Gaming as Collaborative Learning

For this class assignment we took our game playing to another level as we played Kingdom Rush collaboratively to discover additional benefits of gaming in learning environments.

For me I found that my two sons were invaluable tutors, patient and supportive helping to encourage and motivate me while providing constant problem solving suggestions and reminders of where to look for additional resources.

Having the support and encouragement of fellow classmates helped to keep me going on the game when I felt I could go no farther.  Commiserating over frustrations and celebrating successes made developed a sense of community and the feeling that I must work through my frustration as the rest of the community was as well.  When I had others checking on and asking about my progress I felt the responsibility to try harder and not give in so easily.

I am a person who does not like to fail and not knowing how to do something correctly can be very frustrating for me personally but with gaming it is different games are fun.  Games create an environment in which it’s safe to fail and fun to collaborate.  

Here are some interesting articles I found on the subject of collaborative gaming.

Dimension-U Article about online gaming platform and learning resource 

Girls and Games: What's the Attraction   "62 percent of gamers play with other people either in person or online, and 47 percent of all gamers are girl"

 Games and Learning: Teaching as Designing - How video games teach

• First, they focus on well-ordered problems, not facts and information.
• Second, they give players good tools with which to solve the problems (including other players in multiplayer gaming and facts and information as tools) .
• Third they have clear goals, but, nonetheless, encourage players to rethink their goals from time to time. 
• To see number 4 - 12 click on link above......

What part of collaborative gaming do you find the most beneficial?

Second Life - Confused and Unsure

Well another big step for me personally today.  I entered the Second Life world for my Emerging Instructional Technology class and to tell you the truth I was a little intimidated within the first couple of seconds.  When I entered Second Life initially I was placed on the waters edge and within seconds I had other avatars approaching my avatar to chat for me this was not a comfortable feeling.

I quickly managed to teleport myself to The Inspiring Orientation where I am learning to walk, jump, run and fly.  I feel much more comfortable since I moved to a place where can quietly learn to navigate.

I am finding it fairly easy to walk, run and fly however using the tools like the camera and manipulating things are not going so smoothly at this point.

After my initial exposure to Second Life I am not sure that I see it as somewhere I would choose to spend much time in the future.  Now back to exploring the program to see if my mind can be changed.

Kingdom Rush - Newb Here

Finally I had an assignment that my two boys are jealous of.  In my Emerging Instructional Technology class we were assigned the task of playing Kingdom Rush for a minimum of 3 hours.  This week the kids are not complaining about mom having so much homework.  My ten year old offered to do my homework for me and both he and his 14 year old brother were quick to offer their help and expertise.

I spend a great deal of my time chastising my boys for spending so much time playing online games "do you have your homework done", "really can't you find something more productive to do" and every night "you need to have that thing shut down in the next 5 minutes or I am disconnecting the internet" are phrases that are regularly voiced in my household.

This week it was different, it was "mom I can help you with your homework if you want" and me asking them to come help me get through a level.  After playing for several hours I can defiantly understand the lure of games when you ease yourself from the relatively easy completion of the first few quests, then scaffolding learning increasing you skill set and knowledge base as you progress.  Before I knew I was on the edge of me seat, stomping my feet cursing Yeti's and other bad guys in an oblivious state of Flow.

9 Characteristics of Flow

I am only up to 19 stars so my skills are far from noteworthy but I am getting more skilled each time I play.  The fact that I am not a gamer did not serve me well at first, in fact I needed put the settings on easy to learn how to get through the first few levels and work my way up to the normal level.  The fact that I had access to my own personal tutors (game playing sons) at a drop of a hat helped to make my experience less stressful than I image it would have been without them.