Gaming and Virtual Worlds

My gaming experience is quite limited, I'm afraid to admit, for someone enrolled in an educational technology program. Perhaps that is why, when I visited Second Life, my experience was less than positive. I've never had particularly good hand/eye coordination so maybe that's why I've not been drawn to video games. But I'm also not someone who likes to interact much through electronic means when I can have face to face contact with others (this includes cell phones).

So why, Rhonda, are you here?

Though my experience with gaming and virtual worlds is limited, my son's is not. I'm actually the one who started him on computer games with Oregon Trail, Amazon Trail and Zoombinis. I saw a way during those early years to engage my son in reading behaviors through the games that he was unwilling to engage in real life. The learning that went on during the games (which I also played in order to ensure appropriateness) made me comfortable with this "substitute" reading. And, honestly, despite my best attempts, he really was going to read outside of school no other way. Six years later, my son has expanded his gaming repertoire to include much more realistic games that require knowledge of physics, social studies, and math, as well as logical reasoning and strategical thinking. The vocabulary of my non-reading son is tremendous. When I ask where he learned an unusual word that he uses (for a 14 year old boy) such as "scourge," his response is always from one of his games so I do see the educational value for students.

THAT is why I'm here.

Throughout this program, I've had to struggle with my comfort level with new technologies. I love technology. I spend way too much time on it. I want students at my school to incorporate it into their learning much more than they do now. But, just as I can't change where I was born, I can't change WHEN I was born. I am a digital immigrant and that's where my struggle comes from.

As I watched Janyth Ussery's presentation at Educause, I had a lot of questions come to mind. I didn't see how collaboration and presentation skills differed through Second Life from other online learning. I know that in my group projects through UF there as been much collaborating to complete the projects. Our presentations have used a variety of methods to deliver our learning whether through a wiki, a Google doc, a blog, or a visual presentation. I questioned, as well, how limited hand/eye coordination and the frustration factor may limit learning for students who are not "gamers" and have had limited experience. My experience in Second Life was exceptionally frustrating for me and, if I were expected to learn content while in the environment, my learning would be much less than it would through another mode of delivery. I did, however, find the business simulation to be an excellent opportunity to learn a valuable skill, especially since I was at a business dinner recently and the discussion around our table was centered on whose drink was whose.

So, perhaps there is hope for me yet. Like many immigrants, I will continue to thrust myself into the culture that I am now a part of and hope that eventually I'll become fluent in the language and culture of my new world.

But, for this moment, I think I'll stick to my "first" life for just a little while longer.


References

Bers, Marina Umaschi. “Civic Identities, Online Technologies: From Designing Civic Curriculum to Supporting Civic Experiences." Civic Life Online: Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth. Edited by W. Lance Bennett. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008. 139–160. doi: 10.1162/dmal.9780262524827.139

Ertmer, P., & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, A. (2010). Teacher technology change: How knowledge, confidence, beliefs, and culture intersect. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 42(3), 255–284.

Ussery, J. (Feb. 2010). Expanding Educational Realities – Exploring Interactive and Immersive Learning Experiences. Educause Conference.