game-ed - motivating learners

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[1] How can we use gameplay? Games don’t stay in the computer, the turn into drama, music, film, book, magazine, art and social connections. Learning how they operate can give teachers ideas on how to use them in classrooms GAME-ED http://deangroom.wordpress.com Realism Relevance Retention One page guides to renewing classroom learning 16 MILLION QUESTS A DAY - BUT WHO’S LEARNING? According to Blizzard Game Designer Jeff Kaplan, there are sixteen million quests completed on a daily base in World of Warcraft. What is it about MMO games that educators can learn from? Is Warcraft addictive, anti-social and disconnecting people or a genius combination of fun, social connection and goal orientated motivated ‘players’. The debate will roll on, but Warcraft is one of hundreds of MMOs, each with millions of players all ‘levelling’ to attain new power and skill. None are born with these skills, but are goal-orientated by various aspects to try and learn them and then transfer those skills between platforms, games, situations and problems. MMOs require soft skills of co- operation and collaboration and social interaction. At the centre of all of this is motivation, supported by a narrative, process failure recovery in learning how to play. There is a context to the gameplay – some reason to participate and compulsion to return to get better. In the world of Linux, millions of people have been collaborating to solve problems, develop better software, better ideas, share them, talk about them and give them back to the community to use them. At the centre of all this is motivation, that basic human interest – to learn more about the world in which we not only live, but shape. In the work of graphic design – millions of people are busy creating unique artworks in physical and virtual space, and at the centre is a personal interest. YouTube adds hundreds of millions of videos, millions of which are original content, Fan Fiction, Facebook, MySpace, Second Life, Blogs, Wikis – all spaces in which motivated people are using technology to to not only learn, but to share what they learn in public spaces. The amount of ‘free’ content dwarfs the commercial and much of it, contrary to the media-spin – is great software, great writing, great film and a great deal of fun. What is it that game designers add that teachers can use in the classroom?

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There are tens of millions of people, all ‘levelling’ up using all kinds of technology, and a healthy range of industries using this content for magazines, radio, television, theatre, books and performance. This interplay and burring of lines exists in our lives and in that of learners, from pre-school to higher education. The challenge for us is to be skilled enough to understand that motivation powers deeper learning and that without it, we become strategic ‘we do it to get though’.

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Page 1: Game-Ed - Motivating Learners

[1]

How can we use gameplay?

Games don’t stay in the computer, the turn into drama, music, film, book, magazine, art and social connections. Learning how they operate can give teachers ideas on how to use them in classrooms

GAME-EDhttp://deangroom.wordpress.com

RealismRelevanceRetentionOne page guides to renewing classroom learning

16 MILLION QUESTS A DAY - BUT WHO’S LEARNING?According to Blizzard Game Designer Jeff Kaplan, there are sixteen million quests completed on a daily base in World of Warcraft. What is it about MMO games that educators can learn from? 

Is Warcraft addictive, anti-social and disconnecting people or a genius combination of fun, social connection and goal orientated motivated ‘players’. The debate will roll on, but Warcraft is one of hundreds of MMOs, each with millions of players all ‘levelling’ to attain new power and skill. None are born with these skills, but are goal-orientated by various aspects to try and learn them and then transfer those skills between platforms, games, situations and problems. MMOs require soft skills of co-operation and collaboration and social interaction. At the centre of all of this is motivation, supported by a narrative, process failure recovery in learning how to play. There is a context to the gameplay – some reason to participate and compulsion to return to get better. In the world of Linux, millions of people have been collaborating to solve problems, develop better software, better

ideas, share them, talk about them and give them back to the community to use them. At the centre of all this is motivation, that basic human interest – to learn more about the world in which we not only live, but shape. In the work of graphic design – millions of people are busy creating unique artworks in physical and virtual space, and at the centre is a personal interest. YouTube adds hundreds of millions of videos, millions of which are original content, Fan Fiction, Facebook, MySpace, Second Life, Blogs, Wikis – all spaces in which motivated people are using technology to to not only learn, but to share what they learn in public spaces. The amount of ‘free’ content dwarfs the commercial and much of it, contrary to the media-spin – is great software, great writing, great film and a great deal of fun.

What is it that game designers add

that teachers can use in the classroom?

Page 2: Game-Ed - Motivating Learners

[2]

There are tens of millions of people, all ‘levelling’ up using all kinds of technology, and a healthy range of industries using this content for magazines, radio, television, theatre, books and performance. This interplay and burring of lines exists in our lives and in that of learners, from pre‐school to higher education. The challenge for us is to be skilled enough to understand that motivation powers deeper learning and that without it, we become strategic ‘we do it to get though’.

So how do you start to use ‘gameplay’ in the everyday classroom?

Motivation – what is it about the lesson that is

intrinsically motivating

Process – Is this lesson part of a chain?

Feedback – How can they tell how they are

going?

Chain – does the learner know how many

parts are in the chain

Goal – Does the learner know what the goal is

to move to the next link in the chain.

Duration – how long do they need to learn to

‘level’ up

Resources/Skill – does the learner know what

skills/resources are needed in order to attempt

the task?

Persistence – why would I not want to

abandon it and give up?

Experience – Does the lesson allow for

novices and expert engagement?

Collaboration – Does the lesson allow co-

operation or co-production

Safe-Fail mode – does the lesson allow the

student to fail and try again?

Practice mode – can the learner ‘practice’

before or after the same task?

Expert mode – what is it about the lesson that

only those who ‘level’ up will be rewarded?

GAME BASED LEARNINGTaking a look at how games use motivation,how can we use that inside classrooms?

Lesson IdeasLet students use the free trail of Warcraft,

get them to look at the range of

characters offered. Ask them to write a

story, using screenshots as illustrations.

Ask students to design a ‘safe-gaming’

ad campaign, researching a game, and

using images and themes from the game

on a range of packaging (Coke Cans) or

some other consumer item that young

people use all the time. How can they use

the game and their research to come up

wiith what they think is a ‘safe’ and

‘positive’ guide to playing online games.

Let kids play Disney’s Surf Well Island,

and answer the cyber-safety quiz. Ask

them to come up with more storyboards

that Disney could use

Get kids to watch the Toyota ‘Warcraft

Ad’ on YouTube. Get them to select

another game and create a similar ad for

another car - using Machinima.

Ask students to use a game-maker

application and design their own game,

get them to collaborate, write proposals,

storyboards and plan the game from idea

to packaging.! SCAFFOLD IN FUN!

Use the process to motivate!