Library Instruction and Gaming
One of the many listserves I'm on is DIGREF, for librarians who provide digital reference services in a variety of formats. This morning I read a message about the value of gaming. The message author professed his/her mixed opinions on the utility and educational value of gaming. Here's a link to an article cited by the author that challenges the intellectual and educational merits of gaming and role playing environments:
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n03/disk01_.html
This is an issue that I feel strongly about. Even games that aren't "educational" have been proven to increase creative thinking and problem solving. I think librarians and educators should be utilizing games and gaming rather than writing them off as an idle waste of time.
The American Library Association and many libraries and library organization are supporting the utility of virtual environments and realizing that they're gaining popularity. ALA has a "library" in SL, as do many public libraries and some academic libraries.
The DIGREF message pertains mostly to libraries promoting games and making them available for users. Many public libraries are reaching teens by hosting "game nights" where users can play games and talk about games. There are a variety of articles about this, but that's not where I want to focus.
While that is an interesting marketing/outreach tool, especially for public libraries, my interest lies in educational games and simulations. There are some libraries who are making tutorials increasingly interactive, but very few if any are producing high quality games for library instruction. I would like to see libraries create interesting, interactive, game-like tutorials. I'm practicing with a free version of RPG maker myself and after some practice, I'll try my hand a making a fun game incorporating IL concepts.
Any thoughts on gaming and virtual realities?
Labels: gaming, information literacy, library instruction
posted by Mary @ 9:40 AM
6 Comments:
Ever since I read Marc Prensky's work (www.marcprensky.com) I have loved the idea of using games to teach. It makes much sense; it raises the level of challenges when ti si too easy, there are goals in mind, it is engaging, and it is fun! (I think fo the hours I play "Dance Dance Revolution" with my kids on PS2. I think if there is application to be made to libraries or any other mediums, it will be positive. An interesting aside-- a library near me has banned teens from from the library without their parents; they found that their library was becoming disruptive and was used as a 'babysitting" service! I guess game nights wouldn't work there.
Hmmm... I have my own issues with Second Life, but I don't really see where that article challenges the educational and intellectual merits of gaming in education. In fact, all it seems to do is point out how little honest effort the author put into her exploration of SL. It's hypocritical to bemoan the lack of the fantastical in-world and complain about how much it mirrors real life but then go searching for such mundane topics as politics. The author saw what amounted to a riot in which no physical person got hurt, but couldn't even acknowledge how different that is than in RL.
She doesn't seem to have entered the educational areas, either, so I don't think this article speaks much to the challenges the speaker wanted to illustrate. There are many better criticisms of SL or gaming in education - it's a pity the speaker chose this one. I think this statement pretty much sums up the author's attempt: "I had a complete failure of imagination." I could go on pointing out the inacurracies in the article (SL is not a game, I'm sure it runs on more than one computer, etc.), but it fails on its own intellectual merits already.
All that said, I'm a big proponent of gaming and libraries (and education), so I'd love to hear from you when you have a prototype of your game done, Mary. :)
Mary, I really enjoyed the link. Jenny Diski is pretty funny. I’ve never played a role game (or any shooter game) and I’ve thought about,” what would I do?” in the virtual world that I wouldn’t rather do in the “real” world. I guess my biggest fantasy now would be to have a virtual nap or maybe that virtual 26 hour day we’ve heard so much about.
I went to the Marc Pensky page and followed a link to an article he wrote for Edutopia (www.edutopia.org ). In that article he talks about technology use concepts and one of the things would playing the role of someone involved a different career or in a different country. I begin to see the value in that type of role playing as an educational tool, where the student is challenged to make decisions based on the physical and cultural resources of the avatar.
Hi Mary, this is Joe (you know that)
Great post, judging by the responses. Would it be best to create library-specific games or to use existing games to enhance your instruction? I always think back to the addiction that was Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego...in that case, the library provided a means for succeeding in the game. Could we apply other games in a similar fashion? Can you link success in those games to success in RL (real life)?
I too have a point of contention:
"You have to opt in to SL, which is a degree of volition you don’t get in reality."
I suppose it is a philosophical issue, but don't you have to choose whether you want to be engaged in life or float along? Hasn't Jenny Diski ever seen Dead Poets Society?
I don't think she has, nor do I think she gets the point of SL. Instead of going and looking for a revolution, why not start one?
Gaming definitely has its merit in education and the real world - students / society loves competition - just look at college sports, high school sports, t-ball, even. As with every strategy used in education, having a clear goal for the use of the strategy that matches what you want students to learn is critical.
I liked Joe's comment about "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego" which had the purpose of teaching about geography and culture (though at a somewhat basic level). When you use RPG to make a game about information literacy, what is your purpose and what do you want your users to learn by playing this game?
As a teacher, it is much easier to make a game for a review session but a completely different endeavor to make a game to teach new content.
Here’s an interesting article
at MSNBC about a NASA collaboration in Second Life (SL). Rocket enthusiasts from around the world have come together to create a Rocket Museum in Second Life. In order to visit you have to download SL user software and create an avatar. There is also a NASA laboratory called COLAB
in SL. Interesting stuff, as soon as I get everything on my to do list done I’ll check it out.
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