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Online Learning News and Research
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Saturday, August 06, 2005
Game-Informed Learning: Applying Computer Game Processes to Higher Education - Michael Begg, David Dewhurst, and Hamish Macleod, Innovate Online
Computer games have made a significant cultural, social, economic, political, and technological impact on society (Newman 2004). Given the widespread popularity of video games, their ability to sustain long-term player engagement with challenging tasks (Gee 2003), and their tendency to elicit proactive player communities (Rheingold 1994), it should come as no great surprise that educators have become increasingly interested in the potential of such games as learning tools. The term game-based learning has emerged as a general name for the use of games in education. Despite early work showing rich inferential learning taking place as a result of gameplay (Greenfield 1984), most game-based learning has been geared towards using a game as a host into which curricular content can be embedded. This approach can be problematic, however, because it too often builds upon the premise that learning is not fun and that games are, and that by introducing a game element, one can make learning fun. As we will argue, the processes involved in learning and play are often very similar, and the true potential of gaming in higher education may be realized in other ways. By allowing the learning process to become informed rather than supplemented by processes identified with successful gameplay, instructors can maintain consistency and coherence without relying on extrinsic motivational interventions. The importance of consistency and coherence shall be touched upon throughout this work, but for specific discussion on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, see Malone (1982).
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