Game-Based Learning: Building Competence in Visual Literacy Through Simulation

Game-based learning is an ideal experiential learning framework for introducing the critique process to reduce student anxiety and create competence in visual literacy and self-assessment. Critique, the assessment, and analysis of one’s work is an essential step in any creative process. It is an integral part of art school. However, it can also be a source of high anxiety for new students. This paper discusses the importance of critique, the challenges associated with teaching critique, and the benefits of utilizing game-based learning. Examples of game-based learning solutions are explored, including the development of, and response to, Lumen, a card game designed to prepare students for photographic discussion and critique

Minecraft in the Math Classroom

The spread of technology is creating the need for teachers to evolve and adapt their strategies within the classroom. Teachers must continually improve upon their technological integration in order to teach students ever more effectively. Game-based learning has recently gained prominence as a plausible use of technology in the classroom. This thesis will discuss the classroom implications and application of game-based learning. Specifically, the use of the video game Minecraft in the high school math classroom will be examined. The potential of Minecraft as an effective teaching tool to advance the quality of student learning will be examined through a thorough investigation of the topic. Along with practical example lessons, the benefits and difficulties of such an implementation of Minecraft will be considered

Enhancing ESL Classroom Management and Language Proficiency: A Gamification Approach in Pakistani Universities

  The integration of gamification principles into English as a Second Language (ESL) courses within Pakistani universities is transforming the landscape of classroom management. This qualitative research explores the innovative and engaging use of gamified techniques to enhance ESL classroom management, fostering student motivation, participation, and language proficiency. Within the context of Pakistani higher education, this study investigates the potential of gamification to create a dynamic and immersive learning environment. Through interviews with thirty (30) ESL instructors, it uncovers valuable insights into the effectiveness of gamified approaches in the Pakistani educational landscape. Pakistani universities should utilize gamification to create vibrant, motivating, and highly effective ESL learning environments, thus enhancing language acquisition outcomes, promoting student engagement and participation, and enriching the educational experience for students. By offering evidence-based recommendations, this study empowers ESL instructors and educational policy-makers to leverage gamification as a potent tool for ESL classroom management. Keywords: Gamification, Classroom management, ESL Courses, Pakistani Universities, student motivation, language proficiency

Pedagogy at Play: Gamification and Gameful Design in the 21st-Century Writing Classroom

The language used to discuss play in current academic spaces tends to center around formal games (and computer games in particular in the 21st century classroom). Scholarly conversations tend to distort the actual practices that occur in classrooms and subsequently limit the scope of any investigation of the pedagogical function and outcomes of those practices. This project explores the use of play and games in the classrooms of nine composition instructors. From these stories, this project begins to map out a taxonomy in order to begin building toward a pedagogy of play for 21st century writing classrooms. Using a multiperspectival cultural studies approach, this study amplifies the voices of actual writing teachers while examining the theoretical implications and possibilities of the language surrounding gamification and gameful design. In particular, this project reflects on the ways in which the “gamification” trend affects the methods used by writing teachers, and also how the language used to discuss those methods reflects on a particular set of anxieties present in (but not necessarily unique to) this cultural moment. By investigating the relationship between language and thought in this instance, this project offers insight into the attitudes and moments that have yielded such a strong preoccupation with gamification over the past decade. Attention to such details will, subsequently, provide new ways of considering what it means to use games in these spaces

The Magic Of Teaching And Assessing Writ[rid]ing

Theories of hermeneutics (Moss) and complementarity (Broad and Boyd) claim that human understandings deepen when inquiries are informed by multiple perspectives. This thesis renders two distinct but related pedagogical enterprises—the teaching of writing and the teaching of horseback riding—reciprocally illuminating and complicating. As a result, the Elbovian “magic” of teaching, assessing, writing, and riding has come to light: the delicate humanity and intimacy of our work in both “communities of practice” (Star). My argument calls teachers to embrace this “magic” in our classrooms by addressing and normalizing fears that both we and our students experience. Doing so is essential to earning the trust we need to be truly effective teachers and to join the larger conversation about reimagining our large-scale assessment scene. I specifically argue for the design of a large-scale portfolio assessment that is assessed by teacher experts and provides “educative” feedback to students as part of their ongoing development as writers (Wiggins). Other teacher-researchers ought to undertake their own hermeneutic, complementary projects of reciprocal illumination in order to alter our communal “vantage point,” allowing us to see our deeply human craft of teaching and assessing writing in new and uniquely valuable ways (Star)

Rhetorical Invention in a 21st Century Technoculture: A New Ludic Framework for Learning

