Hall of Fame
Prensky
Mark Prensky set the pace on the use of games in learning
with his evangelistic book Digital Game-Based Learning (2001). Prensky
claims that today's trainers and trainees are from totally separate
worlds. Sure, learners have a short attention span nowadays - for
the old ways of learning! His point is that the old ways are inappropriate
for the new generation of learners. Games now infuse the culture
with movies of games and games of movies. The powerful argument
that underpins the rest of the text is that games are cool, education
and training are dull.
‘Digital natives’ versus ‘Digital immigrants’
These terms have become commonplace and Marc has done a great deal
to make them common currency in the learning field. Digital natives
are those who grew up in a habitat with computers, texting, searching,
games consoles and thrashing about in software – the twitch
generation. Digital immigrants are those who have had to enter their
world and learn about them and their habitat. Digital aliens are
those who remain outside of the system.
Games and motivation
The real power in the book comes from the arguments he gathers on
motivation, and using game techniques to improve learning. Games'
designers know a lot about motivation. They have to - or their games
won't sell. There is, therefore, real mileage in taking game design
techniques and using them in learning.
His analysis of what makes games tick is exemplary and matched
by a similarly strong analysis on learning in relation to simulations.
The difficulty, however, is in bringing these two worlds together,
and Prensky is not entirely convincing in making these two worlds
congruent. Games may not be as widely applicable in education and
training as he imagines.
Light on the downside
As one would expect, and as with any book that takes a single, strong
line - traditional learning bad, games good – he is light
on arguments against games in learning. These include: violence,
gender gaps, distractive elements, disappointment and a whole raft
of arguments against the use of games in reflective, higher forms
of learning. For example, it is quite difficult to argue that the
violence in games has no effect whatsoever on players, then argue
that games make great sense for behavioural change. Why has the
military spent so much on games, simulations and even a free downloadable
game with over a million players if it has no psychological effect?
This is a dimension to the 'games in learning' debate that is often
underestimated by the games evangelists. Games often have no educational
value, and, even worse, can distract, disappoint or even destroy
learning.
Distraction - if the learning objectives are not congruent with
the game objectives you run a real danger of distracting learners
from the learning. Learners become obsessed with progress, scores
and other non-learning components in the game, to the detriment
of the content. Even in real computer games, players will go to
enormous lengths to obtain cheats.
Disappointment - this is a danger where the learner is set up to
experience a game which actually turns out to be a rather weak affair.
Children brought up on a diet of blockbuster real-time games are
often bored by poorly designed educational games.
Destruction - in some cases, games can even destroy learning. This
is the argument put forward by Postman. If game-playing induces
an expectation that learning must always be an amusing experience,
then setting such an expectation risks producing the opposite effect
in contexts where amusement is absent. In this way, a games-based
approach might undermine other more traditional forms of education
and training.
Conclusion
Many now argue that we should harness the strength of games, while
setting their weaknesses to the side. Some also argue that games
may turn out a generation with better IQs, better skills, more attuned
to technology with a more enlightened learner-centric attitude towards
learning than any previous generation.
Bibliography
Prensky M. (2001) Digital Game-Based Learning
http://www.games2learn.com/
Marc’s home page
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