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Can playing (video) games help develop graduate attributes?Matthew Barr, HATII@hatii_matt

Video games & learning: opposing views

“They become like blinking lizards, motionless, absorbed, only the twitching of their hands showing they are still conscious. These machines teach them nothing. They stimulate no ratiocination, discovery or feat of memory — though some of them may cunningly pretend to be educational.”

— Boris Johnson, The Telegraph (December 2006)

“Learning is a deep human need, like mating and eating, and like all such needs it is meant to be deeply pleasurable to human beings.”

— James Paul Gee, Why Video Games Are Good for Your Soul: Pleasure and Learning (2005)

Serious games

• Term probably coined by Abt (1968)

• Now refers to the broad group of video games produced, marketed or used for purposes other than pure entertainment

– Games for health • also ‘exergaming’

– ‘Advergames’– Games-as-propaganda

• also ‘newsgames’– Training games– Games for learning

• also ‘gamification’

Games for health• Re-Mission

– “Re-Mission is a video game that gives young people with cancer a sense of power and control over their disease. It’s a fun, effective tool that supports treatment adherence and can be used in the clinical setting or at home by patients on maintenance therapy.”

• Randomized controlled trial showed that playing Re-Mission improves:– Treatment Adherence– Cancer Knowledge– Self-Efficacy

• Depression Quest• That Dragon, Cancer

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Games for health• Exergaming

– Wii Fit– Nike+– Zombies, Run!

Advergames

• Tooth Protectors• McDonaldland & M.C. Kids• Also, adverts within games

e.g. billboards in FIFA, open world driving games, etc.

• The bananas in Super Monkey Ball!

Games as propagandaOr, political games

• Marine Doom (1996)– US Marine Corps

• America’s Army (2002-present)– United States Army

• John Kerry Tax Invaders (2004)– Republican Party

• Darfur Is Dying (2006)– Susana Ruiz/Save Darfur Coalition – See gamesforchange.org

• Quest For Bush (2006)– Global Islamic Media Front

• Also September 12th, Ethnic Cleansing…

‘Edutainment’

Hello, Lisa!I’m Genghis Khan.You’ll go where I go!Defile what I defile!Eat who I eat!

Genghis Khan, edutainer

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Does the ‘edutainment’ approach work?

• Some say:– Games don’t easily support institutionalised learning

• But educational games are used – successfully – to supportinstitutional learning in schools and elsewhere

– They may teach students to solve complex problems faster and more creatively

– Games are designed so that the learner can take charge of the learning process

• This is different from school learning where the teacher has made the important decisions

Educational games can work

• The Oregon Trail, 1971-present– “You have died of dysentery!”– Sought to teach American history, geography and develop skills

such as maths

More successful educational games

• Math Blaster (1987)– An intergalactic adventure that aims to teach mathematics

to school-age children in the US.

• The Typing of the Dead (1999)– Sega’s unholy melding of the on-rails first-person perspective zombie shooter genre with typing tutorial.

• Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? (1985)– Humorous geography-based adventure. Learning

geographical facts is the key to solving the mysteries.

Even more successful educational games• Lots of smaller educational games continue to be

developed today• Browser-based titles, often based on

existing educational or entertainment IP

• The BBC and Channel 4 commission lots– e.g. Cbeebies Playtime, Sweatshop

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SimCity?

1989 2013

Derek Robertson on using COTS games in schools

• ‘Derek Robertson at the HATII Video Games & Learning Symposium’

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pHuxNSupUE&t=16m27s

• COTS = Commercial Off The Shelf• Used Nintendo DS machines with a range of games

including Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training, Moshi Monsters and Mario Kart

• Randomised control trial showed gains in arithmetic ability after playing

Learning from commercial games

• A Theory of Fun for Game Design (Koster, 2005)– “Learning can be problematic”

• Highlights the human predilection for cheating • Like solving an algebraic problem without writing

out the proof, or ‘showing your working’.• Complex computer games must teach the player

how to play them (but fun & no cheating!)• Koster identifies three game design features that

are essential if the player is to experience learning…

Koster’s game design features for learning

1. Games must feature a “variable feedback system”, providing responses appropriate to the players’ achievements.

2. The “Mastery Problem” must be addressed – Better or more experienced players should not be permitted to

gain excessive advantage at the expense of inexpert players.

3. “Failure must have a cost”– If a player is unable to complete a level or advance

beyond a particular point in the game, their next attempt must be treated no differently from the last, failed attempt

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Games as systems

• Kurt Squire (2011) suggests that we can learn ‘academic’ content through video games, including the in-game terminology, a range of strategies and “the emergent properties of the game as a system”.

• That video games can help develop ‘systemic understanding’, as opposed to simply learning facts, is an idea echoed by James Paul Gee (2005), who states that “what gamers learn is empathy for a complex system”.