This dissertation proposes the ludic framework for learning as an innovative pedagogical model that privileges play, possibility, failure, and social affinity as states of being and positions for learning. The ludic framework works through rhetorics of play as a frame of reference; rhetorics of possibility and invention as a means of production; the acceptance of transformative failure; and engages with digital communities to further knowledge through social affinity while being grounded in constructionist learning theories. The principles that facilitate this are: curiosity, play, flexibility, metacognition, collaboration, invention, persistence, and creativity. To demonstrate this, the dissertation has two case studies: a semester project that explains the need and procedures for teaching technologies in a workflow and a three-dimensional representation of the research in Minecraft: Education Edition

Developing multiliteracies with digital games and digital literature in a college-level English course with first language and second language learners

Digital technology has had an increasing presence in the lives of children and young adults over the last 20 years. The American, non-profit organization Common Sense Media claims that 89% of teens now own a cellphone while 70% use social media multiple times a day (Rideout & Robb, 2018). Similarly, in Canada, Statistics Canada reports that 96% of young people use the Internet on a daily basis or own their own smartphone (Statistics Canada, 2018, p.13). As a result of this, recent calls for critical education in regards to social and digital media argue for the importance of 21st century media and literacy skills (Butler, 2017; Storksdieck, 2016). These calls join a chorus of academics who have long been calling for the importance of multiliteracy development in education (Cope & Kalantzis, 2000; Gee & Hayes, 2011; Lankshear & Knobel, 2011; New London Group, 1996). In searching for texts that may facilitate multiliteracy development, digital games has emerged as an option in formal education, given the complex critical thinking, learning, and literacy practices they can afford (Beavis, O'Mara, & McNeice, 2012; Gee, 2007; Salen & Zimmerman, 2004; Squire, 2008; Steinkhueler, 2010). Similarly, recent scholarship has discussed using digital games in language and literature courses, particularly L2 environments, demonstrating how digital games can increase motivation, vocabulary attainment, and provide other linguistic benefits (Guerrero, 2011; Vahdat & Behbahani, 2013; Yang & Chen, 2012). Despite these claims, little research, has demonstrated the ways in which such texts can engender multiliteracies in both L1 and L2 environments. The study presented here sought to explore the multitliterate affordances when using digital literature and digital games for L1 and L2 learners at an English first language college in Quebec. 23 students participated in the qualitative, exploratory, design-based research study conducted in an English literature class. Results show that the implications of using digital games to engender multiliteracy development are substantive. Moreover, the study’s findings indicate that students were able to apply literary concepts through playing these games, as well as interrogate terms such as empathy, multimodality, and procedural rhetoric. Therefore, digital games can be understood as convergent texts (Jenkins, 2006) in that they afford a multitude of literacies, engagement, reflexivity, and lend themselves to critical, literary analysis. However, more research is needed, particularly on the specific ways these texts might be integrated into the classroom so that teachers are provided with detailed information on how to teach with them.Au cours des 20 dernières années, une présence accrue de la technologie numérique s’est manifestée dans la vie des enfants et des jeunes adultes. L'organisation à but non lucratif américaine Common Sense Media affirme que 89 % des adolescents possèdent désormais un téléphone portable, tandis que 70 % utilisent les médias sociaux plusieurs fois par jour (Rideout et Robb, 2018, p. 8). De même, au Canada, Statistique Canada rapporte que 96 % des jeunes utilisent Internet quotidiennement ou possèdent leur propre téléphone intelligent (Statistique Canada, 2018, p. 13). En conséquence, les récents appels au bénéfice d'une éducation critique en matière de médias sociaux et numériques plaident en faveur de l'importance des compétences en matière de médias et de littératies du XXIe siècle (Butler, 2017; Storksdieck, 2016). Ces appels rejoignent un groupe de chercheurs qui revendiquent depuis longtemps l'importance du développement des multilittératies en éducation (Cope et Kalantzis, 2000; Gee et Hayes, 2011; Lankshear et Knobel, 2011; New London Group, 1996). Parmi les textes qui peuvent faciliter le développement des multilittératies, les jeux numériques représentent une option possible en éducation, compte tenu de leurs possibilités de susciter la pensée critique ainsi que d’autres pratiques multilittéraires complexes (Beavis, O'Mara et McNeice, 2012; Gee, 2007; Salen & Zimmerman, 2004; Squire, 2008; Steinkhueler, 2010). De même, des travaux récents ont porté sur l'utilisation de jeux numériques dans les cours de langue et de littérature, en particulier dans des situations d’apprentissages de L2, démontrant ainsi comment les jeux numériques peuvent augmenter la motivation, l'acquisition du vocabulaire et d'autres avantages linguistiques (Guerrero, 2011; Vahdat & Behbahani, 2013; Yang et Chen, 2007, 2012). En dépit de ces affirmations, peu de recherches ont démontré la manière dont de tels textes peuvent engendrer les multilittératies dans les environnements de L1 et L2. L'étude présentée ici cherchait à explorer les avantages des multilittératies, lors de l'utilisation de la littérature numérique et des jeux numériques dans un collège anglophone au Québec. Vingt-trois étudiants ont participé à une étude qualitative, exploratoire, basée sur une recherche orientée sur la conception (design-based research) en éducation, dans un cours de littérature anglaise. Les résultats montrent que les conséquences de l’utilisation des jeux numériques pour générer un développement en multilittératie sont considérables. De plus, les conclusions des recherches indiquent que les étudiants parviennent à appliquer les concepts de littératie dans leurs jeux numériques en revisitant certains termes tels que : empathie, multimodalité et rhétorique procédurale, tout en les questionnant. Par conséquent, les jeux numériques peuvent être appréhendés comme des textes convergents (Jenkins, 2006) dans la mesure où ils permettent une multitude de littératies de même qu’un engagement et une réflexivité accrus en se prêtant à une analyse littéraire critique. Cependant, des recherches supplémentaires s’avèrent nécessaires, en particulier sur les moyens précis d’intégrer ces textes dans la classe afin que les enseignants disposent d’informations détaillées sur la manière de les utiliser dans leur enseignement

