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Bogost, Ian (2011) How to do things with videogamesUniversity of Minnesota Press (Minneapolis) isbn

978-0-8166-7647-7 181 pp $18.95http://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/how-to-do-things-with-videogames

In writing this book, Ian Bogost, Professor in theSchool of Literature, Communication and Culture atGeorgia Tech, shows his expertise as both a scholarand an award-winning game designer.

As many people know, computer and video gamesare widely used in various ways—such as for enter-tainment, education, and training—mainly by chil-dren, teenagers, and younger adults.

Therefore, the aim of the book is, first, to show afraction of the many uses of computer and videogames and, second, to discuss how to make best useof computer and video games in broader, richer, andmore relevant contexts. To this end, Bogost presentsmany examples of applications and experienceswith video games in twenty short essays. In doing so,he details just how deeply video games have pen-etrated into our lives. It can easily be understoodthat a video game can be used for more than enter-tainment purposes when you read his thoughtson video games and “art, empathy, reverence, music,pranks, transit, branding, electioneering, promo-tion, snapshots, texture, kitsch, relaxation, throw-aways, titillation, exercise, work, habituation,disinterest, and drill.”

Although some of the essays are often hard andfrustrating to follow for people whose main interestis in playing video games, the book presents mile-stone examples to provide readers with concretemodels of each significant feature used. Forexample, in the essay “Electioneering”, Bogost pro-vides Burnout paradise as an example to show how avideo game can be used to carry a campaign ofin-game advertisements. Or, as demonstrated in“Transit”, Bogost details the use of Grand theft auto:Liberty city and Crazy taxi as models to describe howvideo games make transit a fundamental part of thegameplay. The essay entitled “Music” argues howvideo games such as Guitar hero and Rock band, aswell as dance games like Dance dance revolution and

vocal tracking games such as Singstar, all try tocreate and increase an interest in the musical arts.And, lastly, though most video games do not providethe opportunity for physical activity, thanks to therecent add-on kits such as Kinect and PS move,“exergames” have emerged which Bogost speaks onin “Exercise” while providing examples such as Eyetoy: Kinetic, Wii sports, and Guitar hero.

Within the book, Bogost introduces new typesof game classification with different attributes. Forexample, exergames, advergames, and promogamesare just some of classifications he presents. And,while the book (sadly) does not contain any illus-trations from the actual video games, Bogostprovides titles from so many games that anyonefamiliar with gaming will have no problem visual-ising the concepts. (One wonders, though, whetherreaders of BJET hoping to learn the use of educa-tional gaming are in that group!) Throughout,Bogost shows his great knowledge in and aroundgaming by providing multiple examples of earliergames less well known by many young videogamers.

How to do things with videogames presents a new wayof looking at video games and their use in ourculture by creating a new attribute scheme for con-sideration. In general, the book contributes to theliterature of game studies where the trend of usingvideo games in different contexts has recentlyreceived much attention.

Yavuz Samur (received December 2011)PhD student in instructional design and technology,Virginia Tech, USAysamur@vt.edu

Egetenmeyer, Regina & Nuissl, Ekkehard ed(2010) Teachers and trainers in adult and lifelong learn-ing Peter Lang (New York & Bern) isbn 978-3-631-61298-9 223 pp £25.10http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?event=cmp.ccc.seitenstruktur.detailseiten&seitentyp=produkt&pk=57544&cid=448

This edited book does exactly what it says on thecover. It provides Asian and European perspectives

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on teachers and trainers in adult and lifelong learn-ing, seeing this field as increasingly important in thecontext of ongoing societal changes globally.

Sixteen of the book’s eighteen chapters werepapers delivered at the 2009 international confer-ence “Teachers and trainers in adult education andlifelong learning: Professional development in Asiaand Europe.” The focus throughout is on the teach-ers—described by the editors as the “backbone” ofadult learning—and on the need to professionalisetheir development in order to ensure high qua-lity programmes for adult learners. The “specialaccent” (p 11) is on the dialogue between Europeand Asia.

