A Framework for Games Literacy and Understanding Games

Based on research that studied the challenges and difficulties faced by students taking games studies and game design courses, this paper proposes that while many students enrolled in games education programs are adept at playing games, they are usually neither games literate nor do they have a deep understanding of games. This article provides a framework that can be used to evaluate and assess games literacy. Using Gee’s notion of literacy, I propose that a deep understanding of games involves having the ability to explain, discuss, describe, frame, situate, interpret, and/or position games (1) in the context of human culture (games as a cultural artifacts), (2) in the context of other games, (3) in the context of the technological platform on which they are executed, (4) and by deconstructing them and understanding their components, how they interact, and how they facilitate certain experiences in players. I describe each of these aspects and also discuss two educational lenses that can be used to help contextualize what it means to understand and learn about games as well as support games literacy in students

Generation Examination: A Phenomenological Study of Generation X Women and Mobile Games

This phenomenological study explores the experience of Generation X women who play casual video games on mobile devices (e. g., smartphones and tablets), and draws connections to learning, particularly in the areas of New Literacies, multiliteracies, and digital literacy. A qualitative methodology was implemented to explore and document the experiences of five Generation X women with casual video games and mobile gaming. Interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) is used to analyze data gathered from in-depth, semi-structured interviews and photographic documentation of gameplay in situ. The theoretical framework that guided this study was formed from the first five of 36 Learning Principles developed by James Paul Gee in his seminal work What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Leaning and Literacy (2007). Results of the study will contribute to our understanding of video gaming using mobile technology, and will explore connections to learning, literacy, and leisure activities in an unexamined demographic group. This study extends Gee’s original work, contributes to an ongoing investigation within Library and Information Science of how people are using new technologies, and documents how casual games are a mechanism for learning and literacy for a large segment of American society. Finally, the study addresses a gap in the existing scholarly literature and adds to our knowledge of an underrepresented demographic and their use of emerging technologies

Researching my role for myself: Reacting to the Past and information literacy

In Minds on Fire: How Role-Immersion Games Transform College (Harvard UP, 2014) Mark Carnes argues that curricula such as “Reacting to the Past” engages students in subversive play in order to succeed in instilling concepts that have proved difficult to teach by other methods: critical thinking, empathy, leadership, a realistic view of history, and ultimately a better understanding of themselves. Such experiences, we have found, also foster inquiry and strategic thinking, core concepts of ACRL’s framework for information literacy. Participants will experience an abbreviated “game day” session from the Reacting to the Past curriculum, to illustrate how the role playing game can inspire student’s interest and creativity, especially as information users. Dr. Allison Belzer and experienced student players from her “Reacting” courses will lead the game play. Dr. Belzer will present her experience using the “Reacting” curriculum in her History courses, specifically how it impacts her students\u27 information literacy skills. Caroline Hopkinson will share her experience creating LibGuides for the course and how “Reacting” contributes to students understanding of “Research as Inquiry” and “Searching as Strategic Exploration.” The workshop aims to provide a good introduction to the games and their usefulness for developing information literacy concepts in order to inspire teachers to adopt the curriculum and librarians to support the curriculum. Tentative workshop agenda, using the game Rousseau, Burke and the Revolution in France, 1791. 10 minutes - introduce Reacting concept & discuss different games 40 minutes - distribute short roles to participants and divide group into 5 factions (Jacobins, Right, moderates, Crowd + indeterminates). Factions formulate strategies to win the game. Students assist, and factions each give a short speech (in character), then the group will vote on the issue at hand. 10 minutes - big group discussion about game and information literacy, including LibGuide & student and faculty reflection on how playing the game develops information literacy concepts (articulating a question, answering it via sources and incorporating those sources into their own text/speech) students weigh in 15 minutes Wrap up Including & Q & A Learning outcomes Participants will better understand how RTTP and other role playing games “hook” students by experiencing some game play. Participants will learn how RTTP contributes to information literacy from several perspectives, and draw their own conclusions from the experience

Studying Games in School: a Framework for Media Education

This paper explores how media education principles can be extended to digital games, and whether the notion of ‘game literacy’ is an appropriate metaphor for thinking about the study of digital games in schools. Rationales for studying the media are presented, focusing on the importance of setting up social situations that encourage more systematic and critical understanding of games. The value of practical production, or game making, is emphasized, as a way of developing both conceptual understanding and creative abilities. Definitions of games are reviewed to explore whether the study of games is best described as a form of literacy. I conclude that games raise difficulties for existing literacy frameworks, but that it remains important to study the multiple aspects of games in an integrated way. A model for conceptualizing the study of games is presented which focuses on the relationship between design, play and culture

Rethinking sport teaching in physical education: A case study of research based innovation in teacher education

This paper focuses on the significance of physical education teacher education (PETE) in the diffusion of 'new' thinking about sport teaching in physical education. It explores issues arising from a case study investigation that sought to respond to the critical commentary about the form and substance of sport teaching in physical education by supporting innovation in school curriculum and pedagogy through pre-service teacher education. The study was designed to challenge PETE pre-service teachers' thinking about sport curriculum and pedagogy in physical education, introduce them to new thinking about models and specifically, the sport literacy model (Drummond & Pill, 2011; Pill, 2009, 2010). Details of the research design are presented and the insights that the data have provided in relation to challenges and opportunities that teacher educators and teacher education courses confront in seeking to promote and support curriculum and pedagogical innovation are discussed

Research methodologies in creative practice: literacy in the digital age of the twenty first century - learning from computer games

Literacy remains one of the central goals of schooling, but the ways in which it is understood are changing. The growth of the networked society, and the spread of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), has brought about significant changes to traditional forms of literacy. Older, print based forms now take their place alongside a mix of newer multi-modal forms, where a wide range of elements such as image, sound, movement, light, colour and interactivity often supplant the printed word and contribute to the ways in which meaning is made. For young people to be fully literate in the twenty-first century, they need to have clear understandings about the ways in which these forms of literacy combine to persuade, present a point of view, argue a case or win the viewers’ sympathies. They need to know how to use them themselves, and to be aware of the ways in which others use them. They need to understand how digital texts organise and prioritise knowledge and information, and to recognise and be critically informed about the global context in which this occurs. That is, to be effective members of society, students need to become critical and capable users of both print and multimodal literacy, and be able to bring informed and analytic perspectives to bear on all texts, both print and digital, that they encounter in everyday life. This is part of schools’ larger challenge to build robust connections between school and the world beyond, to meet the needs of all students, and to counter problems of alienation and marginalisation, particularly amongst students in the middle years. This means finding ways to be relevant and useful for all students, and to provide them with the skills and knowledge they will need in the ICT-based world of the Twentyfirst century. With respect to literacy education, engagement and technology, we urgently need more information as to how this might be best achieved

Toward an Ecology of Gaming

In her introduction to the Ecology of Games, Salen argues for the need for an increasingly complex and informed awareness of the meaning, significance, and practicalities of games in young people's lives. The language of the media is replete with references to the devil (and heavy metal) when it comes to the ill-found virtues of videogames, while a growing movement in K-12 education casts them as a Holy Grail in the uphill battle to keep kids learning. Her essay explores the different ways the volume's contributors add shades of grey to this often black-and-white mix, pointing toward a more sophisticated understanding of the myriad ways in which gaming could and should matter to those considering the future of learning

Using gaming paratexts in the literacy classroom

This paper illustrates how digital game paratexts may effectively be used in the high school English to meet a variety of traditional and multimodal literacy outcomes. Paratexts are texts that refer to digital gaming and game cultures, and using them in the classroom enables practitioners to focus on and valorise the considerable literacies and skills that young people develop and deploy in their engagement with digital gaming and game cultures. The effectiveness of valorizing paratexts in this manner is demonstrated through two examples of assessment by students in classes where teachers had designed curriculum and assessment activities using paratexts

Project:Filter - using applied games to engage secondary schoolchildren with public policy

Applied games present a twenty-first-century method of consuming information for a specific purpose beyond pure entertainment. Objectives such as awareness and engagement are often used as intended outcomes of applied games in alignment with strategic, organizational, or commercial purposes. Applied games were highlighted as an engagement-based outcome to explore noPILLS, a pan-European policy research project which presented policy pointers and suggested methods of interventions for reducing micropollution within the wastewater treatment process. This paper provides an assessment of a video game which was developed for the purpose of public engagement with policy-based research. The video game, Project:Filter, was developed as a means of communicating noPILLS to secondary school children in Scotland as part of a classroom-based activity. Knowledge development and engagement were identified using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to evidence topical awareness, depth of understanding, and suggested methods of intervention. Analysis of observations also provided insights into challenges surrounding logistics, pedagogy, social interactions, learning, and gender as contributing factors to the schoolchildren’s experiences of Project:Filter. The intention of this paper is two-fold: firstly, to provide an example of developing video games from policy-based research; and secondly, to suggest methods of phenomenological assessment for identifying play-based engagement