Citation: Katrin Becker (2007) Digital Game Based Learning, Once Removed: Teaching Teachers, British Journal of Educational Technology, SIG-GLUE Special Issue on Game-Based Learning 2007, Vol. 38 No. 3, pp 478-488
RUNNING HEAD: GAME BASED LEARNING ONCE REMOVED
DIGITAL GAME BASED LEARNING, ONCE REMOVED: TEACHING TEACHERS K. Becker Graduate Division of Educational Research, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4 email:
[email protected] 1-403-932-6322
In the spring of 2005, the author designed and taught a graduate level course on digital game based learning, primarily for teachers. Teachers cannot be expected to embrace digital games as a tool for learning unless they have a sound understanding of the potential as well as the limitations, and are confident in their ability to use games effectively to enhance learning. The course was designed as an introduction to digital games and gaming for instruction and learning. In it, students explored the theories; possibilities, considerations and constraints related to the design of instructional games, and the use of learning and commercial entertainment games in classroom and out-of-class settings. The design of the course along with the rationales will be outlined and participant reaction profiled. Suggestions for future course designs are described as well as key elements crucial for teacher preparation. Ultimately, the success of digital games as a medium for learning depends to a large extent on the abilities of new and practicing teachers to take full advantage of this medium. Keywords: Education, Digital Game-Based Learning, Teacher Training
1. INTRODUCTION Talking about the use of digital games for learning is fast becoming a popular trend in educational technology. Hardly a week goes by without some professional periodical, magazine article, news item, or television segment that makes mention of the educational potential of games. According to a recent study (Becker & Jacobsen, 2005), approximately half of the teachers surveyed 1 would be interested in trying games and simulations in class. Still, with few exceptions teachers are not using games in their classrooms for anything other than rewards given after the ‘real’ work is done. Although interest seems high, there are significant genuine barriers to adoption, which include a lack of resources (time and equipment) as well as a lack of understanding of how to use games. In other words, there is interest in using games, but there is also uncertainty. Uncertainty or suspicion are hardly surprising – for the most part, teachers have little time to learn yet another new technology and should not be faulted for balking at the prospect of adding even more to their already heavy workloads. Reports in the media do little to help alleviate concerns: they range from stories about games as saviours (Healing Games: Harris, 2006), to games as the root of all evil (“Nobody shoots anybody in the face unless you’re a hit man or a video gamer,” (Minton, 2006)). It’s hard to tell what’s true and what’s not.
Then again, teachers have heard this kind of hype before – about things like the Progressive Movement (1930s), the new instructional media (films and slides in the 1940s) programmed instruction (1950s), Instructional Systems Development (ISD – 1960s), and most recently about the claimed potential of the computer and the Internet (Anglin, 1995). None of these methods or technologies has solved all of the problems their proponents claimed they would, and all have created brand new problems. Teacher caution is justified. Even teachers who have a strong desire to use games for learning have their work cut out for them. There are few places to turn to find out about which existing games can be used effectively, even fewer resources for finding out how to use these games once they have them, and fewer still if they wish to build their own. The body of knowledge on Digital Game Based Learning (DGBL) is certainly growing, but many papers are written as scholarly publications and research reports – neither of which is especially useable by practicing teachers when preparing for tomorrow’s lesson. Very few teachers have the time to locate, review, and synthesize findings from scholarly publications and then create lesson plans from scratch using what for many of them is an unfamiliar technology. Teachers need resources that are readily available. If games are going to be put to use as technologies for teaching and learning, teachers must not only be taught how to use them, but the resources they need in order to do so simply must be made available and easy to find.
