Using massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) to support second language learning: Action research in the real and virtual world

Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) create large virtual communities. Online gaming shows potential not just for entertaining, but also for education. The aim of this research project is to investigate the use of commercial MMORPGs to support second language teaching. MMORPGs offer a digital safe space in which students can communicate by using their target language with global players. This qualitative research based on ethnography and action research investigates the students’ experiences of language learning and performing while they play in the MMORPGs. Research was conducted in both the real and virtual worlds. In the real world the researcher observes the interaction with the MMORPGs by the students through actual discussion, and screen video captures while they are playing. In the virtual world, the researcher takes on the role of a character in the MMORPG enabling the researcher to get an inside point of view of the students and their own MMORPG characters. This latter approach also uses action research to allow the researcher to provide anonymous/private support to the students including in-game instruction, confidence building, and some support of language issues in a safe and friendly way. Using action research with MMORPGs in the real world facilitates a number of opportunities for learning and teaching including opportunities to practice language and individual and group experiences of communicating with other native/ second language speakers for the students. The researcher can also develop tutorial exercises and discussion for teaching plans based on the students’ experiences with the MMORPGs. The results from this research study demonstrate that MMORPGs offer a safe, fun, informal and effective learning space for supporting language teaching. Furthermore the use of MMORPGs help the students’ confidence in using their second language and provide additional benefits such as a better understanding of the culture and use of language in different contexts

Network Analysis for Learners’ Concept Maps While Using Mobile Augmented Reality Gaming

Using mobile augmented reality games in education combines situated and active learning with pleasure. The aim of this research is to analyze the responses expressed by young, middle-aged, and elderly adults about the location-based mobile augmented reality (MAR) games using methods of content analysis, concept maps, and social network analysis (SNA). The responses to questions related to MAR game Ingress were collected from 36 adult players, aged 20–60, from Greece, and subsequently analyzed by means of content analysis, concept maps, and social network analysis. Our findings show that for question 1 (How do you feel when you endow the geographical space with personal preferences?), there was a differentiation of the answers between age groups with age groups agreeing in pairs, the first two and the last two, while for question 2 (Do you think that the game offers opportunities for learning and teaching geography, building on your previous geographical knowledge?), there was an overlap in responses of participants among age groups. It was also revealed that the MAR games foster a constructivism approach of learning, as their use learning becomes an active, socially supported process of knowledge construction

Do computer games enhance learning about conflicts? A cross-national inquiry into proximate and distant scenarios in Global Conflicts

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Interactive conflict resolution and peace education have developed as two major lines of practice to tackle intractable inter-group conflicts. Recently, new media technologies such as social media, computer games, and online dialogue are added to the existing set of tools used for peace education. However, a debate is emerging as to how effective they are in motivating learning and teaching skills required for peace building. We take issue with this question and have conducted a study investigating the effect of different conflict contexts on student learning. We have designed a cross-national experimental study with Israeli-Jewish, Palestinian, and Guatemalan undergraduate students using the Israeli–Palestinian and Guatemalan scenarios in the computer game called ‘‘Global Conflicts.’’ The learning effects of these scenarios were systematically analyzed using pre- and post-test questionnaires. The study indicated that Israeli-Jews and Palestinians acquired more knowledge from the Guatemalan game than Guatemalans acquired from the Israeli–Palestinian game. All participants acquired knowledge about proximate conflicts after playing games about these scenarios, and there were insignificant differences between the three national groups. Israeli-Jews and Palestinians playing the Israeli–Palestinian game changed their attitudes about this conflict, while Guatemalans playing the Guatemalan game did not change their attitudes about this case. All participants changed their attitudes about distant conflicts after playing games about these scenarios

Education Unleashed: Participatory Culture, Education, and Innovation in Second Life

Part of the Volume on the Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and LearningWhile virtual worlds share common technologies and audiences with games, they possess many unique characteristics. Particularly when compared to massively multiplayer online role-playing games, virtual worlds create very different learning and teaching opportunities through markets, creation, and connections to the real world, and lack of overt game goals. This chapter aims to expose a wide audience to the breadth and depth of learning occurring within Second Life (SL). From in-world classes in the scripting language to mixed-reality conferences about the future of broadcasting, a tremendous variety of both amateurs and experts are leveraging SL as a platform for education. In one sense, this isn't new since every technology is co-opted by communities for communication, but SL is different because every aspect of it was designed to encourage this co-opting, this remixing of the virtual and the real