Community-Engaged Development of a Parent-Child Book Reading Wise Intervention

Children living in communities with high rates of poverty experience significant detriment to their academic skills and social, emotional, and behavioral health. Though a range of evidence-based interventions exist that aim to reduce these disparities, they face substantial barriers (e.g., related to financial and human resources, opportunity cost to target families, variable fit across the diverse populations in low-income households). In contrast, wise interventions use psychologically precise pathways to produce small, recursive changes that result in significant benefits. As such, they represent a resource efficient strategy with the potential for considerable impact with contextual adaptation. The current study utilized social marketing research strategies in the context of an academic-community partnership to design, iteratively refine, and examine an emotion-enhanced children’s book – or picture book infused with opportunities to label and explain character emotions – as a wise intervention based in parent-child book reading, an especially warm and nurturing form of parent-child interaction. We employed the Social Marketing Assessment and Response Tool (SMART Model) to guide intervention development and evaluation. In SMART Phases 2-4 (Formative Research), end-users (n=14) completed surveys on basic demographic information, mental health, current beliefs about joint book reading and ongoing practices, and perspectives and response styles to children’s emotions. We then engaged participants in focus groups and interviews to obtain insights regarding the perceived need and preferred characteristics of the proposed intervention. Feedback informed the design of prototype components (i.e., book characters and storylines) that we presented to both new and returning end-users (n=10) for feedback in SMART Phase 5 (Development) pre-testing. Stakeholders (i.e., end-users) again completed surveys on basic demographic information, mental health, current beliefs about joint book reading and ongoing practices, and perspectives and response styles to children’s emotions, and participated in interviews to provide additional feedback. Results from Phase 5 pre-testing informed iterative refinement, and a completed intervention was evaluated by a broad audience via an online survey (n=31) to examine acceptability, usability, and perceived effectiveness

Minecraft as a learning tool : a focus on atomic structure in Grade 8 Natural Sciences

Abstract: The abstract nature of the atomic structure, the rigidity of science classrooms and the application of mathematics in science classrooms are some of the factors that make it difficult for learners to learn atomic structure. In order to make these abstract concepts more concrete for learners, teaching and assessment methods may have to be diversified. Digital games such as Minecraft can be used as tools of transferring knowledge when dealing with abstract concepts. This study investigated the affordances of using Minecraft as a learning tool as well as the experiences of grade eight learners from a South African private school in using Minecraft as an educational tool for learning the atomic structure. Learners were selected based on their familiarity with game mechanics. Data was obtained through focus group interviews and observations. The study revealed that some of the difficulties that make atomic structure difficult for learners may be alleviated by using Minecraft as a learning tool. Minecraft offered a better learning experience for the learners and made it easier to understand atomic structure and related concepts. Minecraft can be an effective learning tool in teaching for atomic structure as part of grade 8 Natural Sciences.M.Ed. (Information and Communications Technology