In-class activity

Group members: Bil and Robin.

Our assigned topic was "communism".

Jot down three things that you feel would be criticl for people learning about this topic.

• Philosophy and key players
• Difference between capitalism and communism
• What countries are still communist

Choose at least two Gee principles that should be reflected in learning experience on that topic.

• #3 - Semiotic principle - Learning about and coming to appreciate interrelations within and across multiple sign systems (images, words, actions, symbols, artifacts, etc.) as a complex system is core to the learning experience.
• #5 - Metalevel thinking about semiotic domain principles - LEarning involves active and critical thinking about the relationships of the semiotic domain being learned to other semiotic domains.

Find at least two web-based games/simulations that would support some prt of the learning experience.

• http://thecapitalistgame.com/?pw-b=21162825&pw-c=9313

• http://digg.com/d13zY4

Final Game Play Reflection Questions

How did your gameplay contribute to your overall perspective on games/sims and learning?

America's Army was a source of frustration. I learned nothing about the Army. But I learned something from the frustration (see below.) ToonTalk made good use of puzzles, and that helped me to understand the importance of providing tools or techniques, and opportunities for mastering their use.

What did you learn in your gameplay that most effects how you might approach teaching/learning differently in the future?

In both of my games, I was frustrated when I did something right, without knowing how I did it. I think the same frustration extends to the classroom. In a math class, for example, a student may guess the right answer, and be relieved to no longer be the subject of scorn from his teacher or ridicule from his peers, but at the same time be frustrated because he doesn't know what he did right. I would use questioning and reflection to attempt to prevent that.

Baby steps. Here are one or two tools or techniques. Use them to solve these problems. OK, now let's move on to the next.... But don't make it too easy, or else it will be boring.

What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of your game?

In both cases, the lack of help was the biggest weakness.

In the case of "ToonTalk", the biggest strength was its use of puzzles -- an idea which I incorporated into my simulation.

To talk about strengths for America's Army would be to imply that I enjoyed the game. I did not. The only aspect of the game I enjoyed was target shooting.

Name two elements of your game that, if improved, would make for a much better game (in terms of engagement or learning or challenge or other)

One element only: Help.

Gee Chapters 6 and 8

Describe your reaction to Gee's cultural models approach.

I read the chapters several weeks ago. I wrote on the first page of chapter 6, "This chapters full of social commentary, etc. Question the status quo". Which is to say, his book (naturally) provides a platform for him to espouse his views and this is the chapter in which he does so. It is really a chapter on sociology rather than education. Some quotes...

"...video games are just as easy to design to allow you to play a sinner as a saint. (p. 147)" [So it's the message, not the media. Ok.]

"Cultural models are the tacit, taken-for-granted theories we (usually unconsciously) infer and then act on in the normal course of events when we want to be like others in our social groups. People who have no cultural models would have to think everything out for themselves minute by minute when they attempt to act. They would be paralyzed. (p. 153)" [An example of the sociology nature of this chapter.]

"Are cultural models, then, "good" or "bad"? They are good in that they allow us to act and be social in the world without having to constantly reflect and think. They are bad when they operate so as to do harm to ourselves or others but go unexamined. (p. 154)" [Not hard to guess Dr. Gee's political affiliation. And I agree, but we're getting off the topic of video games and education....]

"Hate groups like the National Alliance have long recruited members through the use of websites, white-power music, and books and magazines. However, there is concern, for just the reasons we have discussed, that interactive media like video games are a more powerful device than such passive media. But if they are, then they are potentially more powerful for both good and ill. (p. 159)" [This discussion reminded me of a program I heard on NPR not tool long ago about white supremacist groups passing out audio CDs with white-power music to kids at middle schools. Quite disturbing. I can see how such groups would be drawn to the power of video games for recruitment purposes.]

"Very often, if you are not very careful, you get shot and die without even having seen what direction the bullet came from. (p. 163)" [That's what happened to me with America's Army and was the point at which I felt I had suffered enough and I quit the game.]

"...progress was punishingly slow. (pp. 163-164)" [America's Army Escape and Evasion. Difference between me and Gee is that I had enough good sense to quit.]

"When we did accomplish our goals in fine fashion, I did not know how much or how little I had contributed to the "victory". (p. 164)" [So where's the learning?]

"In video games, losing is not losing, and the point is not winning easily or judging yourself a failure. In playing video games, hard is not bad and easy is not good. The six-year-old mentioned earlier was once asked whether easy or hard was better in a video game. Without a pause, he said hard is always good, easy is not. Would that children said such things about learning in school. (p. 175)" [This is really the whole point of Gee's book.]

"At one point she says to Solid Snake something that is not a proverb, of course, but is meant to have much the same effect: "Aren't you glad that you have the time to play a video game? Relax and enjoy yourself. ... Wouldn't it be great if we could say to children in school, when they are struggling mightily with hard problems: "Aren't you lucky you have the time and opportunity to learn?" and have them smile and nod? (pp. 175-176)" [Yes]

Considering the entire book, summarize what you believe Jim Gee's overall message is in one or two sentences.

Gee is not saying video games are good. He is saying here is something that is difficult and time consuming but holds children's attention anyway: what can we learn from that?

What do you say about the occasional critique of Gee's work that it is overly critical of traditional education?

Yes, he is critical, but I think that as a tenured professor at a he has earned that right. He might fend off some of that criticism by citing examples of better teaching. He might also discuss how his teaching has changed. I suspect most of his critics have only skimmed his book.

Describe two concepts or principles in Gee's work that most resonate with you.

In 1977 as a scout camp staff member, I learned about a teaching technique which was recommended by the BSA called "guided discovery". Much of what Gee says reminds me of guided discovery. A good gaming example is the notion of levels. Give someone a few tools or techniques, and "puzzles" which require the use of those techniques. Once those tools or techniques have been mastered, more complex tool or techniques can be introduced, along with appropriate "puzzles". I see this as guided discovery.