The book is well structured. The preface providesthe context and gives an overview of the papers.These come in four sections. Section 1 contains thekeynote speeches from the conference and providesan outline of the situation regarding the profession-alisation of teacher development in Southeast Asia,Europe, China and India.

Section 2 concentrates on such specific issues as theeffects on adult learning of teacher training, thecompetences of teachers and trainers in adult edu-cation in Europe and China, and the need for a codeof professional ethics for adult educators.

The focus in the third section is on concrete initia-tives in India, Indonesia and some European coun-tries, the last being strongly influenced by thatcontinent’s focus on the professonalisation of adulteducation in its member states. Research on theeffects of these initiatives, suggestions for strategiesfor the development of professional competences,and the issues of assessment and evaluation alsoappear in this section.

The final section consists of a single chapterwritten by the editors. They offer a comparativeperspective based both on the selected papers andon the contributions to the international confer-ence. They acknowledge commonalities and differ-ences in the context of the initial social situation inboth continents, the understanding of lifelonglearning, and the issue of professionalisation. Theyalso propose data systems, concept developmentand identification of professionalisation modelswith potential for transfer to other countriesas activity fields for governments and researchuniversities.

There are a few examples of the use of e-learningtechnologies in the professionalisation initiativesin both continents. The most noteworthy of theseare the online delivery of the core curriculum of acollaborative course offered to university students

in seven different countries under the EuropeanMaster in adult education programme and the useof open / distance learning for mass training inIndia.

The book is a worthwhile read. Adult and lifelonglearning are rapidly becoming defining featuresof education in the 21st century. This book, withits focus on the need to provide coherently and sys-tematically for the professional development ofteachers and trainers in the field, is timely. It shouldbe of interest to policy makers and practitionersglobally.

However, a glossary and an index would have beenhelpful.

Marie Martin (received November 2011)Education consultant, Northern Irelandmmartin@martech.org.uk

Hayes, Denis (2011) The guided reader to teachingand learning Routledge (London & New York) isbn

978-0-415-581122-6 262 pp £24.99http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415581226/

This book is a compendium of sixty readings cov-ering issues and concerns education practitionersface during teaching and learning. It providesextracts, summaries and discussions on differentaspects related to the teachers themselves, effec-tive teaching, motivating learners, approachesto teaching, managing teaching and learning,teaching younger children, child development,learning climate, ways learners learn, learningstyles, thinking and learning, and assessment andlearning.

There are seven sections for these sixty extracts.The section on pupil learning contains studiesrelated to early learning, group work and collabo-ration, assessment and learning, thinking skills,creativity, and wider learning experiences. That onpupil perspectives and well-being includes generalwelfare, happiness and self-esteem, bullying, rela-tionships with adults, and pupil-adult interactions.Pedagogy and professional expertise come in thesection on teachers teaching. The next section, onlearning how to teach, provides ideas pertainingto facilitating pupil learning, school placementand supervising and mentoring. The teacherdevelopment section examines issues related toprofessional identity, professional and personalgrowth, reflecting on practice, extending exper-tise and support staff. Then there is a section onclass management where the author presents con-cerns related to establishing boundaries, managing

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behaviour, and pupil perspectives. The final sectionlooks at matters of education policy and practice(where we can ponder on shaping education think-ing), values in education, teachers and the edu-cation system, and motivation for teaching andlearning.

The author had quite a clear focus while selectingthe readings. I had thought that there are someareas left out he should have been included—buthe tells of his “itching to include those” in theIntroduction, so I accept what he does include andexclude. As I kept on reading the readings /extracts, I realised the impact on my thinking ofthe ideas, questions and investigations each offers.Each extract has an introduction, a summary ofkey points, questions to think about after one goesthrough the passage, and how you can take thematter further via suggested investigations andfurther resources or references to make you thinkmore deeply and widely. Thus, to enable the youngresearchers to work on some idea if they feel ener-gised enough to investigate an idea, “Researchadvice” has been provided.

The sixty extracts in this book cover basic educationissues wherein anyone would be interested in under-standing deeply into the learning process, the teach-er’s role, teaching as a profession, pedagogy, andbehaviour issues. The studies selected and cited arerecent and relevant. I believe students of education,new teachers, teacher trainees, and even experi-enced researchers would find this guided readeruseful and interesting.