2. RELATED WORK Although it is hoped that this situation will change, at the time of this writing (Oct. 2006) there appear to be no more than a handful of institutions2 offering courses for teachers on how to use and design games, and fewer resources on how best to design teacher preparation courses on using games. Teacher preparation for technology use in the more general sense has been studied quite extensively (Bell, 2001; Mulholland, 2006; Russell et al, 2003), and several things are clear. Teachers still use computers primarily for administrative tasks rather than teaching. The use of email is growing, but in class use of computers with learners consists primarily of report and presentation generation and for reference. It is critical to prepare teachers to use technology effectively in the classroom, and developments in technology continue to move faster than almost any other field. Thus, regular and ongoing professional development is key, as the continuing changes and developments in the kind of technologies available and how they are used continue to influence teaching and learning. For example, just as many teachers are becoming comfortable with the use of email a recent survey suggests that students prefer instant messaging as a communication tool (Taylor, 2006). As recently as 2001, it was thought that Moore’s Law3 would hold true for at least another twenty years. However, the rate of increase in processor speed has almost stopped – processors have not gotten significantly faster for several years. On the other hand, storage capacities continue to grow by leaps and bounds, putting terabyte disks within the reach of most consumers within a year. Portable storage device capacities have similarly continued to advance while costs continue to recede. These advances could carry significant implications for how technology can be used in the classroom. Vast cheap storage means that digital video can easily be stored locally, and applications like games can remain isolated from the web which in turn gives individual schools and classrooms an important means of control not easily possible otherwise. With the price of 80 Gigabytes of storage on a portable USB external disk approaching that of a typical textbook, concerns over storage capacities are becoming moot. Soon it will be possible to require students to have their own USB flash drives containing personal data, profiles, and even applications, while the school computers become more like docking stations. Advances like these change what can be done with these computers in fundamental ways, provided that teachers know how to take advantage of them. There is a growing body of research on the educational use of games (Amory et al, 1999; EgenfeldtNielsen, 2005; Kirriemuir & McFarlane, 2004; Prensky, 2006). Games have the potential to offer an
inquiry-based, constructivist approach that allows learners to engage with the material in an authentic, yet safe environment. As with all other approaches to learning, “instructional technology only works for some kids, with some topics, and under some conditions – but that is true of all pedagogy. There is nothing that works for every purpose, for every learner, and all the time.” (Mann, 2001, p 241) While there is attention being paid to how to design serious games for training, much of it is still done in the context of the military (Kirkle et al, 2005) and corporate (Aldrich, 2005) sectors. The design and development of games for learning is an area of active research (Aldrich, 2004; Gee, 2005), but at least for the time being it is one that might best be designated as ‘optional’ when it comes to teacher training. There have however been some findings in this area that have implications for practicing teachers. These include the notions that even very young learners are capable of managing staggering degrees of complexity, failure really is an option and does not necessarily mitigate against learning, and that game players value exploration and collaboration in games as well as competition and winning (Squire, 2005).
3. WHAT DO TEACHERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GAMES? In many schools across North America, teachers find themselves still playing catch-up with technology (Sprague, 2004). Teachers often lack the skills and knowledge to integrate technology effectively into their classrooms. While researchers in educational technology explore various ways to use the many tools available and the effects that these can have on learners and a great deal has been discovered, this information rarely makes it into the hands of the practicing teachers – they typically do not read the journals (Sprague, 2004). Technology use by teachers is strongly influenced by their own attitudes towards that technology (Russell et al, 2003), and digital games are often considered more of a nuisance than an asset. Some teachers will resist all attempts to alter their opinions about the use of games as learning technologies, and individual opinions must be respected, but if the attitude one holds is the result of insufficient information, then providing that information can only help. Teachers deserve to be provided with up to date information on the potential of games in the classroom. Digital games often make headlines: they get blamed for everything from youth obesity to fostering violence, but this must be viewed in perspective. Negative reactions to new media are hardly novel as similar dire warnings were issued when television was new, as well as film, and even books (Williams, 2006). Just the same, it is important for teachers to be able to address the inevitable concerns of parents and administrators when the prospect of playing games, especially COTS games (Commercial Off-The Shelf) is raised. There are clearly many commercial games that are simply inappropriate for most classroom