Over-lapping goals

• Best-designed games typically comprise a series of coinciding or intersecting goals, with short-, medium- and long-term conclusions

• This arrangement of goals, which permits the student to progress on a number of fronts –even when one goal is seemingly out of reach –has some significant advantages for student engagement

• More difficult to implement in a structured, often didactic, educational environment such as a school or university?

Video games and the motivation to learn• Often suggested that video games’ ability to

support learning lies in their power to motivate people to play them

• “Lots of young people pay lots of money to engage in an activity that is hard, long, and complex” (Gee, 2008)– Average player age is as high as 37 (ESA, 2011). Not

just “young people”!– But what if you don’t like games?

Types of motivation

• Two forms of motivation: – Intrinsicmotivation, where the task at hand provides its own reward

– Extrinsic, where the motivation is driven by the desire for external rewards such as money or prizes, or recognition from one’s peers. 

• Which form of motivation do video games engender?– They’re fun (intrinsic) but there are elements of competition (extrinsic)

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Commercial video games (I)

• Strategy games– Civilization, Age of

Empires, Medieval, Rome: Total War

– Difficult for the educational sector to compete with commercial products

Kurt Squire & Civilization

• Kurt Squire at University of Wisconsin completed his doctorate on teaching world history with Civ III

• Successful students developed conceptual understanding across history, geography & politics…

• World history as a process arising from overlapping, inter-relating factors, developing problem solving skills along the way.

• Emphasis on these games is not on memorisation & repetition but on problem solving & decision making. Seeing historical problems from multiple POVs.

Heart-warming story• Example of where a real world ‘affinity space’ grew up around learning from video games comes from

Squire’s (2004) efforts to teach social history to a group of under-performing teenagers using Civ• Unengaged and disinterested high school students became involved in playing Civ as part of their

social studies class (which many had already failed, repeatedly). • A large proportion of these students ended up being able to discuss their strategies, the strengths

and weakness of ancient civilisations and the limitations of Civ as a system, including the possibility of bias.

• Summer programme (‘Civ Camp’) where students volunteered to compete against their tutors, and each other, in a series of Civ games.

• Squire and the other tutors later discovered that one of the students — who had initially dismissed the idea of learning from Civ — had organised a sleep over at his home the night before the tournament began.

• Planned, with the help of a world map and other ‘academic’ materials, how the students might defeat their tutors over the thousands of years of human history.

• Applied lessons learned from historical accounts, a new-found appreciation of geography and an understanding of the game as a system to devise a strategy for winning.

• This work was undertaken by the students of their own volition and in their own time• Many of these students have gone on to embark on interesting, often academic careers. • See Barr (2013) or, better yet, Squire (2011) for more

Commercial video games (II)

• Action & Role-Playing Games– James Paul Gee argues that the pedagogical power of

games resides in the potential to teach through the purposeful transformation of the student identity

– The Brothers In Arms series attempts to present a more realistic, considered depiction of war

– Draws on actual “after-action reports” written by historians embedded with the paratroopers

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Commercial games don’t always get it right

• Medieval 2: Total War – Begins in 1080 with Stockholm as

the capital of Sweden – city wasn’t founded until 13th century

– Florida lies on same latitude as Ireland

– Ireland shown unified throughout (!); countries such as Latvia & Lithuania disappear into Russia

But, game-based learning is, perhaps, not about knowledge transfer.

And using commercial games to support institutional learning doesn’t always work…• Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen & Europa Universalis II

– High degree of resistance from the students to the very idea of learning from a game

– “Bermuda Triangle of incompetence, conservatism and limited resources” (Egenfeldt-Nielsen, 2007)

– Both the teacher and the student must learn how to play the game (Kirriemuir & McFarlane, 2002)

More problems…• Squire encountered similar issues...

– Not everyone ‘gets’ video games, or has any desire to do so

– How are gaming experiences related to the theory? (‘just in time’ mini-lectures were Squire’s solution)

– Do all the computers work?• Portal 2 in the DISH lab

Wikigeeks – Gaming and collaborative learning (I)

• AHRC Social Media Knowledge Exchange Scholarship– University of Cambridge Digital Humanities Network (CDHN) and

the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH)

• The best gaming wikis:– Highly structured– Multiple routes– Variety of appropriate media– Lively discussion element

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Wikigeeks (II)

• The Dwarf Fortress wiki currently comprises– 1742 articles– a comprehensive system

for quality assurance– a ‘Centralized Discussion‘

area• Barr, M. (2014) Learning

through collaboration: video game wikis. International Journal of Social Media and Interactive Learning (In Press)

Flowchart which encapsulates one possible approach to attaining self-sufficiency for the player’s in-game fort

Further Reading

• Gee, J. P. (2003). What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. Palgrave Macmillan.

• Koster, R. (2005). A Theory of Fun for Game Design. Paraglyph Press.

• Squire, K. (2011). Video Games and Learning: Teaching Participatory Culture in the Digital Age. Teachers’ College Press.

Graduate attributes

• University of Glasgow lists ten attributes our graduates should possess

• In groups, can you name them all?

Graduate attributes

• Subject Specialists• Investigative• Independent and critical thinkers• Resourceful and Responsible• Effective Communicators• Confident• Adaptable• Experienced Collaborators• Ethically and Socially Aware• Reflective Learners http://www.gla.ac.uk/students/attributes/

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Your graduate attributes

• Individually, make a note of the graduate attributes you feel you possess

• Discuss in your groups where or how you think you developed those attributes

It’s obviously not all about obtaining a degree

• Subject Specialists– Join clubs and societies with close ties to your

discipline• Investigative

– Try your hand at investigative journalism through one of the SRC’s student media bodies

• Independent and Critical Thinkers– SRC council members consider all sorts of issues

affecting student life and help to formulate academic policy for the University – why not stand for election?

More examples

• Resourceful and Responsible– The Student Learning Service offer year-round workshops in time

management

• Effective Communicators– The Student Learning Service offer year-round workshops in

presentation skills and effective writing

• Confident– Through sports coaching you’ll face tough physical challenges,

and a tougher audience – primary school kids

• Adaptable– How about an ERASMUS year abroad?

Yet more…

• Experienced Collaborators– Successful business are the ultimate team effort –

experience life in the workplace with a Club 21 placement

• Ethically and Socially Aware– Make friends from all over the globe at the SRC

language café• Reflective Learners

– Mahara can help you to organise your thoughts and record your experiences

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Personal Development Planning (PDP)

• College of Social Sciences:– Communication - oral and written – Effective group work – Problem solving – Critical thinking – Learning and technology skills – Taking personal responsibility for learning

• http://www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/socialsciences/info/students/employability/guidetopdp/

The Perfect Cooperation Game

• Rules of the game–Don’t drop the ball–Don’t cross the line–Keep everyone involved–Take your best shot

Adapted from The NASAGA Training Activity Book (Blohm et al, 2012)

* Smiling faces may not reflect actual outcome

The Perfect Cooperation Game

• Challenges• Worked• Didn’t work• Feelings when successful• Feelings when unsuccessful• “Don’t drop the ball”• Key behaviours & strategies

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Why games?

• “I would rather hire a high-level World of Warcraft player than an MBA from Harvard.”

– John Seely Brown

Video games & graduate attributes

• Subject Specialists– “You get really into the story and find out all the information that

was based on history… sort of researching into it. We found out that it was mostly conspiracy theories.”

• Investigative– “I do History and I was

studying at the same time as that [Assassin’s Creed] and I was like “Oh, wow, maybe I should go to the library and read some of these books.”

Video games & graduate attributes

• Independent and Critical Thinkers– “In a job interview you wouldn’t mention it but if they’re asking for

times when you’ve solved a problem… you only use your real life but how often does that happen? [Video games provide] much better practice than real life occurrences.”

• Resourceful and Responsible– “Dark Souls is a very meticulously

crafted game, so it only makes sense that all of its information sources be held up to the same standards, and that’s why I’m here.”

Video games & graduate attributes

• Effective Communicators– “You definitely need to be able to communicate with more than

just a chat system for team work. Vent is mandatory in any WoWguild for that reason.”

• Confident– “It’s 25 people and you had to

be really organised and I really enjoyed that. Really liked being part of that. Taught a lot about how to act in a team environment and sometimes how to lead a team.”

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Video games & graduate attributes

• Adaptable– “I can easily try reasoning with them due to the easy way editors

can communicate with one another. Failing negotiations, I can block them from editing as a last-ditch resort. I've never had to block anyone on this wiki, but I've seen it happen often on larger wikis such as StarCraft wiki.

• Experienced Collaborators– “I think you have to play the co-op [in

Portal 2]… it feels like it’s just the epitome of team work.”

– “It’s just, I think, that people don’t realise you actually work in a team when you’re playing a video game.”

Video games & graduate attributes

• Ethically and Socially Aware– “The last Wow guild I was in was one of the best one and I’m

pretty sure that everyone was not British.”– “I think it’s an interesting comment on our world when video

games try to emulate things like racism.”

• Reflective Learners– “I've found that the wiki mind-set of writing is

particularly useful for writing memos, reports, and the like where conveying as much information in as few words as possible is at a premium.”

– “Shoot the red barrel!”

Thanks!

• Matthew.Barr@glasgow.ac.uk• @hatii_matt