online Environments
- Games (Through) Theories of Language, Learning, and Mediated Social Practice
- Reading Performance and Literacy Practice in the Context of MMO Games
- It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: Developing Place-Based, Augmented Reality Games for Language Learning
I am a fan of educational games, word games and memory games in particular. But Alfred is right, only a few appreciate such games. I think it's because most people perceived these are nerdy games and they prefer to be branded cool.
I know a lot of kids in my neighborhood who are into computer games such as World of Warcraft, and they usually skip classes just to play the game.
I think the problems with making educational games are that people in their 20's or under are generally not interested in education, and people over 30 tend to treat "games" (Other than chess) as being solely for kids. The niche for an educational game is very small and most older people just won't be accepting of them.