This presentation is part of TELL training to teachers of EFL and teacher trainers from Vietnam

1. SERIOUS GAMING 4
SERIOUS LEARNING
Bridging the gap?

2. What bridge?
 Digital immigrants & Digital
Natives(Prensky, 2001)
 Teaching styles & learning styles (Becker 2006)
 Formal learning and informal learning
 Surface Learning & deep learning
 Students’ Intrinsic & extrinsic motivation
 Direct instruction & Inductive teaching style
 Linear modes & inclusive, collaborative modes
No single theory, different ways of learning &
teaching

3. Behaviourist Model of gaming
 Behaviouristic = repetitive associations to
contiguous stimuli (pattern) for reinforcement
 Logical presentation of content
 Requirement of overt responses
 Feedback right/wrong and optional score
 Consolidates grammar, vocabulary, spelling
 Often disconnected from learning experience
 See MingoVille (5-13 y-o) – Sequitur, Hotpotatoes
 Precursor of digital games (reinforcement –
PC=tutor)
 Little interaction & reflection on learning

4. Cognitivist/Constructivist
Models
 Cognitivist tenets are
 Symbol manipulation and transformation
 Direct instruction and practice (behaviorism)
 Constructivist tenets are:
 Puzzlement is stimulus for learning
 Interaction with the environment/task problem
 Social negotiation with others
 Personal evaluation and scaffolded reflection to solve
problems and advance knowledge
(hunts, murder mysteries, simulations)
Some MMORPG used in (socio) constructivist
approaches:
, The Sims 3 , (9-16)

5. In a nut shell (Jonnassen, Wilson &
grabinger, 1993)
Behaviourist game design Constructivist game design
 No extraneous information  Natural complexity and
content of language
 Simplifies comprehensibility
 Avoids oversimplification
 Reconstructs/replicates
knowledge  Present multiple
representation /
 Abstracts instruction perspectives
experience  Real world contexts
 Focuses on acquiring skills  Engages reflective
 Prescriptive sequences of practice
instruction  Offer open learning
 Supports individual learning environments

6. The situated perspective
 Knowledge not an object, memory not a location
 Social interaction and negotiation in new
situations
 Learning happens in authentic contexts
 Bridges the artificiality of classroom learning to
real-life situations
 Knowledge construction through participation
 In given communities with specific
 Culture, Language & Tools

7. Games characteristics
(Prensky, 2001)
 Goals and objectives
 Rules
 Conflict, competition, challenge and opposition
 Interaction
 Outcome and feedback
 The representation of a story
 Some games and virtual environments used in
education
 MinecraftEdu, (widely used in primary, secondary
education)
 SecondLife, (soft and hard sciences)
 WoW (wow in Schools wiki)
 Atlantis Remixed (9-16 y-o)
 Civilization V

8. Gee’s Affordances (foreword in Reinders
2012)
A good game design include:
 Well-ordered problems
 Tools (and other players) to solve problems
 Learning by negotiating, building, sharing,
 Copious feedback to prepare for next stages, higher
level
 Next stages have new challenges (ZPD – cycle of
expertise)
 Playing & Learning through social interaction and
mentoring
 Two way narratives
 Reach standards in different ways
 Easy design so gamers can become designers
(See Jonassen 1994)

9. Challenges for educators
 Opportunity or disruption? – mechanics of
gameplay
 Learning to play versus learning language
 Requirements (hardware and human
resources, time)
 Institutional buy-in
 Curriculum Integration (alignment goals-
assessment)
 feedback, on-going assessment, formative vs
summative
 Needs more research & practice, check
livebinders
 See Stephen Thorne’s IATEFL 2012 Keynote
 Read this post of teacher of German using WoW

10. Further Readings:
 Becker, K., (2006) Games and Learning Styles, Academia.Edu [online]
 Brown, J.S., Collins, A. & Duguid, S. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture
of learning. Educational Researcher, 18(1), 32-42.
 Jonassen, D.H., Wilson, B.G., Wang, S., & Grabinger, R.S. (1993).
Constructivist uses of expert systems to support learning. Journal of Computer-
Based Instruction, 20(3), 86-94.
 Kkorthagen F.A.J., (2010) Situate Learning Theory and the Pedagogy of
Teacher Education: Towards an integrative View of Teacher Behaviour and
Teacher Learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26 (pp98-106) [online]
 Lave, J., & Wenger, E., (1990). Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral
Participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press
 Prensky M.,(2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, MCB
University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5, October 2001
 Reeve J. K. (2010) . Constructivism and Its Application to Game-Based
Learning [online]
 Reinders, H. (2012) Digital Games in Language Learning and Teaching, New
Language Learning & Teaching Environments. Basingtoke, England: Palgrave
MacMillan
 Young, F. Y. (1993). Instructional Design for Situated Learning. Educational
Technology Research and Development, 41 (1), 43-57.