Game-Based Teaching Methodology and Empathy in Ethics Education

This article describes the experience of a group of educators participating in a graduate course in ethics. Playing role playing games and the work accompanying that play were the predominate methodology employed in the course. An accompanying research study investigated the lived experiences of the course participants. Themes that emerged from interview data included student engagement, participants’ applications, empathy development, and reactions to professor modeling

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF GAMES AND SONGS IN TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO THE FOURTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SDN 1 BATURETNO WONOGIRI

Woro Widiastuti. 2008. The Effectiveness of Games and Songs in Teaching English Vocabulary to the Fourth Grade Students of SDN 1 Baturetno, Wonogiri. English Diploma Program, Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts, Sebelas Maret University. This Final Project report was written based on the job training done at SDN 1 Baturetno, Wonogiri for a month. The writer took the fourth grade students as the objects to be observed and focused in the teaching of English vocabulary. The objectives of this Final Project report are 1.) to describe the process of teaching vocabulary for students by using games and songs, and 2.) to describe how effective, entertaining, and fun in teaching English vocabulary by using games and songs. To find out the conclusion of the objectives, the writer did an observation and teaching activity. In the English teaching and learning activity, the writer used some procedures in order to make the English teaching and learning activities run well. The procedures are Greeting, BKOF, Modeling of Text, Join Construction and Individual Construction, and Closing. Games itself was held in Join Construction and Individual Construction. Meanwhile, songs applied in the last step to end the lesson. By playing games, the writer can attract the students’ attention and persuade them to love English and enjoy the learning process. The games also help the students to memorize the vocabulary they have learned. Meanwhile, the use of songs to end the lesson can refresh the students’ mind after learning process. Besides, songs help to create a fun and friendly situation and become a fun and attractive way to learn vocabulary. Finally, both games and songs can be an alternative way to make the learning process fun and effective

Board games as a teaching tool for technology classes in Compulsory Secondary Education

Aquest treball estudia la tècnica coneguda com game-based learning, és a dir, l’ús dels jocs com a eina didàctica. Primer que res, es fa recerca sobre els treballs ja existents i es veu que, tot i haver-hi articles sobre game-based learning, és difícil trobar-ne de relacionats amb la tecnologia, més enllà d’ensenyar a programar. A continuació, es revisen els continguts curriculars i les competències de secundària i es relacionen amb alguns jocs de taula ja existents, dels quals es detallen breument les regles de joc. Es veu que hi ha continguts curriculars, pels quals es difícil trobar un joc que hi encaixi. A més a més, es desenvolupa la idea d’un nou joc de taula, basat en el ja existent Party & Co., per treballar alguns dels continguts curriculars pels quals no s’ha trobat cap joc existent que s’hi escaigui. Finalment, s’explica una experiència duta a terme durant el període de pràctiques en el centre escolar al curs de 3r d’ESO. Es disposava de tres grups i en tots tres es va seguir la mateixa programació: classe introductòria expositiva, una sessió de muntatge de robots LEGO, 4 sessions de programació i un petit test. En un dels tres grups, però, es va fer una classe prèvia extra on es va jugar a un joc de taula anomenat RoboRally. Els objectius eren dobles: que aprenguessin la importància de l’algorísmica i que s’ho passessin bé. Els resultats mostren que aquest grup va treballar més i millor. En el treball s’analitzen els resultats obtinguts

Creating Space: Building Digital Games

Studies of games, rhetoric, and pedagogy are increasingly common in our field, and indeed seem to grow each year. Nonetheless, composing and designing digital games, either as a mode of scholarship or as a classroom assignment, has not seen an equal groundswell. This selection first provides a brief overview of the existing scholarship in gaming and pedagogy, much of which currently focuses either on games as texts to analyze or as pedagogical models. While these approaches are certainly valuable, I advocate for an increased focus on game design and creation as valuable act of composition. Such a focus engages students and scholars in a deeply multimodal practice that incorporates critical design and computational thinking. I close with suggestions on tools for new and intrepid designers