Video Games In the Classroom
Everyone remembers what it was like to be a kid, and to be stuck in school all day when you would much rather be at home playing video games. Video games have very powerful reward mechanisms that motivate us to keep on playing, and traditionally educators have sought for video games that were both enjoyable and educational. This approach has been called Game-Based Learning (GBL), or Gamification, and refers to the adaption of the principles of game design which makes video games so fun and engaging to other unrelated media, as well as the design and use of educational video games in the classroom.
The Process of Gamification
According to the New Media Corsortium's 2011 K-12 Edition of the Horizon Report, mobile computing and Game-Based Learning will be two of the six major trends to have a huge impact on learning in K-12 classrooms within the next five years ((http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2011-Horizon-Report-K12.pdf). Gamification has been defined by Gabe Zichermann as "the process of game-thinking and game mechanics to engage users and solve problems (Zichermann and Cunningham, 2011)," and is an approach to education that is being taken increasingly more serious with the advent of Internet and mobile communications technology. Bohyun Kim writes that "the University of Huddersfield Library in the UK has built a game targeting library users called 'Lemon Tree'", and that "the North Carolina State University Library enlivened their orientation program by adding gaming elements and created the NCSU Libraries' Mobile Scavenger Hunt (Kim, p.465)."
It is easy to see that video games are far more entertaining and engaging than traditional learning, but what elements of game design make video games so much better at captivating attention? Social gaming entrepreneur Seth Priebatsch has offered a few; appointment, influence and status, and progress (Priebatsch, 2010). Social games in particular make strong use of the appointment dynamic, that is, for presenting a player with small rewards for relatively unimportant achievements. Simply showing up at the right place at the right time will earn you an unlocked achievement. The influence and status dynamic is best reflected in character development and leveling up. Player's want to be respected by other players, so they will play through the game unlocking achievements, obtaining new items, generally doing whatever is neccessary to level up their avatar achieving a higher status. The higher the level, the more respect you earn and the more influence you exert on the game. Finally, the progression dynamic is what is responsible for keeping player's engaged in the game as well as what motivates people to continue filling out those pesky online questionnaires or to go through the laborious process of creating a social networking profile: we love to see tasks through to the end, and we are unsatisfied if that status bar doesn't read 100%.
It is easy to see that video games are far more entertaining and engaging than traditional learning, but what elements of game design make video games so much better at captivating attention? Social gaming entrepreneur Seth Priebatsch has offered a few; appointment, influence and status, and progress (Priebatsch, 2010). Social games in particular make strong use of the appointment dynamic, that is, for presenting a player with small rewards for relatively unimportant achievements. Simply showing up at the right place at the right time will earn you an unlocked achievement. The influence and status dynamic is best reflected in character development and leveling up. Player's want to be respected by other players, so they will play through the game unlocking achievements, obtaining new items, generally doing whatever is neccessary to level up their avatar achieving a higher status. The higher the level, the more respect you earn and the more influence you exert on the game. Finally, the progression dynamic is what is responsible for keeping player's engaged in the game as well as what motivates people to continue filling out those pesky online questionnaires or to go through the laborious process of creating a social networking profile: we love to see tasks through to the end, and we are unsatisfied if that status bar doesn't read 100%.
Video Game Design
Technology is growing every day. With new technology, there are multiple chances to change learning. We see some of this taking place in the classrooms with the new smart boards and other aids, but there is also technology that can go beyond the classroom and be something that kids enjoy. Educational video games have been around for some time, but with the growing popularity of videos games, parents should prefer educational ones, rather than the violent ones. In order for people to become interested in the game, it must have a solid basis for fun and education. We are going to discuss how to make an enticing educational video game and what the appropriate framework should be.
Before we move on, it is important to know what to look for in an educational video game. The three areas of a video game that a consumer must look for are learning, attitudes, and efficacy. At North Carolina State University they are developing a program where kids and teachers could create their own games. They believe that by creating and experiencing unique games students will learn more (Anetta 2010). The best way to create a good educational video game is to use the six I’s: identity, immersion, interactivity, increased complexity, informed teaching, and instruction. These are the six main keys for designing a successful video game.
The first category, identity,is the importance that the players view themselves as part of the game. It is vital that the player feels they are unique and that they have a different experience than other people. This relates to self-concept clarity, defined as " the extent to which contents of an individual's self-concept is clearly and confidently defined, internally consistent, and temporally stable (Campbell, 1996)." Video games provide oppurtunities for individuals to clarify their self-concept, and the best way to make them feel unique is to give them an avatar. An avatar is a digital representation of the character that the player is. It does not matter if the game is first person (since they cannot see their character) or third person, whereas they can see their character. Annetta and Holmes (2006) reported that using avatars increased the participants to being more social and had a stronger community ties. In his other study Annetta (2008) found that choosing between a male or female character or choosing between 100 different types was related to how engaged you were with the game. The more options to choose from, the more immersed consumers are in the game and feel themselves as part of the game.
