Disclaimer: This blog post is adapted from another post I made for a Multiliteracies assignment but I believe it applies to Ed-Tech as well.

Looking forward at the course syllabus, something I am looking forward to exploring is the role of video games in education. I have not played Minecraft beyond exploring the version of the game a little on our class computers so I am excited to see how it can be used in a classroom setting.  Another quick disclaimer: I do not consider myself a “gamer.”  I wasn’t the kid with a Super Nintendo or an N64- I was the kid that was always coming over to your house to play on yours. I got my first console, an Xbox, when I was 14 and since then I’ve always had access to games but I’ve never been the type to play for more than 3-4 hours at a time.

Despite all this, I have always loved video games. They allow the player to do and see things in ways that other types of texts do not. Like a novel, they can contain complete worlds, rich with detail. Like movies, they are visually stimulating. Unlike most other texts, they give the consumer agency. Modern video games, in particular, have managed to create an entirely novel and immersive experience for the player. An example of this is the 2018 Rock Star Games release Red Dead Redemption 2. I won’t go into too much detail but suffice it to say it is a game that gives you unprecedented control over the smallest of details: hair/beard length, horse cleanliness, weapon engravings, your character needs to eat or they will die, if you eat too much you will gain weight etc. These are details that do not affect the game at all and yet the player is given control.

So where am I going with this? Video games are immersive and have the potential when introduced into a classroom to create incredible learning experiences. I recently came across a TedTalk by Scott Herbet, and educator from Fort Saskatchewan titled The Power of Gamification in Education. In the video, Scott talks about how around grade 5, fun is removed from the classroom and school becomes more about worksheets, desks in rows, and rote memorization. While this is probably not the experience of a student in BC today, it was certainly my experience for the most part. High school was a significant source of stress for me and while I survived and thrived, I sometimes wonder: What if school had been more fun? What if I could have learned without taking learning so seriously? Scott’s TedTalk is not explicitly about Video Games but the idea of gamification, that is, applying the principles of game design to areas where no game is present. I believe there is a way to combine this idea of Gamification and literal video games.

Looking into this idea, I found an article on The Guardian online: What video games in schools can teach us about learning. The article focuses on a primary school in West Sussex, England where they are using the Nintendo Labo to teach principles of engineering. The article also touches on other video game companies that are creating content specifically for classrooms.  The most exciting of these is Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Discovery Tour, This is an update for the existing game Assassin’s Creed Origins which “removes all combat, missions and story from Assassin’s Creed Origins, leaving you free to explore its detailed recreation of ancient Egypt at leisure. It also adds in 75 interactive tours, written in collaboration with Egyptologists from around Europe, which teach you about everything from mummification to the city of Alexandria.” One of the things I’ve always loved about the Assassin’s Creed games are the historical settings and exploring them. So this update and its classroom applications are something I find very exciting. This is an area of education that is growing rapidly.

I am not sure what video games in the classroom looks like yet, or how I would use them but it is a topic I am excited to explore, both in this class and in my future classroom. With the possibilities that the new curriculum offers I am certain there is room for all types of games in education and that by embracing them we will be able to make education an immersive and novel experience for our students.

These ideas also have applications for my group’s Ed-Tech Inquiry project on Digital Role Play. With things like Discovery Tour and VR technology I can see the potential for completely immersive educational experiences where instead of simply reading about, for example, Rome, a student could take on the role of Roman Citizen and “physically” explore the city and interact with historical figures- literally bringing history to life.

Red Dead Redemption 2 Gameplay Trailer:

THIS VIDEO CONTAINS SOME GRAPHIC VIOLENCE, PLEASE TAKE HEED.

The Power of Gamification in Education- Scott Herbert:

Nintendo Labo First Look: