CHAPTER 1
Introduction
Learning with Digital Games: A Practical Guide to Engaging Students in Higher Education aims to provide a straightforward introduction to the creation and use of computer games to support learning, teaching and assessment with adult learners. It is aimed at anyone with an interest in the use of digital games to enhance teaching, and does not assume a high prior level of technical knowledge, but will take the reader step by step through the design and development processes required to incorporate digital games within higher education. I hope that this text will offer a friendly and accessible introduction to the area, providing inspiration and ideas as well as practical guidance.
I have worked for many years as a developer, teacher and researcher in the field of technology-enhanced learning, with a particular interest in collaborative computer game-based learning. This book is based around the work carried out for my doctoral thesis, āAn investigation into the potential of collaborative computer game-based learning in higher educationā (Whitton, 2007). In this volume, my research and experience has been distilled into the lessons learned from this work, with supporting activities to enable the reader to understand the theoretical context, address the practical considerations of using games for learning and consider the best ways in which to implement digital games for learning in your own subject discipline. Throughout I have aimed to keep this book practical in nature, providing advice on the application of digital games in teaching and learning with tips, guidelines, checklists and short case studies.
In the first part of this introductory chapter I explain and discuss the background to the creation of this book, explore the rationale for a book aimed specifically at using computer games with learners in higher education (as opposed to school-aged learners or in the context of training) and describe the structure of the book and the elements that are contained within it. The second half of the chapter provides some examples from the game-based learning literature of ways in which games have been used in this arena, and aims to provide some initial ideas of the scope and applicability of the medium. I hope that after reading this chapter you will begin to see the potential of digital games for learning and will be enthused to think about ways in which the principles discussed here might apply to your own situations.
Background to the Book
The primary objective of this book is to offer a practical starting point for anyone who is interested in the use of computer games for learning within the higher education context. It is not limited to online games used at a distance, a common conception of computer games for learning, but includes the use of games in a range of environments and circumstances, from face-to-face in traditional classroom settings to online virtual worlds, and draws upon a range of game genres that I feel are particularly appropriate for supporting learning at this level.
Learning with Digital Games is aimed at anyone with an interest in games and education, including lecturers, educational developers, e-learning practitioners and researchers. It provides theory to underpin the practical advice and examples provided, though I have tried not to be heavily theoretical ā the aim is to allow individuals to apply the principles of game-based learning with technology to improve the student experience.
Although this book draws together pedagogic, practical and technological aspects of learning with digital games, it is not expected that the reader will become an expert in the theories of learning, or a technical mastermind (and a high level of technical expertise is not required to follow the narrative or complete the activities) but will, however, gain the ability to start to consider how to appropriately use the techniques suggested. The pedagogy that underpins the use of technology is central to the ethos of this book and I hope that after reading it, and completing the suggested activities, you will be filled with ideas about different approaches to adopt to make the best use of digital games to enhance teaching, learning and assessment.
This book also aims to provide sound advice and ideas on how to apply digital games to real teaching and learning contexts, based on robust research evidence. It is worth saying up front that at the current time this evidence is somewhat limited in the area of higher education, although several good examples do exist and I hope that the research and evidence base will grow over time. Therefore, while the examples provided in this book are predominantly based in the higher education sphere, I will at times draw on examples and evidence from childrenās education, further education, informal learning, training and adult learning in other contexts, where this is appropriate and transferable. Likewise, the techniques and tools provided in the book can also be applied to a similar range of contexts (bearing in mind the differences between learners in higher education and other areas, as discussed in Chapter 3) and I hope that this book will also be of interest to practitioners in these related areas. My own experience is primarily in the UK higher education context, and the majority of the examples and case studies used in this book come from this environment. However, where possible, I have tried to include examples from other spheres, and highlighted differences that may impact on how they may be applied.
Learning with Digital Games is unashamedly written from a constructivist learning perspective, taking the underlying philosophical approach that students learn actively by doing things (rather than simply reading or being told about them), and construct their own conceptions of what they are learning, using other people as a way of testing and refining their understandings. While, undoubtedly there are examples of computer games used successfully in an instructional or transmissional model in higher education and in other educational areas, I feel that to understand the real potential of digital games it is best to view them as active learning environments, which have the potential to teach higher level skills such as analysis, application and evaluation (Bloom, 1956) and this is the predominant focus here.
It is worth making the point early on that the reader should recognize that the advice provided in this book, although based on sound evidence and experience, will not apply in every learning and teaching situation. It is crucial to apply the principles described here with discretion and creativity and adapt the use of digital games to the student group, the skills and experience of the teacher, and the nature of the subject area. What this book does aim to provide is the pedagogic understanding and background to help the reader use computer games appropriately in a given situation (or decide that there are alternative, preferable ways to teach or learn).
There are several ways to approach how you use this book: it may be read start-to-finish to provide an introductory overview to the use of digital game-based learning in higher education; you may also choose to work through the activities provided in each chapter as a starting point. It can also be employed as a reference tool or practical manual for the reader to dip into particular areas of interest or research certain topics as and when the need arises. I have included activities throughout, which will take the reader through the process of specifying, designing and obtaining appropriate games for learning in their own contexts, and provide the opportunity to apply the principles described.
In this book I have aimed to cover all the bases concerning the background to digital game-based learning, splitting the main body of the book into three parts, and looking first at the pedagogic theory, then the application in practice, then the technologies that can be used. On its own, each of these parts also provides an introduction to its respective area, so each can also be seen as stand-alone. I wanted this book to be used as an easily accessible reference, so at the end of each chapter there is a summary of the important points covered in that chapter. I have also tried to contextualize the points that I make in this book as far as possible and use examples and case studies throughout; more detailed examples in the form of extended case studies are also available on the website that accompanies this book.
In my opinion a book that concentrates predominantly on the use of digital games with learners in higher education is needed because, while there are several other excellent books in the area, they tend to focus on the use of games with children, or focus on learning in the context of training, which I feel misses some of the great potential of the field for supporting active and contextualized learning. In the section that follows I will discuss the rationale for thinking about digital games for learning in the context of higher education differently from that in other, more widely explored, areas.
The Higher Education Context
While there have been several excellent books published in recent years that look at the potential of computer game-based learning, in general, these books tend to focus on childrenās learning and, where adult learning is considered, they tend to be skills-focused, training-related or based around memorization of facts. From my own background as a teacher and educational developer in higher education and a researcher in digital games for learning, I feel that many of the arguments that are made for the use of games with these groups do not always directly transfer to students in higher education and that by focusing on these areas we are not exploring the real potential of digital games.
I believe that there is a great deal that can be learned from other educational fields, including further education, the schools sector, and the commercial and training sectors (and vice versa that much of this book can be applied in these areas), but that an understanding of the differences is important to be able to make informed decisions about how games should be used and what is appropriate in a given context. From my perspective, there are a number of fundamental differences in the ways in which it is appropriate to use games with children, or in drill-and-practice situations, as opposed to the higher level learning that takes place at university, and these are shown in the box opposite.
A concept that I would like to discuss early on, and one that I can safely say is not a premise behind my enthusiasm for computer games for learning, is the notion of the āgames generationā, ādigital nativesā (Prensky, 2001, 2006) or ānet generationā (Oblinger, 2004). These terms are all used to express the hypothesis that exposure to technology from an early age has changed the way in which young people (i.e. our current generation of students) think and approach technology. Prensky (2001) describes a definite distinction between ādigital nativesā who have grown up with computer games, television and other media, and use them to learn instinctively, and older learners, for whom interacting with these types of technology has to be done through conscious effort. He argues that the generation of people brought up in a world of computers (the majority of our current generation of students) are cognitively different from previous generations and that this immersion in technology has fundamentally changed the way in which people acquire and assimilate information.
Acceptability
The way in which the concepts of play and fun are perceived during learning differs in higher education. While they might be seen as appropriate elements within the context of childrenās learning, games are perceived by many learners and teachers in higher education as frivolous and a distraction. Perceptions of the appropriateness of games will affect the degree to which they are seen as acceptable by their users, so a greater emphasis on the purposefulness of games and on their pedagogic rationale is required in this context.
Applicability to the real world
Learners in higher education, and adult learners in general, are more likely to need to see the real-world relevance of what they are learning and be able to transfer what they have learned into authentic contexts. This has implications for the design of games and their supporting activities outside the game environment.
Assessment
The assessment of digital games for learning is one of the key issues that this book aims to address, and whether or not a game is assessed will affect the dynamic of its use and the engagement of learners. Lecturers in higher education also have a great deal more flexibility in the way in which courses are assessed than teachers in schools, and it is this freedom that creates greater potential for the integration of effective digital game-based learning, while at the same time raising questions about the types of assessment that are appropriate at this level.
Cognitive level of learning outcomes
The nature of the learning outcomes at university level (particularly at the end of an undergraduate degree and in postgraduate studies) do not focus simply on memorization, repetition of facts or understanding of a topic. Instead, they tend to focus on higher level cognitive outcomes, looking at skills such as critical thinking, evaluation, synthesis and application, and the types of computer game that are appropriate in this context are different from those used to teach lower-level skills.
Motivation
The motivations of adults, both to undertake learning and to engage in game-based learning are different from those of younger learners. Adults have a range of different reasons for taking part in learning and choose to engage voluntarily in the higher education system. Computer games are often justified in education on the grounds that they are āmotivationalā, but in my experience this is not necessarily the case for adults (and certainly not all adults). A rationale for the use of games simply as motivational tools is not appropriate in higher education and is an oversimplification of the motivations that surround adult engagement in learning.
Orientation to study
Students in higher education are required to take a greater responsibility for their own learning, have a greater understanding of the learning process itself and develop more mature and self-reflective attitudes to learning. Concepts such as āstealth learningā that have been applied to games, where learners learn by playing a game without necessarily understanding what or how they are learning, are not appropriate to this context.
This idea is still commonly used as an argument for the use of games in education, although it is now generally thought, by educationalists, to be flawed. I very strongly feel that labelling whole generational groups in this way is not helpful and, indeed, self-limiting ā particularly in relation to terms such as ādigital divideā or āgeneration gapā, which imply that any difference is insurmountable (and serves only to highlight differences rather than focusing on commonality). While it is can be useful to highlight that differences do exist, it is important to realize that the situation is more complex than simply two ways of being (e.g. natives and immigrants) and that individual approaches to technology and information are not necessarily fixed. Bennett and colleagues (2008) argue, from a recent analysis of the literature on digital natives, that the relationship between young people and technology is more complex and that there is no evidence of generationally different learning styles. They call for a more measured and ri...