Ramesh Sharma (received January 2012)Regional Director, Indira Gandhi National Open Univer-sity, Indiarcsharma@ignou.ac.in

Hutchinson, Steve & Lawrence, Helen (2011)Playing with purpose Gower (Farnham UK, &Ashgate, Burlington VT) isbn 978-1-4094-0805-5198 pp £25http://www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=1751&calctitle=1&pageSubject=1180&title_id=9968&edition_id=13262

Practical experience is an essential componentof learning, because it adds concreteness to thetheoretical concepts learned and is apt to evokeemotions, hence catering for a deeper understand-ing and a long-lasting memorisation. Extensive,real-life experience, however, is often difficult toorganise within learning contexts, due to limitedavailable time and resources. Games are often ofvalue instead, especially in training situations, inorder to provide opportunities for artificial experi-

ence. The choice of suitable games and theirthoughtful implementation are crucial in order tobalance challenging realism and engaging fun.Learning does not happen by mere exposure toevents—but by developing consciousness of theexperience carried out and reflecting on it. Withouta clear understanding of the learning entailed,games risk being pointless distractions rather thanlearning opportunities.

Preparing for the creation of meaningful artificialexperiential learning activities is the aim of thisbook; its audience is professional trainers, facilita-tors, coaches, managers and people developersdealing with working adults. The book presents arange of facilitation challenges with the aim ofhelping its readers devise and tune up, withoutmany resources, artificial experiential learningactivities. It is not a guide to being a trainer butassumes that the reader already has a basic compe-tence and will therefore be able independently toapply, personalise, and further develop the activitiesand reflections proposed.

The book comes in eleven chapters. Part I’s has asingle chapter, whose concern is the concept ofexperiential learning; it provides a general andtheoretical underpinning of the design, set-up andrunning of artificial experiential learning activities.Part II, also one chapter, gives an overview of theskills and techniques a trainer should be able toapply in order to transform a training room into aplace of real experience, helping the trainees tocapture and amplify learning in a meaningful way.Part III includes the other nine chapters, eachfocusing on one development issue: such as team-work, leadership, personal effectiveness, change,creativity, organisational quality, communication,and diversity. Exercises, ideas for activities andsets of questions to boost reflection appear clearlyhighlighted within the text, and there are oftenbriefly sketched examples. Some activities arecompletely described in a ready-to-use form, whileothers are only outlined, leaving the readerto complete and personalise them. There arealso relevant references and some additionalreadings.

The book is certainly a rich source of ideas in itsfield. I appreciate in particular the variety of aspectsconsidered, which provides useful suggestions fora wide range of training needs. I regret, however,the lack of some complete examples described indetail. Moreover, I find its writing style not verystimulating.

Giuliana Dettori (received January 2012)Researcher at ITD-CNR, Italydettori@itd.cnr.it

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Savage, Jonathan (2011) Cross-curricular teachingand learning in the secondary school Routledge(London & New York) isbn 978-0-415-54859-5201 pp £21.99http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415548595/

This study in cross-curricular teaching and learningis directed towards teachers in training and alsoimproving teachers; it has a summary of the rel-evant teaching quality standards for England andWales at the end of each chapter.

This book is well organised and digs into the possi-bilities for cross-curricular teaching and learning.The three key principles of the book are:

1. There should be no curriculum developmentwithout teacher development.

2. Subjectivity is like a garment that you cannotremove.

3. Skilful teachers embody a skilful pedagogy.

The author has a clear structure for the book, whichhe reiterates throughout; he also succinctly sum-marises other recent research in the area. Thereare many Reflective tasks as well as Practical tasksto complete, as “it takes time to learn to reflectconstructively” (p 23).

Savage outlines research from curee from the UKand also ciree from Europe and declares that “themost common obstacle to the successful introduc-tion of cross-curricular approaches . . . is the pres-sure on school timetables” (p 38). However, he doesnot pursue this matter of time pressure.

Chapter 3 discusses the pedagogy of cross-curricular teaching and draws upon Alexander’swork to produce a diagrammatic table for anemerging framework (p 58). There are plenty ofcase studies too—for example on science throughdrama—with the results presented in a manner thatdoes not stir the blood.

