Education for a Digital World Advice, Guidelines and Effective Practice from Around Globe, 2008a

23 – Computer-Based Games for Learning
• poor technology support for classroom-based game
use; and
• institutional constraints (learning objective mismatches,
standardized fact-based testing, class time
constraints, lack of peer acceptance, etc.).
Prensky (2006) notes that curriculum requirements,
especially when mandated through legislation, can pose
a major obstacle, although “curricular” games are starting
to be produced commercially. To overcome this and
other obstacles, he suggests the following approaches to
beginning to use games in class that ease games into
your learning situation without major course restructuring:
• Bring games played outside class into the classroom
through questions, discussions, etc. This can encourage
students to reflect on how a game is relevant to a
topic and what they are learning from the game.
Make game play an assignment for individuals or
small groups.
• Use the principles behind good, complex games to
make some or all of your teaching more game-like,
and therefore more interesting and engaging to students.
One of Prensky’s suggestions for keeping students
engaged is to have them vote each time you ask
a question.
• Play a game specifically designed for education in
class, such as one of the examples cited above. To do
this, you need to become quite familiar with the game
in order to handle questions and technical problems.
• Play a commercial, off-the-shelf game not specifically
designed for education, in class, either as a whole
class (projected in the front) or as individual students
playing separately. Have a student present the game,
play the game yourself in front of the class as a
springboard to discussion, or divide the students into
small groups.
Creating your own game
If you decide to go beyond these options to create your
own game, here are some possible approaches:
• Use a frame game: Frame games, such as the Educational
Games Central ones described above, lend
themselves to use, even for complex subjects, without
a long learning curve if you can structure your
learning in a question-and-answer format. To give an
example, the EGC Snakes and Ladders frame game
has been used to reinforce introductory social psychology
concepts.
• Do a COTS game modification: Some commercial
games, especially first-person shooters, real-time
strategy games, and MMOGs, provide toolkits that let
you create “mods” including your own graphics,
game scenarios and characters. In one example, the
MIT Education Arcade project “modded” the game
NeverWinterNights, which comes with the Aurora
Toolset game-editing tool, to create the Revolution
game (http://www.educationarcade.org/revolution)
to teach about the American Revolution seen from
Colonial Williamsburg. Another mod of NeverWinterNights,
Project BTM, was developed at the University
of Minnesota to teach information-gathering
stages to journalism students (Paul et al., 2005).
• Get help to custom-build a learning game: Many
universities and technical schools have game studies
programs with students who are looking for projects
or work designing and building games using current
tools and techniques. You may also be able to find
funding for research or learning object development.
For example, computer science students at Dalhousie
University are working with physicians to build
handheld and cell phone game prototypes to help local
children learn about and manage chronic diseases
(Watters et al., 2006).
• Create a blended game with computer support: If
building a full-scale computer-based game seems too
daunting, you can consider a game that uses computers
or handhelds to support a game that also involves
offline activities. The MobileGame, for instance, uses
task instructions and clues delivered by cell phone to
run an orientation game introducing new students to
a university campus (Schwabe and Göth, 2005).
Tip
Match your first project with your experience,
learner characteristics, and available technology,
technology support, and development resources. To
build institutional support, aim for early successes
before embarking on a large, longer-term project.
Summary
“Our students have changed radically. Today’s
students are not the people our educational system
was designed to teach … Our Digital Immigrant
instructors … are struggling to teach a population
that speaks an entirely new language”. – Prensky
(2001b)
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