The Game Learner

Marc Prensky is a significant figure in the games in learning field, with a substantial body of writing and consultant work behind him. He is a big advocate of using the concept of digital learners and digital immigrants to describe the changes that the information age is bringing and the need to reshape education to keep up with it.

His 2006 book, “Don’t bother me Mom – I’m learning” presents a series of well-thought out and accessible arguments for the benefits of computer and video games. It is aimed largely at non-gamer parents and seeks to counter some of the moral panic foofarah put forward in the media.

I had hoped for something focussed more on education, specifically relating to practical tips for game design and use in the classroom. There is some of this but ultimately the target of the book is parents and non-gamers.

This said, there are a number of worthwhile ideas in this book.

• Playing games is a learning experience.
• Games are motivating and engaging
• Brain function is surprisingly plastic and gameplay can rewire and enhance our way of thinking
• Digital Natives do things differently : communication, sharing, buying & selling, exchanging, creating, meeting, coordinating, evaluating, gaming, learning, evolving, searching, analysing, reporting, programming, socialising and growing up.
• Games offer pleasure by providing a sense of progress, levelling up offers a “flow state”.
• “A game is a series of interesting and important decisions, leading to a satisfying conclusion” – Bruce
  Shelley
• Games can teach ethics and encourage cooperation and communication
• Modding culture stimulates creativity
• Non-gamer parents need to educate themselves about games, talk to their chidren about them and learn the language. They can use the content of games to help their children learn more from the game than they might have on their own.
• Game in the classroom can be a great source of stimulation for discussions

As I say, it’s more of an introduction/cheerleading session for games in general but this book offers a wealth of ideas and evidence for using games in an educational setting.

We’re working on a pretty cool project at CIT now – developing models, practices and standards for using virtual worlds in the classroom, with a particular focus on the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector.

We are using Croquet, an open source platform which has been created with education in mind and hope to make effective use of the possibilities that game environments have to offer. We’ll be making a concerted push away from building 3D classrooms, which is a fine first step. I’m quite interested in drawing on the work of Fuchs and Eckermann, creators of Expositur (which I’ve mentioned here before) to make the most of the space that we will be developing.

This is the general Croquet promotional video which shows how awesome this can potentially be.

If you’re interested in finding out more or contributing, let me know and we’ll see what we can do.