Throughout the book, Savage is not attackingsubject-specific expertise but rather trying to findcommonalities. “A cross-curricular pedagogy shouldnot be a synthesis of watered-down subject pedago-gies.” (p 62) Chapters 4, 5 and 6 give a more detaileddiscussion on language, technology and assessment.The language is demanding: “The first strategy inthe development of a cross-curricular language inthe classroom will be seeking to develop consistencywith the generic teaching speech genre.” (p 99)Luckily the next sentence begins with “In otherwords . . .”.

it is discussed as a mediating tool in Chapter 5. HereFuturelab’s “Beyond current horizons” receives an

airing. And senior management decisions to forceteachers to work together in collapsed curriculumdays (or weeks) are not regarded as a meaningfulway to “develop authentic, rich, cross-curricularpedagogies that will permeate teachers’ practicethroughout the year” (p 110). Key themes for it

mediation are declared as collaboration and net-working. The views presented are a worthysummary of the research of others.

The book concludes with a look at assessmentand evaluation, with an emphasis on the formativeuse of summative assessment. The introduction ofdiplomas and controlled assessment are cited asan interesting possible way forwards (p 152). Thebook concludes with the idea that there will need tobe “a major shift in pedagogical thinking” for cross-curricular development to happen and it provides awealth of supportive material in a nine-page bibliog-raphy. But, despite the research summarised in thisbook, I doubt inspiration for the change will be foundhere.

Diana Battersby (received December 2011)Mentor, notschool, UKdbattt-disp@yahoo.co.uk

Timperley, Helen (2011) Realizing the power ofprofessional learning McGraw-Hill (Maidenhead &New York) isbn 978-033524404-1 196 pp £19.99(boards £60)http://www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/html/0335244033.html

Helen Timperley’s book Realizing the power of pro-fessional learning is part of McGraw-Hill’s Openingeducational horizons series; this aims to provide“the stimulus of external ideas” to educators, policymakers and academics. Timperley draws on her ownresearch and from the work of colleagues, particu-larly in the United Kingdom, Canada and NewZealand. The book is short; this helps her make herpoints even more effectively, while the preface pro-vides an abstract of the overall argument and ofeach individual chapter.

The book starts with the reflection that much pro-fessional development in schools has little or noimpact where it matters: in the classroom. In somany cases, Timperley argues, professional develop-ment has occurred but no professional learning hasresulted. For her, the common failing is that profes-sional development is not focused on the needsof the learners. Teachers are preoccupied with thedaily burdens and demands of learners and thecurriculum, and while she might add the needsof school management, government, inspectionregimes and parents, she goes on to reflect that

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professional knowledge can be “deepened [only]through trying things out in practice”. Likewise,many trainers or professional developers have littleor no knowledge of what teachers need and, again,the resulting professional learning is negligible.What is needed, therefore, is for teachers to becometheir own experts, even “adaptive experts”, in con-trast to the external experts whose perspective isneeded but is not sufficient on its own. Chapter 4explores this concept in depth—it is the mostconvincing of all but is followed by other impor-tant pieces of the jigsaw; Chapter 5, for example,discusses the role of school leaders in facilitating thebuilding of the required inquiry mindset to allowteachers to become adaptive experts.

The argument is neatly interspersed with someuseful and interesting case studies that generallyillustrate well the argument, and diagrammatic

virtuous circles of the kind that many teachers havegrown to know and hate. This book is not, though,patronising of teachers but re-affirms the research-informed practice that many progressive practitio-ners will welcome. Teachers must, Timperley says,become role models of learning and develop intoinquiring practitioners for this to succeed. And, evenif Timperley has to acknowledge help from col-leagues in “making my academic prose accessible toteachers”, she has managed to produce a very clear,readable and well-argued case for harnessing thepower of teachers’ own skills and knowledge toservice the purposes of continuous school andteacher improvement.

Keith Saunders (received December 2011)iTeach Programme Director, Canterbury Christ ChurchUniversity, UKkeith.saunders@canterbury.ac.uk

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