Continuing with the BSA metaphor, in the mid 1970s the BSA began giving out "Skill Awards" for accomplishing certain tasks. These were easier to earn than full rank advancements. They were kinda like "instant gratification." That's what the levels of video games remind me of. Maybe there needs to be more of that in education? And something other than letter grades and varsity letters? I don't know.

Game Project Progress Report #8

I just can't leave it alone!

In an attempt to make things more visual, I have added a new option to show lines which show the movement of data between the register and the buckets. The option is set by the popup menu (right click on the panel to see the popup menu.) The lines are shown only when stepping through the program (press Step instead of Run.)

Here's the popup menu showing the Show Lines option...


Here's the program with a line showing. The lines appear for one second only...


By the way, the program now stands at 3,528 lines.

MMORPG Reflection

How are MMOGs fundamentally different from other games and simulations?

MMORPGs bring together large groups users (learners) from remote locations. Consequently, MMPRPGs are Internet only.

How are they like and different from virtual worlds (like Second Life)?

MMORPGs are games or simulations, with a known objective. Second Life is merely an "environment". MMORPGs have non-playing characters (NPCs) which employ artificial intelligence (AI). Second life has other "real" players only.

Could you describe a learning problem in your environment that might be addressed by a MMOG? Describe what it would look like.

I can't think of a use for MMORPGs in my environment. The following phrases were used by the author to describe the benefits of MMORPGs: "support collaborative experience-based and exploratory learning approaches", "support learning through real-time experiences", "support collaboration and team-building skills", "a tool to aid students from different disciplines...to work collaboratively", "leadership training". I could not see this being used in my work place. I can see where it would be of interest to sociology and psychology teachers. As in Second Life, people can be who/what they want to be, and test other peoples' reactions to that.

I thought it significant that the author mentioned the importance of debriefing and reflection (page 60).

Gee Chapter 7

The main points of this chapter were (1) learning is social, and (2) learning is distributed. I don't really have much to say on the first point, but I thought Gee's discussion of the second point was significant. A few quotes:

"So thinking and reasoning are inherently social. But they are also inherently distributed, and more and more so in our modern technological world. By this I mean that each of us lets other people and various tools and technologies do some of our thinking for us." (page 196)

"In school we test people apart from their thinking tools, which include other people as well as texts and various sorts of tools and technologies. We want to know what they can do all by themselves. But in the modern world - and this is certainly true of many modern high-tech workplaces - it is equally more important to know what people can think and do with others and with various tools and technologies." (page 196-197)

"If we want to know how good students are in science - or how good employees are in a modern knowledge-centered workplace - we should ask all of the following (and not just the first): What is in their heads? How well can they leverage knowledge in other people and in various tools and technologies (including their environment)? How are they positioned within a network that connects them in rich ways to other people and various tools and technologies? Schools tend to care only about what is inside students' heads as their heads and bodies are isolated from others, from tools and technologies, and from rich environments that help make them powerful nodes in networks. Adrian wouldn't play a game in these circumstances, nor would most of the other players whom we have interviewed. Good workplaces in our science- and technology-driven "new capitalism" don't play this game. Schools that do are, in my view, DOA in our current world - and kids who play video games know it." (page 202)

In my work as a Java programmer, I very often need to go to the internet to find examples of how to do something. This doesn't make me a weak programmer. I would argue that my ability to find a solution to a similar problem, to read and understand the sample code, and to modify that code to solve my problem, is a difficult skill, and one which is of value to my employer. My reliance on the internet doesn't make me a weak programmer, it makes me a stronger programmer. The trick is to utilize the same techniques in the classroom; to encourage the use of distributed knowledge.

Some might call that "cheating". But I wonder how much of what we call "cheating" is a result of the social norms which we grew up with. Do we need to reconsider what constitutes "cheating" in today's world? For example, I once had a conversation with the secretary to the dean of the college of computer science at a major university. We were discussing comprehensive exams and how silly they are. She said the only reason the college of computer science used comprehensive exams was to catch all the people who cheated throughout their coursework, "especially the [members of one ethnicity]; they don't do their own work."

Indeed, members of this ethnic group have a tendency to work together on everything. It would seem to me - as an outsider looking in - that they are committed to each others' success. In their mind, they are not "cheating", but in the western mind, they are. One might argue that they are merely leveraging knowledge, and the synergistic result is that each is stronger because of it. Is that "cheating"?

I don't have the answer.

Game Project Progress Report #7

I decided to change the functioning of the ZERO and ONE operations. Previously, they moved zero or one respectively directly into a bucket. I've decided to make them move zero or one into the register instead, as this will be more consistent with the workings of the other operations, and will be more consistent with my goal of staying close to an assembler-type language.

I alse decided to change the wording on one of the menu items from "Audit" to "Prove It!" A student would use "Prove It!" to prove to his teacher or friends that he completed a puzzle. Since the puzzles tell you what numbers to enter -- no more no less -- I changed the report to include a list of all number which had been read for the most recent execution of the program.

Here's the new menu item (reminder: right-click to get the popup menu)...




And here's the "Prove It!" report...

PROGRAM

1. Zero E
2. Read
3. While Reg > E
4. Write
5. Read
6. Wend
7. End
8. _

LEVEL

Level is 3.

REGISTER

The register has a value of 0

VALUES READ

1. 3
2. 4
3. 8
4. 2
5. 0

BUCKETS

Bucket A is empty.
Bucket B is empty.
Bucket C is empty.
Bucket D is empty.
Bucket E has a value of 0.

RESULTS

1. 3
2. 4
3. 8
4. 2
5. Normal end.