Gaming, Who Knew?

As I read this week information I have learned a lot of new and intriguing information. I have always played games of interest and thrown games of no interest to the way side; however, I never realized regardless of playing I am engaged and still learning. As I continue to go through the readings I am in disbelief.

·         Selected trends affecting game-based learning Selected trends affecting game-based learning include:

o   Widespread use of games technologies and serious games movement

o   Wider use of games technologies in the home is increasing the interest in the use of games in educational contexts, and in turn this is leading to increasing use of games particularly in schools and colleges, but also in universities.

o   The serious games movement is a trend towards designing and analyzing the use of games (and simulations) for supporting formal educational and training objectives and outcomes. The movement aims to meet the significant challenge of bringing together games designers and educationalists to ensure fun and motivation as well as demonstrating educational value.

The main conclusions arising from this study include:

·         Games need to be embedded into practice to ensure effective learning

o   Use of both leisure (commercial-off-the-shelf) games and proprietary games need to be embedded in practice effectively and in accordance with sound pedagogic principles and design.

o   More research is needed to provide empirical evidence for how game-based learning can be used most effectively

o   Need for more rigorous baseline studies that can quantify how much and in which ways games and simulations are currently being used most effectively to support learning.

o   More effective supporting materials are needed to support practitioners wishing to use game-based learning approaches

o   There is a need for guidelines, case studies and exemplars from current practice to inform and improve the quality of delivery of games-based learning across the sector and to support better future planning and resource allocation.

o   New developments including the serious games movement are informing the development of games for learning

o   New developments such as the serious games movement are facilitating collaborations between academic, industrial and government agencies seeking to develop proprietary learning games. However, further work still needs to be done to bring the games development and education communities closer together in order to build shared vocabularies and expectations, as well as to inform new learning designs to support effective game-based learning experiences.

o   Great potential and need for tutors and practitioners to become involved with games development for learning

o   The potential for educators to become involved in the development of learning content associated with these new games formats at this stage is substantial. This may be further encouraged using participatory development methodologies to ensure that tutors and learners have a greater say in dedicated content developed for games-based learning, and importantly to ensure compliance with sound pedagogic design principles as well as alignment with learning outcomes and assessment.

o   Need for more opportunities for staff development to support tutors wishing to adopt game-based learning in their practice

o   The potential of game-based learning in practice can only be supported by a more coordinated approach to staff development and opportunities for buying out staff time to allow tutors time to explore and experiment with existing tools and game spaces.

o   Potential for learners to become more empowered with game-based learning

o   Game-based learning presents new opportunities for re-considering how we learn. Using immerse spaces, learners may produce their own materials, share learning experiences and rehearse skills for the ‘real-world’.

Gamification Implementation Chart 

Why do we play games, Motivate students to do what we need them to do. Games are played because of strategy and choices, simulation, social interaction, competition, self-reliance and thrill and luck. John Radalf uses a chart to describe that we use immersion; cooperation, competition and achievement are the reasons behind playing games. All games have different reasons as to why we play, most people it’s the story behind the game and not the game itself. Many won’t play if there isn’t a story to follow as they play.

This PDF had a lot of information I was not aware of. Simply stating that we should waste 4 minutes of every hour playing angry birds because it will make us smarter or work better? I have played angry birds and completed what I had and deleted it and moved on to something new. I have to admit I liked the game, little did I know it was engaging my brain and making me smarter. All I thought was that I was wasting my time or using time up that I had free, especially on my commute to NYC on the train.  If and when I do play games I usually make sure they are strategy or learning games and try to keep my brain involved and actively thinking. Same reason why I read mystery books, I like to figure out the end before I get there; however, I’m not always right but I am always on the edge of my seat.

This article also discusses and gives lots of diagrams to becoming and expert. The more time we spend and the better attitude we have the more people who reach level expert per day, week and year.