The Youtube clip above is thought provoking and prompted me to carefully consider my pedagogical practices. I like to think that I am an interesting teacher. I plan well, I incorporate a range of learning experiences for a range of learning styles and I believe that the majority of my lessons are well received. I have; however, heard the odd (well, maybe a few more...) "This is boring" comment echoing from the disengaged back corner of the room. My usual response is that I'm not paid to entertain but to teach and that everything can't always be fun but this blog and the great ideas posted on it has made me reconsider the importance of gaming and the benefits of social networking that are associated with it. There is an opportunity to introduce some educational fun in the classroom using digital games and improve literacy at the same time.
We have embraced life and technology in the 21st Century with a passion and yet some classrooms still resemble those of our pioneering days. We may have updated the furniture and switched from a blackboard to a white board or even a smart board but our desks and chairs face the front of the room and our teaching strategies, although refined, have not yet embraced gaming culture. These devices/platforms are not considered as viable options. In fact this unit of study prompted me to ask my fellow teachers what they really thought of using games in their lessons. I was pleased that many thought the idea was terrific - they said they would use them in a heartbeat BUT they didn't have the time to find them and they certainly didn't have the time to learn how to play them or feel they knew the content well enough to teach to them. This left me pondering on the important role of the teacher librarian. Here we have a professional with the skills to determine if a game has educational merit and more time (not much I admit, but more than our time poor teachers) to review and trial a game and assess its worthiness.
HOWEVER - The most surprising response to my informal questions was from a teacher librarian who felt they have no place at all in a library context. She sees video games as time fillers and something "to be played at home". It appears that the topic can be quite divisive and may require a tactful approach. Nevertheless, I pushed on and presented her with some of the facts I have unearthed - gaming and game design develops skills in the area of management, creativity, organisation and team work. I mentioned the benefits listed in the Youtube clip above - strategy, math and literacy.... but she was not convinced. It would appear that not all teacher librarians are quite ready to leap on board.
Despite this isolated negative view, the vast majority of teachers and three other teacher librarians all agreed that 21st Century learners require 21st Century teaching methods. Digital literacy is seen to be just as important as numeracy and literacy and even the more 'mature' teachers felt they could still be taught new tricks. Skills acquired through gaming cannot be ignored. The Cosmic Log website contains a timely reminder of the power of gaming to solve problems. The news clip shows how a scientific breakthrough with aids was achieved by placing the problem in a gaming context online. Within 10 days the problem was solved. The introduction of gaming in classrooms has the potential to yeild similar results. Students become imersed and experience engagement in what Jenkins (2006) calls "affinity spaces" when they become absorbed in the process of participation. Affinity spaces associated with social media, including gaming also enables them to develop "greater comfort interacting with one another, have greater fluidity in navigating information landscapes, will be better able to multitask and make rapid decisions about the quality of information" they view.
Ben Williamson's (2009) comments in FutureLab further support the benefits of including gaming as a pedagogical tool. He states that video games are ‘constructionist’ technologies for learning; and have been seen as ideal environments for practising skills; and games have been seen as an important format for consideration in ‘media literacy’. It is hard to ignore the gains to be made by using this popular form of media in the classroom even though there are concerns about violence and anti-social behaviour associated with it. Other contributors to this blog have raised similar concerns and yet all feel the benefits far outweigh the negatives. While a proportion of students do play violent games, the majority don't. Sheryl's post identifies the top 10 video games and they aren't all violent. There are plenty available for the discerning teacher librarian to recommend.
References
Jenkins,
H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robison, A. J. & Weigel, M. (2006) Confronting the Challenges of Participatory
Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century [Occasional
paper]. Retrieved August 12, 2011 from http://digitallearning.macfound.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=enJLKQNlFiG&b=2108773&ct=3017973¬oc=1
Williamson, B. (2009) Computer games, schools, and young people - a report for educators on using games for learning. Futurelab
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