This brings us to our next step, immersion. When players become immersed in the game they reach a state of consciousness referred to as "flow". This concept was proposed by Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, who defined flow as "a state of deep absorption in an activity wherein people achieve an optimally enjoyable experience and lose self-awareness (1975)." Gamers gain a heightened sense of their identity, are intrinsically motivated to succeed, and are involved thoroughly in the context of the game as well. Additionally, gamers who spend more time playing video games report more flow experiences (Chiawen, Aiken, and Huang Chia, 2012). The overall goal of most video games is for the gamer to reach this state of flow. If they do not reach this state, it is unlikely they will stay immersed in the game. They must want to move through the game because of intrinsic motivation, because if they do not, then the game is a failure. It is important to use feedback in the games so players know where they are in the game. It is especially important for educational games because keeping the player immersed is essential. The more interaction the player has with the computer, the better the outcome and the more likely flow will increase.
The next category is interactivity. It is important for the character to be able to interact either with real people or computerized people. Hoyt, Blascovich, and Swinth (2003) found that people interact with the computerized people and regular people the same. This is an important finding because that means when building a game it does not have to have a multiplayer mode, as long as there is interaction with the computer. When there is a multiplayer mode it may be harder for the gamer to experience flow because he is focused on the communication from other players. Therefore, to help this be minimized, games should use stimulating environments and different auditory sounds that help focus on the gamer. While good games have good graphics, they also have good auditory cues that keep the gamer focused and actively interacting in the game.
Good games often have different levels which the gamer goes through. It could be a whole new level or the same level just at an increased difficulty. It is important that there is competition throughout the game and that there should always be another side to the game that the gamer is playing against. This is called increased complexity, which is the next category of I’s. Making the game more complicated as the player moves through is vital but mainly, these designers must make sure the player is always progressing forward and often rewarded along the way for their game choices. If the player is deeply emerged in a flow state, then they may reach pleasurable frustration. This is when they are excited by the challenge, but it is still a challenge and can be frustrating. The game needs to have clear rules and be well organized. The game cannot be too difficult because it will make the gamer frustrated, but at the same time, it cannot be too simple because then the gamer will be bored. This is the most difficult part of design in the game. Gee (2004) and others have stated that pleasurable frustration is where deep learning and good gaming come together as one. Another way to make sure they are getting to this frustration is to have them decide their own levels. In multiple role playing games players can choose which are better suited for them and their abilities. This could be applied to an educational game where the player chooses where to go next.
The next step is informed teaching. Informed teaching is defined as the feedback and embedded assessments within serious educational games. The resulting feedback is has been referred to as virtual observations (Annetta 2010). The teachers cannot physically watch their students doing these games unless it is in the classroom but most likely this will be some type of practice or homework for students. A way teachers can check with their students is by looking at time played, how far along in the game they are, how much they have logged in, in world data, and chat logs. They can also use testing after the game, to see how much the game taught the learner.
The final category is instruction. “Many studies have been conducted on cognitive models with both textual and visual stimuli, but, often times, these studies assessed students not yet ready for SEGs in the classroom” (Annetta 2010). If some users are falling behind and other users are getting bored, it is going to cause a problem. If the game can know who understands the goal and who is not and changes the play of the game accordingly to the gamer, it will ultimately lead to the gamer learning. The learning that takes place in these games is self-regulated learning. Because the gamer decides how much to take in, it is important that it is linked to prior knowledge and that it is more likely to be recalled. Video games should do a problem based learning to help with this. The problem should develop a relationship between the virtual world and the real world where complex thought and critical thinking will help solve the problem. When a student is immersed in the game learning is stealthy, which means they do not realize that they are learning.
It is important for a game to follow the six I’s if the video game wants to be successful. Serious educational games are something that the world should get use to because we are in the technology age. If the game is successful, it will have followed these steps to ensure that the learner has hit all of these stages and more importantly, that the gamer has learned.
Before we move on, it is important to know what to look for in an educational video game. The three areas of a video game that a consumer must look for are learning, attitudes, and efficacy. At North Carolina State University they are developing a program where kids and teachers could create their own games. They believe that by creating and experiencing unique games students will learn more (Anetta 2010). The best way to create a good educational video game is to use the six I’s: identity, immersion, interactivity, increased complexity, informed teaching, and instruction. These are the six main keys for designing a successful video game.
