EDU 5855: Cultural Studies of Technology for Education.

Over the past five years in teachers college I have heard the statement “teach to the 21st century learning” countless times. Teaching to the 21st learner or otherwise known as the modern learner means including technology, media and stimulating activities to best educate our students who are living in the digital era. Serious play by Suzanne De Castell and Jennifer Jenson, Beyond Gamifcation: Reconceptualizing game-based learning in early childhood environments by Jason Nolan and Melanie McBride and A Model for Critical Game Literacy by Tom Apperley and Catherine Beavis all offer a critique on education and the use of games in the learning environment.

 

Serious play by Suzanne De Castell and Jennifer Jenson argue that there needs to be a cration of educational games that are engaging like commercial games but at the same time educate the player (De Castell and Jenson pg. 650). The difference between education games and commercial games is that commercial games encourage a deeply immersive environment where learning takes place simultaneously through game play (De Castell and Jenson pg. 650).Often are being told to play educational games, which take away a certain degree of enjoyment.   

 

“The cultural environment of schools today is, in many ways, antithetical to the immersiveness of play-it insists on timed activities, curriculum is designed mostly to ‘survey’ a subject area, with little opportunity to study one or two subjects in depth; and goals and immediate feedback are often held back from students in institutionally sanctioned power struggles between students and teachers (De Castell and Jenson pg. 662).”

 

I believe the authors bring up a relevant concern about the current schooling environment. Many educators are too focused on the structure and time limits of activities so there is no time for students to critically engage in material however serious play would help to address the issue of disengagement. Serious play is defined as a deep immersion in an activity that is both purposeful and meaningful to the player resulting in significant learning. The learning may not be intentional or deemed as “important” by traditional models of education but serious play allows for learning to occur. In the Kindergarten classroom I volunteer in the students get to play on the iPad as a reward for completing their work. Often students are told how many minutes they have on the iPad. Once the students are on the iPad they only have a limited amount of time to play around since the iPad is being used as a special opportunity and not incorporated into the learning environment. Often students are told how many minutes they have on the iPad. This example does not show serious play and does not give the student time or space to “get lost” in their digital play. I believe that incorporating technology and digital games during free play in kindergarten classrooms will give students the choice to engage meaningfully in technology without the restrictions and guidelines of the teacher.

 

A Model for Critical Game Literacy by Tom Apperley and Catherine Beavis argue the value and positive skills that come out of creating games specifically with youth (Apperley and Catherine pg.1). They examine the importance of digital and media literacy and game based curriculum. Based off of personal teaching experience students are excited to be engaging with technology and media and look forward to the subject of media literacy. In my grade.6 class my students were able to create, direct and produce commercials. Through this process they were able to develop a deep understanding of particular design apps and programs. This is a skill that can not be taught but rather lived.

 

Beyond Gamifcation: Reconceptualizing game-based learning in early childhood environments by Jason Nolan and Melanie McBride focus on the benefits of digital play in early education. The authors feel that early exposure to digital play would encourage multimodalities, emergent literacies and help capture the interest and needs of our diverse learners (Nolan and McBride pg. 595). Digital games have the power to captivate our students and allow them to develop autonomy through play.

 

“The meaningful, playful and autonomous exploration of limits and self-regulation through digital game-based learning would require an equally engaging and open-ended pedagogical orientation (Nolan and McBride pg. 599).”

 

In order for digital games-based learning to thrive in the classroom and within the education system their needs to be a change in our pedagogical thinking around learning.  Educators need to be okay with the idea of unstructured time and feel comfort in the “disorganization” of the classroom. The teacher needs to shift from the director to the facilitator to help students take initiative in their own learning. I believe with the shift in the new kindergarten curriculum and inquired based learning students will be given an opportunity to engage in what’s meaningful to them. Educational pedagogy needs to be transformative and revolutionize the lives of our students! 

“How did you two meet?” This question has been asked a million times to people who are in a relationship whether it be a romantic one or a friendship. Most commonly the answer would follow along the lines of some type of “real” life encounter. Historically real life human connection was needed in forming long lasting strong relationships. However with the rise of digital technology specifically videogames relationships are no longer restricted to in person contact. People all over the world are connected through video games and have the opportunity to develop relationships.

 

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