I just noticed this in today’s Chronicle of Higher Ed:
The basic premise is to get around the “observer’s paradox” by using video games to explore how students think/learn — without creating the nervousness that goes along with test-taking.
Thoughts?
I just had a chance to go back and read the entire article. This idea has been around for a while (Squire, Gee, Dede and others), but the hard part is the game itself. The article mentioned the utilization of a game called Taiga Park developed by Indiana. I have not seen the game, but I know of similar games that came out of the same group at IU. These endeavors typically are resource-intensive and often supported by external grants.
When I was in the EGC, we eagerly awaited a game authoring environment that was:
1) easy to use, where instructional designers could be trained to create games in the environment, and
2) provided a back-end system catered to assessment, allowing the teacher/administrator to capture lots of data points.
Unfortunately, we are still waiting for that authoring environment 🙁
This is in the same vein:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/tom_chatfield_7_ways_games_reward_the_brain.html
A recent TED talk that addresses games and learning in a broader sense.
I know the guys well in the gaming commons and will touch-base with them this month. Maybe we can shoot for something this Spring around this topic. Good find Chas!
Wow this is intriguing. I’d be interested in what the folks involved in Penn State’s Educational Gaming Commons (is that the correct name?) think about this. Could we consider co-sponsoring a forum to discuss this?