The first category, identity,is the importance that the players view themselves as part of the game. It is vital that the player feels they are unique and that they have a different experience than other people. This relates to self-concept clarity, defined as " the extent to which contents of an individual's self-concept is clearly and confidently defined, internally consistent, and temporally stable (Campbell, 1996)." Video games provide oppurtunities for individuals to clarify their self-concept, and the best way to make them feel unique is to give them an avatar. An avatar is a digital representation of the character that the player is. It does not matter if the game is first person (since they cannot see their character) or third person, whereas they can see their character. Annetta and Holmes (2006) reported that using avatars increased the participants to being more social and had a stronger community ties. In his other study Annetta (2008) found that choosing between a male or female character or choosing between 100 different types was related to how engaged you were with the game. The more options to choose from, the more immersed consumers are in the game and feel themselves as part of the game.
This brings us to our next step, immersion. When players become immersed in the game they reach a state of consciousness referred to as "flow". This concept was proposed by Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, who defined flow as "a state of deep absorption in an activity wherein people achieve an optimally enjoyable experience and lose self-awareness (1975)." Gamers gain a heightened sense of their identity, are intrinsically motivated to succeed, and are involved thoroughly in the context of the game as well. Additionally, gamers who spend more time playing video games report more flow experiences (Chiawen, Aiken, and Huang Chia, 2012). The overall goal of most video games is for the gamer to reach this state of flow. If they do not reach this state, it is unlikely they will stay immersed in the game. They must want to move through the game because of intrinsic motivation, because if they do not, then the game is a failure. It is important to use feedback in the games so players know where they are in the game. It is especially important for educational games because keeping the player immersed is essential. The more interaction the player has with the computer, the better the outcome and the more likely flow will increase.
The next category is interactivity. It is important for the character to be able to interact either with real people or computerized people. Hoyt, Blascovich, and Swinth (2003) found that people interact with the computerized people and regular people the same. This is an important finding because that means when building a game it does not have to have a multiplayer mode, as long as there is interaction with the computer. When there is a multiplayer mode it may be harder for the gamer to experience flow because he is focused on the communication from other players. Therefore, to help this be minimized, games should use stimulating environments and different auditory sounds that help focus on the gamer. While good games have good graphics, they also have good auditory cues that keep the gamer focused and actively interacting in the game.
Good games often have different levels which the gamer goes through. It could be a whole new level or the same level just at an increased difficulty. It is important that there is competition throughout the game and that there should always be another side to the game that the gamer is playing against. This is called increased complexity, which is the next category of I’s. Making the game more complicated as the player moves through is vital but mainly, these designers must make sure the player is always progressing forward and often rewarded along the way for their game choices. If the player is deeply emerged in a flow state, then they may reach pleasurable frustration. This is when they are excited by the challenge, but it is still a challenge and can be frustrating. The game needs to have clear rules and be well organized. The game cannot be too difficult because it will make the gamer frustrated, but at the same time, it cannot be too simple because then the gamer will be bored. This is the most difficult part of design in the game. Gee (2004) and others have stated that pleasurable frustration is where deep learning and good gaming come together as one. Another way to make sure they are getting to this frustration is to have them decide their own levels. In multiple role playing games players can choose which are better suited for them and their abilities. This could be applied to an educational game where the player chooses where to go next.
The next step is informed teaching. Informed teaching is defined as the feedback and embedded assessments within serious educational games. The resulting feedback is has been referred to as virtual observations (Annetta 2010). The teachers cannot physically watch their students doing these games unless it is in the classroom but most likely this will be some type of practice or homework for students. A way teachers can check with their students is by looking at time played, how far along in the game they are, how much they have logged in, in world data, and chat logs. They can also use testing after the game, to see how much the game taught the learner.
The final category is instruction. “Many studies have been conducted on cognitive models with both textual and visual stimuli, but, often times, these studies assessed students not yet ready for SEGs in the classroom” (Annetta 2010). If some users are falling behind and other users are getting bored, it is going to cause a problem. If the game can know who understands the goal and who is not and changes the play of the game accordingly to the gamer, it will ultimately lead to the gamer learning. The learning that takes place in these games is self-regulated learning. Because the gamer decides how much to take in, it is important that it is linked to prior knowledge and that it is more likely to be recalled. Video games should do a problem based learning to help with this. The problem should develop a relationship between the virtual world and the real world where complex thought and critical thinking will help solve the problem. When a student is immersed in the game learning is stealthy, which means they do not realize that they are learning.
It is important for a game to follow the six I’s if the video game wants to be successful. Serious educational games are something that the world should get use to because we are in the technology age. If the game is successful, it will have followed these steps to ensure that the learner has hit all of these stages and more importantly, that the gamer has learned.