Virtual Learning Worlds

I typically come across colleagues and individuals with varying views on *how* a game should be designed and implemented for education. I’ve heard a wide variety of opinions on this, but some themes re-emerge frequently:

• Educational games should be about EDUCATION first, and the game comes second. Most instructors that I talk with believe this is the right way to design educational games from the ground up.
• Educational games should be all-inclusive. If we’re going to teach a game about the stock market, it should be as accurate as possible and account for as many variables as possible to realistically illustrate how the market works and how people interact with the market.
• Educational games should be able to stand alone. A game about project management should include all relevant information on the subject so when a player completes the game, he/she now possesses a great deal of knowledge about the subject matter.

Personally, I do not put a lot of weight behind any of these views. Here’s why:

• If the game is about EDUCATION first and GAME second, the game is typically force-fitted around the educational content. What does this lead to? A very boring, dry game experience where you feel like you’re being hit over the head with specific information (similar to how my students feel if I lecture for 3 hours).
• Creating an educational game that is all-inclusive and realistic to account for many variables is very similar to designing a simulation. Games and simulations are nothing more than models, but simulations are typically modeled after the real world and strive for accuracy. Games are more abstract as designers have more freedom to make things less accurate in the hopes to appeal or motivate more people to interact with the software. If the goal is to have students learn and interact with an accurate model, use a simulation.
• The stand alone issue comes up frequently with faculty, and I simply can’t understand why I hear this so much. Some colleagues are looking for a game to replace a lesson plan, or series of lesson plans. If the game covers 90% of the lesson, but leaves out 10%, the game is dismissed. I counter that a lesson plan itself does not solely focus on a single medium to convey information. It’s a combination of lecture, assignments, quizzes and a variety of other items. Games are no different; they should be used in conjunction with other teaching tools. The area that games provide a huge benefit is in debriefing and reflection.

I came across the video below by Daniel Floyd and James Portnow that talks about games for learning, specifically tangential learning. It’s about 7 minutes long and contains some good examples of tangential learning at the end: