The Educational Possibility of Video Games

After reading more from James Paul Gee in his article “Learning by Design: Good Video Games as Learning Machines” (PDF) I was no more encouraged than I was before about using video games of any kind to teach our children. His argument strikes me as being provocative for the sake of creating controversy and debate on the topic more so than to make a clear and compelling case for adopting gaming technologies for use in educational programs. He makes many gross over-generalizations and salacious analogies: “School is often built around…the idea that an academic area…is constituted by some definitive list of facts or body of information that can be tested in a standardized way” and “Under the right conditions, learning, like sex, is biologically motivating and pleasurable for humans (and other primates).” Certainly not all schools are built around teaching material solely for the purposes of standardized testing–private schools, for example, definitely do not, and I would bet that most teachers try very hard to teach things that are indeed going to be covered on those standardized tests, expand on those topics when they can, and teach creatively when they can.

One of Gee’s arguments, in the section about “co-design,” is that a great quality of games is that they can make players think and learn. I would argue that some clever players could play the game without seriously thinking or learning. Perhaps then Gee would say they are learning without knowing they are learning and he would argue that is a good thing. I would counter that learning without awareness that you are learning often leads to what he says later on in the article: “the well-known phenomenon that students with As because they can pass multiple-choice tests can’t apply their knowledge in practice.”

I do think Gee has some good points. He fails to acknowledge that many of his principles are actually applied in private schools and for many years have been part of the reasons parents choose these schools over the public educational system. These schools, generally speaking, do not “dumb it down” because they aren’t required to move as slowly as the slowest student in class. They also incorporate creative methods of learning, personalized attention and feedback, and interactivity. I would add that most science classes and language classes have more creative and interactive curricula than English or history classes. What about dissecting animals in biology lab? Or mixing chemicals in chemistry? Nowadays, language classes no doubt use computer programs to facilitate learning and to provide additional interactivity outside of class.

The bottom line for me with Gee’s argument is that some of his principles are good, but none can be employed without also reading and writing and attending class in the traditional way.

Niall Ferguson’s article “How to Win a War” was inspiring and very convincing and nearly makes me want to go out and buy that game The Calm & the Storm. He makes a clear case for some valuable ways video games can be used in an educational manner. Particularly with counterfactual questions. Games other than The Calm & the Storm, he says, are “just playing Space Invaders…with fancy graphics.” Still, without some basis of knowledge with which you enter the game and some discussion with a teacher about what you’ve played in the game, how can you know that the students are learning and learning to think in new and different ways?

I’ve commented on Ken’s Historiarum about using gaming as a teaching method because video games are a common experience for children today, and on Jenny’s blog about how Gee must have hated his own experience in school and how Ferguson’s article makes a more compelling case for the value of educational gaming.

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Design Critiques

After last night’s class, I have to say I was rather discouraged. And my site wasn’t even critiqued. I think many of the comments were useful, but some seemed gratuitous and not necessarily designed to help the person receiving criticism. Some things are a matter of opinion. Some things are a matter of design sense. If you take the concept of the CSS Zen Garden as an example, you understand that there is no One Correct Design. Obviously hundreds of designers have contributed designs for the CSS Zen Garden, all with the same HTML code. Who’s the best? Can we really answer that question objectively or is it a matter of opinion? Yes, of course, it’s a matter of opinion. I think that’s what we need to sort out in our class: what is a matter of opinion and what is a matter of good design?

I thought the sites were overall very good. We each have our skills and our areas for improvement. It seems clear to me that with each assignment most of us pick something we want to accomplish and aim for that while letting other things fall to the bottom of the to-do list for that week. At least, this is what I do. I’m here to learn certain things and improve certain areas of my skill set, and I can’t do it all every week. It’s really too much. Especially when we have such a short period of time to complete each assignment. There are clearly some folks who spend more time than others on these projects and take it more seriously, but in the end we get out of this what we put in.

I’ve added some comments on Karin’s site, because I thought she did a really great job and the critique got a little carried away, and on James’ blog. Perhaps I’m saying this because I know that for this project, I worked nearly non-stop on it for the past 10 days or so, and in the end, I think my design is terrible. The process I went through, however, was not. I learned a ton about Photoshop and grids and typography. And about people’s opinions. So, frankly, I don’t want to hear that you don’t like a dark background and light text, that’s a matter of opinion. Many designers are able to pull off very appealing sites with this kind of scheme, and I was trying to create something similarly edgy and different for a hip, cutting-edge place like CHNM. I’m disappointed that I fell short of that aim, but I’m not finished yet…

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A little Photoshop help

I’ve recently discovered a great little podcast that has helped me a bunch lately as I try to improve my Photoshop skills. Thought I would share it with the class. They are great, short little bits that definitely provide some helpful hints for how to achieve certain effects in PS. Fair warning, though: they can be addictive! Have fun.

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Design in progress

I think I’m going to need every last minute on this one this week. I’ve decided to tackle a fun, free-thinking redesign of the CHNM homepage. I’m trying to think completely differently and do something new. So far, I’ve been through at least 10 different designs–and that’s after I created the first sketch with my idea. As I’ve created images and started coding, I change colors and change arrangement of information on the page. This is all after I spent days on the information architecture alone. With a large and important site like this, the architecture is extremely important and definitely my biggest challenge with the design. I still have some questions, and if I were to take it forward and eventually implement the redesign, then I will talk to more people and ask. For the most part, though, I wanted to tackle this myself without any influence from others. Just for now. To allow me to be as creative as possible.

I am approaching the design as if it really were an assignment for CHNM, but at the same time, I’m trying to let myself do things that may push the limits of design to come up with something totally different. Since I’ve been reading The Zen of CSS Design, I’m inspired by those designs and trying to incorporate many crucial design elements: color, repetition, alignment, imagery, and proximity. It’s hard work. I’ve been meticulously working with a gridmaker that Jeremy showed me in Photoshop, and trying to get all the margins and boxes aligned with all the right spacing ain’t easy. I’ve had to re-create images over and over and over and do lots and lots of math. I’m trying to keep it simple and clean, as is my style, and yet I want to incorporate lots of color and imagery. I keep thinking I’m almost there, then I decide to change something.

I’ve commented on Ken’s, Marty’s, Steve’s, Chris’s and Bill’s blogs about their designs and about Bill’s comments on mine…that, yes, when I find time, I will try to post something of my process for any of you who are interested. Unfortunately, my parents are coming to town, and we have our final design project. But, if it would help any of you, I’ll try to get something up next week. And, thanks Bill, for the vote of confidence. Unfortunately, the site didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped.

Posted in design, Clio Wired, History and New Media | 2 Comments »

Is interactivity always a good thing?

A key theme I’m sure you’ve noticed if you’ve been reading my posts is that I am a rather impatient person. So, if you don’t mind, I’m going to rant a bit. The Internet visits for this week were frustrating for me and a bit of a let down. Admittedly, it could be my mood…

Nonetheless, the Lost Museum seemed really cool at first, but as I started to wander through, I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere. I do like the concept of a virtual museum very, very much, but I really dislike having to slide my mouse around until the cursor changes, then click, or more realistically slide it back to that precise spot where the cursor changed and then click. Then you ask yourself, is there anything else to see in this room? Well, let me slide my mouse around some more and see. Frankly, I would have to be incredibly interested in that topic in order to stick around and slide and click all over the place. (I have a similar reaction to playing Myst, but I’ll save that commentary for later.)

The Historic Tale Construction Set was a riot. I loved the style and music. Monty Python-esque. But, I had a hard time getting it to work or understanding the point. That said, it was pretty well-designed with an easy to understand drag and drop tool. But, there were no other links or any additional information about the site, how to use it, or who designed it.

The British Library’s Turning the Pages site looked very exciting until I had to go download the Shockwave plug-in, which I believe I had downloaded and installed a couple of weeks ago. Even still, I couldn’t get the site to work properly. I kept getting Shockwave error messages. Designers ought to be concerned about this very problem: does my user have everything he or she needs to view my site? If not, does my site prompt them to go and download it, does it not function without some special technology, and does my site “downgrade” effortlessly and effectively so that a user, who doesn’t have or doesn’t want some extra doohickey they have to leave my site to go hunt down, download, and install, can still enjoy the content of my site. I always try, though I’ve never designed anything so fancy. Maybe this is part of the reason I haven’t. After finally getting a book to open and making several clicks elsewhere around the site, I grew frustrated over a failed zoom attempt and left. The designers of that site should talk to Steve Krug. Or at least read his book.

Then, I couldn’t login to the system to read Josh Brown’s article (can’t remember my email password since I never, ever use Webmail), so I’ll get that from someone later perhaps? But, this is yet another frustrated effort today. Lastly, for now, the article on Participation Inequality made me want to scream. The implied tone of the title is that it is somehow bad that not everyone participates in interactive web experiences. So what? Not everyone votes either. I myself am usually a lurker, and I like it that way. And, frankly, I don’t much care what the average web user has to say about my blog or anyone else’s. I don’t want some random person editing the article on the Tiananmen Massacre, I want an actual expert on Chinese history to tell me what he or she thinks. Why does everyone need to have a blog or need to post in it more than every once in a while? I don’t see much advantage in a greater portion of the web user population converting from lurker to contributor. The only benefits I see, at least from the article, are commercial. Marketers can better target their customers, customer service can change its practices, etc. Aside from the advantage of a discount or special offer, what advantage does the user have in contributing?

I see the web as a resource, a place that makes information more accessible to more people more quickly and more easily. That, alone, is a very good thing. And that is, I believe, what history and new media is about. Not about requiring your users to participate in some sort of interactive experience, but to make information available to them that was previously unavailable. The goal should not be interactivity and participation but access to and comprehension of information. If these goals can be achieved with some degree of non-annoying, no-additional-downloads-required interactivity, More Power To It.

See my comments on Tad’s blog, Ken’s Historiarum, and on Maureen’s blog.

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