environments, and this should come as no surprise as there are also a great many films and books that are similarly inappropriate for classroom use4. Teachers still need to understand the many faces of the issues surrounding the value of games so they can make informed decisions about if, when, how, and which games might be appropriate for their particular situation. Of course, understanding the issues is only part of the requirement. Teachers must also be able to locate games by knowing about online sources that can be trusted both for downloading and to visit, as well as places that offer knowledgeable reviews of games and other software. If one is to remain cognizant of the general time pressures under which most teachers operate, it must then be recognized that these resources must be well publicized, easy to find, and kept up to date. Having located the games, teachers must also be capable of assessing these games and reviews themselves. Just as with any other technology, no one instance will be appropriate in all situations, so teachers must be able to determine where, when, and how the games they find might be appropriate for them. Games vary greatly in terms of complexity and the time commitment required to achieve a level of familiarity that will promote learning and this information must also be easily available to teachers. Some games can be used to effect in a typical single-class unit, while others require a substantial time
investment – both on the part of the teacher and the students. Teachers cannot be expected to simply “know” which is which and how to use them. Evaluating an application for suitability is time consuming so we must consider ways that educators can use to share their evaluations easily. There are several advocates and researchers who are doing this now (Kirriemuir, 2006; McFarlane et al, 2002; Prensky, 2006) and it is expected that more will be created.
4. COURSE DESIGN Teachers cannot be expected to embrace digital games as tools for learning without a sound understanding of their potential as well as their limitations, and are confident in their ability to use games effectively to enhance learning. In the spring of 2005, the author designed and taught a graduate level course on digital game based learning, intended primarily for teachers. Although a technical background was considered an asset, it was not required. The course was designed as an introduction to digital games and gaming for instruction and learning. In it, students explored the theories; possibilities, considerations and constraints related to the design of digital instructional games, and the use of learning and commercial entertainment games in classroom and out-of-class settings. The overall structure of the course followed the typical structure for graduate courses in Educational Technology at the author’s institution, namely, a seminar style class where students have weekly readings that are then presented by various members of the class and discussed. A major project requiring instructional development was assigned, though the students could choose the exact nature of the project to suit their personal interests. This particular offering was taught in the spring session of 2005 over six weeks, and the class met twice each week for approximately three hours. The project allowed for a choice between one of two main themes: 1) Design a game to be used in a learning situation, complete with a High-concept Design and a prototype of the learning game 2) Design a learning situation or instructional intervention that makes use of a COTS or other existing game, including lead-up activities, game-play with goals, and de-briefing. Given that the class participants only had six weeks of real time for the entire course, and given that they would be learning new information directly applicable to their assignments while trying to complete those assignments, the designs were expected to be preliminary ones. Also, it was to be remembered that this was the first time that most of the participants had ever used games in this way, and that most of them had very little technical background. The main course objective was to have the participants think seriously about how a game might fit in with their own teaching. Each class meeting featured a different main theme. Very few topics were considered inappropriate, because topics like violence, game addiction, and sex in games are all topics that regularly make headlines. If teachers are to be prepared to use games in the classroom, they must be aware of these issues and be prepared to address parental and administrative concerns in a reasonable way. The course themes included: The current state of games and gamers; (including a discussion of violence in games); fidelity and validity, instructional design; making games; and assessing games. In addition to the readings and discussions, various games were examined, demonstrated, and discussed in each class. Both commercial and non-commercial (free) entertainment games as well as educational games were examined. One of the classes became an “arcade night”, where the entire class was devoted to playing games. Games in this class included such games as: Nation States, a free online game with acknowledged educational applications and online educational support; Ben's Game, a freely available game designed by a 10-year-old boy about fighting cancer; Civilization III, a COTS game whose use in the classroom has been studied quite extensively; Oregon Trail, an example of an excellent education game dating back to the 80s; RealLives, a commercial educational game that uses real global statistics; Food Force, another freely available serious game produced by the United Nations; Black & White, a COTS game that plays with the consequences of ethical choices, and FowlWords, a simple word game freely available on the web.
