The boredom of education literature

Well I thought I would get it out there at the start to save people wondering while they read this. So what prompted this statement… I was reading Gee’s article on Learning by Design: good video games as learning machines (it came with a warning even – read at your own risk… big ideas here – although sadly it didn’t even come close to the level of big ideas covered in the matrix).

So anyway being a lover of a good computer game I jumped in to read…overall I thought it was a reasonable read (in fact one of the better I have read over this course), sadly however I came to the end thinking that they had missed some rather important points.

1. Learning is something you have to do, gaming is not

2. Gaming involves rewards, kind of like pokies

3. There are at least 10 different genre of games out there – not every person likes every different type and so they choose the ones they like…

So onto these points. The first and most important point that I want to highlight here is that no matter who you are as soon as you HAVE to do something then after a while it becomes a chore… no matter how enjoyable it is. Some people get payed to play games or watch videos but I am sure at some stage they would say they don’t enjoy their job.

The second point missed is that gaming involves rewards and development. That extra level or new ability or shiny new bit of armour or equipment. Now learning can involve these rewards and succesful teaching will offer these rewards but finding the balance is the tricky part. The most addictive form of reward system is the pokies (random rare rewards where the next big win could be the next button push). Take World of Warcraft for example… players “work” for months to achieve a goal or kill a certain boss to get treasure and they realise this yet still come back day after day, week after week to chase that elusive goal…

Finally my third point, I like very specific types of games, I find others not to my taste and so don’t play them. However obviously others like them (a lot of others). Within the classroom this won’t work as there is no way a teacher can tailor each lesson to 30 individual students needs. As an example of this my Fiance and I enjoy playing fantastic contraption (which involves a game and learning physics), my sister hates it even though it is a game…

So while it is possible to learn strategies to help teaching from games it is important to realise the reason people play games, bacause they are interested in the type of game, because they don’t have to play and because they can be the centre of attention in their own world (a whole other topic for another day).

Trackback URI | Comments RSS