Video Games & Learning: Week 1

Kurt Squire and Constance Steinkueler

I am enrolled in the Video Games and Learning MOOC [1] , taught by Constance Steinkueler [2] and Kurt Squire [3] (University of Wisconsin, Madison).  I signed up for this course when I first heard about it, a few months ago.  I’ve been a long time fan of Steinkueler and Squire’s work and was eager to hear what these two vibrant thought leaders had to say about games and learning. No brainer.

This is the course’s first week (still time to sign up, if you’re interested) and they started us out at just the right pace.  Assignments included six videos totaling about 40 minutes (each video, but one, was no longer than five minutes).  The first of these videos featured our two educational “hosts”, seated together, in a warm and welcoming dialogue about the course to come and how they got into the field.  Nice touch. All the videos are professionally produced, interesting, and snappy.

The level of material seems just about right â€" not to technical (with 32,000 enrolled, there’s going to be a huge range of backgrounds) but meaningful enough to make it worthwhile. The course feels very plan-ful â€" the organizers have clearly thought it out carefully, applied best online teaching & learning practices, and seriously invested themselves.  Here’s an example of nice touch â€" they consistently use a playful drawing technique to unite elements of the course and remind us of the art & design underpinnings to games.

In addition to the video assignments, there was an infographic (for a lighter diet) and a wonderful, comic-style document, explaining the “theory of fun [4] “, excerpted, no doubt, from the book by Ralph Koster [5] by the same name.  I’ve looked through that treasure twice now. Some really good stuff in there â€"  asking (and answering) what drives us to seek out products and experiences that are truly fun and entertaining.  It’s storyboard look is so engagingly presented, you just slide right through it.

After the readings and videos, the first week’s assignment was to choose a video game (whatever you want) and play it for 30 minutes.  Then record a 1 minute video of yourself, reviewing your experience, with the principles you’ve just learned about in mind.  How did the game engage you?  How did you learn the game?  What auditory cues did the game use? What did you like/not like? How did it keep you coming back?

Temple Run screen shot

I chose the game Temple Run [6] , which I could download for free on my iPhone.  Here’s the place where I confess that I am not a gamer.  I have dabbled here and there.  At one point, I could wangle a pretty mean game of Pac-Man (and Ms. Pac-Man).  What I know about videogames and the gaming culture I’ve gleaned from my two 20-something sons and from reading what smart people like Squires, Steinkueler, and Gee have to say.

I have to say that my 30 minutes with Temple Run went by in a flash. I will be playing it again, I’m sure. It was fun.  Easy. And mildly addictive (as in, “surely I can get better at this…”).  Temple Run is fueled with a simple concept: you are an Indiana-Jones-style treasure hunter, you’ve just stolen a golden idol, and you are dashing out of the Temple with a flanx of demonic-sounding monkeys close at your heels.  Your job is to run, jump, slide, turn grab coins and get out of there without being eaten by the monkeys. The game starts with a simple tutorial (I didn’t even know I was in a tutorial) that gives you screen prompts to learn when to swipe in order to make your hunter jump, slide, and turn. Once I’d had a few successful runs in the tutorial mode, the screen gave me an encouraging “You’re Ready!” and the game began for real.  The first few times those demonic monkeys got me in the first 15 seconds of play (are they actually eating me?).  Then, I quickly got the jumping move down and got better at anticipating the turns.  Soon I was running over 500 meters (maybe a minute) and gathering gold coins along the way.

Just about the time I was getting a wee bit bored with it, a screen popped up telling me that I have the option of going to the store with my coins for some upgrades.  Sure. I bought a multiplier of some kind so that my gathered coins were worth more(?) â€" I think, not too sure.  This game does not burden you with a lot of explanation â€" the emphasis is on try it again.  And again.

By the time I stopped I was successfully running 1000 meters and had some serious coinage.  Fun.  Here’s my video:

Like this:

Like Loading...

Links

1. ^{^} Video Games and Learning MOOC (www.coursera.org)
2. ^{^} Constance Steinkueler (website.education.wisc.edu)
3. ^{^} Kurt Squire (website.education.wisc.edu)
4. ^{^} theory of fun (d396qusza40orc.cloudfront.net)
5. ^{^} book by Ralph Koster (www.amazon.com)
6. ^{^} Temple Run (en.wikipedia.org)

source: robinheyden.wordpress.com