Playing the games was a key feature of the course design, and something that made this class unique among the education classes available. It was important to expose the participants of the class to a wide variety of games that they could try, as it was felt that teachers needed to be able to experience for themselves what some of these games could do. Playing games must be seen as part of games literacy in the same way that reading books is essential to traditional literacy. Various educational games were examined, including some of the acknowledged classics (Egenfeldt-Nielsen, 2005; Gee, 2003; Prensky, 2001; Shaffer et al, 2004) such as Oregon Trail, Carmen Sandiego and Mathblaster, as well as some more modern offerings like Virtual Leader. Both a commonly cited obstacle to technology adoption and a real consideration is the problem of school resources. With shrinking budgets in many school districts it becomes very difficult to argue for the purchase of commercial computer games, however worthwhile they may appear to be, never mind the state of the art computer equipment needed to run most newer games. As a result games that were freely available for download, or those that offered substantial discounts for educational use were featured whenever possible (such as Virtual U, Food Force, FowlWords, and SimSchool). It was also noted which games could be made to run on old machines, or potentially on any machines. Some games that could be accessed and played online were also showcased (like Nation States), but it was important to acknowledge that the fact that they had to be accessed over the net made their content very difficult to monitor and would make them forbidden in many schools. The majority of the ‘purely’ commercial games that were examined (like Halo 2, Deus Ex, Syberia and MapleStory) were used as examples to help the participants achieve game literacy and to illustrate some of what is possible in game environments. There were also a number of COTS games that are or have been used and studied in classrooms (such as SIMs, Civilization III, and some of the Tycoon titles). Finally, there were a number of COTS games that have not been used in classrooms, but that were thought to have potential (like Black & White and The Typing of the Dead) and these were examined to brainstorm ways in which they could be used.
5. POST MORTEM At the start of the class most of the participants had imagined that digital games in class would be used as independent study aids, or something that, if it did not actually threaten their jobs, was to be used without much input from them. The notion that games could be used simply to open a discussion or as one part of a larger lesson seemed to suggest opportunities to them that they had not previously considered. One poignant example used very early in the class is more properly classified as a ‘toy’. A distinction between a game and a toy is that a game will have one or more distinct ‘win states’ and usually comes with quite clearly defined rules (whether or not players adhere to the rules is a separate issue).The particular toy used in the very first class is called September 12, and was created at newsgaming.com as a reaction to and commentary on the events of September 11, 2001. Students were asked to play with this ‘toy’ for only a few minutes, and then the class discussed their first impressions. As a class opener, it proved quite powerful. Class participants who play games for entertainment found that they began to look at games in a new light as the course progressed. The notion that the games they play for fun such as The Sims could be used for language learning (Purushotma, 2005) was a new one even for gamers and tends to foster a shift in their viewpoints. For the most part, the students who were gamers before the class saw the games they played as enjoyable pastimes, but did not consider them viable as learning technologies, and several of the most skeptical members of the class were actually avid gamers themselves. However, by the end of the class they had begun to consider ways in which some of the games they had played could be used in the classroom. Some games remained in their personal “just for fun” category, but others started to be viewed in terms of their learning potential, especially when possible in class scenarios for the games’ use are outlined.
