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

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

Youth and Digital Media: From Credibility to Information Quality

Building upon a process-and context-oriented information quality framework, this paper seeks to map and explore what we know about the ways in which young users of age 18 and under search for information online, how they evaluate information, and how their related practices of content creation, levels of new literacies, general digital media usage, and social patterns affect these activities. A review of selected literature at the intersection of digital media, youth, and information quality -- primarily works from library and information science, sociology, education, and selected ethnographic studies -- reveals patterns in youth's information-seeking behavior, but also highlights the importance of contextual and demographic factors both for search and evaluation. Looking at the phenomenon from an information-learning and educational perspective, the literature shows that youth develop competencies for personal goals that sometimes do not transfer to school, and are sometimes not appropriate for school. Thus far, educational initiatives to educate youth about search, evaluation, or creation have depended greatly on the local circumstances for their success or failure

Learning and Games

Part of the Volume on the Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning In this chapter, I argue that good video games recruit good learning and that a game's design is inherently connected to designing good learning for players. I start with a perspective on learning now common in the Learning Sciences that argues that people primarily think and learn through experiences they have had, not through abstract calculations and generalizations. People store these experiences in memory -- and human long-term memory is now viewed as nearly limitless -- and use them to run simulations in their minds to prepare for problem solving in new situations. These simulations help them to form hypotheses about how to proceed in the new situation based on past experiences. The chapter also discusses the conditions experience must meet if it is to be optimal for learning and shows how good video games can deliver such optimal learning experiences. Some of the issues covered include: identity and learning; models and model-based thinking; the control of avatars and "empathy for a complex system"; distributed intelligence and cross-functional teams for learning; motivation, and ownership; emotion in learning; and situated meaning, that is, the ways in which games represent verbal meaning through images, actions, and dialogue, not just other words and definitions

Technology, Pedagogy and Digital Production: A Case Study of Children Learning New Media Skills

This article presents an analysis of data from a project which investigated children and young people's learning of digital cultures in informal settings in Britain. The project aimed to build links between young peoples' leisure and learning experiences, by engaging with the content and styles of learning connected with digital cultures in homes and community centres. The focus of this article is on a computer games making course for young people age 9 – 13. The article looks specifically at issues around technology and pedagogy. Questions are raised about types of software used with this age range, and the article includes a discussion of the models of learning which describe young people?s interactions with digital cultures

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

Best practices for deploying digital games for personal empowerment and social inclusion

Digital games are being increasingly used in initiatives to promote personal empowerment and social inclusion (PESI) of disadvantaged groups through learning and participation. There is a lack of knowledge regarding best practices, however. The literature on game-based learning insufficiently addresses the process and context of game-based practice and the diversity of contexts and intermediaries involved in PESI work. This paper takes an important step in addressing this knowledge gap using literature review, case studies, and expert consultation. Based on our findings, we formulate a set of best practices for different stakeholders who wish to set up a project using digital games for PESI. The seven cases in point are projects that represent various application domains of empowerment and inclusion. Case studies were conducted using documentation and interviews, covering background and business case, game format/technology, user groups, usage context, and impact assessment. They provide insight into each case’s strengths and weaknesses, allowing a meta-analysis of the important features and challenges of using digital games for PESI. This analysis was extended and validated through discussion at two expert workshops. Our study shows that a substantial challenge lies in selecting or designing a digital game that strikes a balance between enjoyment, learning and usability for the given use context. The particular needs of the target group and those that help implement the digital game require a highly specific approach. Projects benefit from letting both intermediaries and target groups contribute to the game design and use context. Furthermore, there is a need for multi-dimensional support to facilitate the use and development of game-based practice. Integrating game use in the operation of formal and informal intermediary support organiszations increases the chances at reaching, teaching and empowering those at risk of exclusion. The teachers, caregivers and counsellors involved in the implementation of a game-based approach, in turn can be helped through documentation and training, in combination with structural support