A recurring theme among the comments offered by the participants was that they hadn’t considered using that game in that way. Considering digital games as simply a new medium for communication and expression places it in a similar category as film, television, and even literature. There are however several critical distinctions. For one thing games absolutely require interaction. They cannot simply be watched or passively digested. Many of today’s youth understand this fully. Whereas the author’s generation grew up with linear media like television (Wright, 2003), the current generation is growing up with a pastime that demands interaction. It should not be surprising that today’s learners easily grow bored and restless with books as a medium of learning. Traditional lecturing approaches require passivity and acceptance but games are fundamentally dependant on the concept of agency. “Agency is our ability to alter the world around us, or our situation in it. We are able to act, and that action has effects. This is probably the first thing we learn as babies. This is the crucial distinction between interactive and linear entertainment.” (Wright, 2003, p. xxxii) By the end of the course, all participants were ‘converts’ – especially those who were least convinced at the start. That is not to say that they were all ready to join some crusade for replacement of all learning technologies with games but all said they had gained an appreciation for the potential of games. Many also found that as a result of the analyses and discussions, they had also gained a heightened appreciation for older media as well. One student commented that through playing the games and trying to see how she might be able to use them, she also got new ideas on how to use stories, books, television, and indeed, felt she had become more deliberate in her use of learning technologies in general. The projects that the participants completed included several novel applications of games. One chose to use the Electronic Arts’ FIFA World Cup Soccer game as the focal point for an English as a Second Language unit. Soccer is a sport that the adult students he taught would be familiar with – therefore the in-game commentary had a ready-made context. Additionally, as is typical for many games, certain moves within the game trigger certain predictable reactions and comments form the non-playable characters (NPCs) within the game. When the game is played in English, these comments (phrases) can be elicited at will and that repeatability can be a big advantage to someone struggling to learn a new language (Wang, 2006). One of the most surprising projects came from one of the least technologically inclined members of the class, who chose to design his own game. This student taught in a private school that had a Fine Arts focus. The high-concept result was a game intended to help develop organizational skills, strategic thinking, and basic math that involved the player as a beginning musician trying to ‘get to Carnegie Hall’. The prototype for this project came in the form of a PowerPoint presentation that contained active internal links. At the end of the class, while all the participants were enthusiastic about the potential of digital games to enhance learning, many continued to feel that their inclusion in the formal curriculum was still a long way off. There was, however one immediate and important effect. Those who had been the least familiar with digital games found that their new-found game literacy translated into valuable currency among their students. They gained a way to relate to their students that had eluded them. They did not need to become avid gamers – simply recognizing the games that were popular among their students and being able to talk about a game they found interesting or even annoying forged a new connection between them and their students. In fact several that had their own teenaged children at home reported that they had become “cool” in the eyes of their children. They had new things to talk about and new ways to share.
6. CONCLUSIONS On the whole, the course was extremely well received, though with a total of 18 students in a local teacher population of over 10,000, it is but a drop in a bucket. Many more course offerings like this one are needed, and this will take time. It is also fairly evident that a single course offering like this in a program is not enough to prepare current pre-service teachers for what will almost certainly face them before long. Professional Development offerings are desperately needed as ways to provide basic games
literacy as well as to help develop teachers who can add this new medium to their repertoire. School administrators also need far more information on the use of games than has been offered to them thus far. Many still refuse to allow games at their schools – and while some of their reasons for doing so are valid, others are not. They need to be able to make informed, rather than simply reactive decisions. Finally, it is absolutely essential that teachers be allowed and encouraged to play games. The objective is clearly not to turn all teachers into gamers, but rather to play with a critical eye – to be able to assess whether a specific game might be useful for them in the classroom, and if so, under which conditions. Just as we would not expect a teachers to teach a unit about a novel like Don Quixote (Cervantes Saavedra) without ever having read it, we should not expect a teacher to use a game like Rollercoaster Tycoon in class without ever having played it. Generally speaking, expecting teachers to use games without having played games is similar to expecting teachers to use novels and other books without them ever having read one. One topic that turned out to be of sufficient complexity to warrant its own set of courses is learning to build games, and it may not even be appropriate for most pre-service teacher preparation programs. Even if one takes advantage of the growing number of game engines and game building applications, building a game is quite a different proposition from designing a game, and different again from using existing games. Perhaps in the future, educational technologists will be able to specialize in digital games design and development just as they now do in distance learning. Ultimately, the success of digital games as a medium for learning depends to a large extent on the abilities of new and practicing teachers to take full advantage of this medium. Advances in mass storage, wireless technology, hand-held devices, open source software, and other technologies will likely change the way the current generation of elementary pupils lives, works and plays before they graduate from high school. The use of games for learning is but one aspect of this.
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Kirkle, S. E., Tomblin, S., & Kirkley, J. (2005, Nov. 28 - Dec. 1). Instructional Design Authoring Support for the Development of Serious Games and Mixed Reality Training. Paper presented at the The Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation & Education Conference (I/ITSEC)(Conference Theme: One Team. One Fight. One Training Future.), Orlando, FL. Kirriemuir, J. (2006). SilverSprite website for Research into the Use of Digital Games. Retrieved June 15, 2006, from http://www.silversprite.com/games/ Kirriemuir, J., & McFarlane, A. (2004). Literature Review in Games and Learning. Retrieved June 11, 2004, 2004, from http://www.nestafuturelab.org/index.htm, http://www.nestafuturelab.org/research/reviews/08_01.htm Mann, D. (2001). Documenting the Effects of Instructional Technology, A Fly-Over of Policy Questions. In W. F. Heineke & L. Blasi (Eds.), Research methods for educational technology ; v. 1: Methods of evaluating educational technology (pp. 239-249). Greenwich, Conn.: Information Age Pub. McFarlane, A., Sparrowhawk, A., & Heald, Y. (2002). Report on the Educational Use of Games: an Exploration by TEEM of the Contribution Which Games Can Make to the Education Process. Retrieved june 11 2004, 2004, from www.teem.org.uk Minton, J. (2006, Jun 3, 2006). Video games seized from teen’s home. 2theAdvocate.com. Retrieved Jun 15 2006, from http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/police/2924321.html?showAll=y Mulholland, R. (2006). A technology snapshot: Teacher preparation program and the local public schools. . Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 6(2). Prensky, M. (2001). Digital game-based learning. New York: McGraw-Hill. Prensky, M. (2006). Don't Bother Me Mom I'm Learning! : Continuum Purushotma, R. (2005). Commentary: You're Not Studying, You're Just... Language Learning & Technology, 9(1), 80-96. Russell, M., Bebell, D., O'Dwyer, L., & O'Connor, K. (2003). Examining Teacher Technology Use: Implications for Preservice and Inservice Teacher Preparation. Journal of Teacher Education, 54(4), 297-310. Shaffer, D. W., Squire, K. R., Halverson, R., & Gee, J. P. (2004). Video games and the future of learning: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Academic Advanced Distributed Learning Co-Laboratory. Sprague, D. (2004). Technology and teacher education: Are we talking to ourselves. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 3(4), 353 -361. Squire, K. (2005). Changing the Game: What Happens When Video Games Enter the Classroom? Innovate, Journal of Online Education, 1(6). Taylor, T. L. (2006). Does WoW Change Everything?: How a PvP Server, Multinational Player Base, and Surveillance Mod Scene Caused Me Pause. Games and Culture, 1(4), 318-337. Wang, Z. (2006). Video Games: a New Approach to Language Acquisition. Paper presented at the Summer 2006 Institute: Linking Research to Professional Practice. Williams, D. (2006). A (Brief) Social History of Video Games. In P. Vorderer & J. Bryant (Eds.), Playing Computer Games: Motives, Responses, and Consequences. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Wright, W. (2003). Forward, in Freeman, D. In Creating Emotion in Games: The Craft and Art of Emotioneering (pp. 576 pages): New Riders Games.
NOTES Link to Course Website: http://www.minkhillow.ca/EdTech/DGBL/index.html 1
The number of teachers interested in using games is somewhat dependant on how the word ‘game’ is defined. When described as interactive simulations, the number is considerably higher than when the word ‘game’ is used. 2 The following website maintains a list of those institutions offering courses for teachers: http://www.minkhollow.ca/KB/PF/PFGacademe.html#courses 3 Moore’s Law (1965) states that computer processor and memory speeds will double roughly every eighteen months.
4
It is worth noting that the list of “inappropriate” books and film may look quite different depending on who you ask. Books banned in some districts are studied as important literature in others.
