Speak Up 2007 for Students, Teachers, Parents & School Leaders

3. Speak Up 2007 for Students, Teachers, Parents & School Leaders Selected National Findings - April 8, 2008 Participation Overview: Surveys submitted from schools in all 50 states, American DOD schools, Canada, Mexico and Australia. Top participating states in 2007: TX, CA, AZ, IL, AL, MD, NC, PA, FL, MI 319,223 K-12 students - 25,544 teachers - 19726 parents - 3,263 school leaders 3,729 schools and 867 districts About the 2007 Speak Up schools: o 97% public schools – 3% private schools o 32% Urban – 40% Suburban – 29% Rural o 43% Title I eligible; 29% majority – minority student population

4. A growing body of research has begun to reveal that video games and computer games have tremendous educational value.

5. Dr. Jim Gee’s book, What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy James Paul Gee is the Tashia Morgridge Professor of Reading at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his PhD in linguistics in 1975 from Stanford University and has published widely in linguistics and education. 18 of 36 principles

6. Gaming, Cognition, and Education • Video games are set up to encourage active, not passive, learning • All video games require participants to be actively involved in their own learning. Gamers, particularly those in role-playing games, rarely sit passively and receive information. Instead they must actively explore, hypothesize, experiment, reflect upon, critique, move about, interact, etc. As children navigate complex gaming spaces, they learn to think of these gaming environments as spaces that both manipulate them and can be manipulated by them.

7. Gaming, Cognition, and Education 2. In video games, ‘learners can take risks where real-world consequences are lowered’ Video games provide places where participants can safely take risks. When a gamer fails, at worst she ‘loses a life’ or has to start over, often not at the beginning but in a slightly reduced state that allows her to retain nearly all of the skills, knowledge, power, capabilities, progress, etc. that she has gained thus far. This gaming principle entices children to try, even if they (rightly) believe that they will fail at first.

8. Gaming, Cognition, and Education 3. Gaming environments are compelling to participants The proof that gaming environments are compelling to those playing them lies in the fact that gamers are willing to play a game repeatedly and often. Gamers put in a lot of effort as they try different ways of doing things, try to get further than they did before, explore new variations in areas where they already have been successful, etc. Gamers are mentally engaged - oftenquitedeeply - with the learning environment as they try, fail, try again, fail again, try yet again, fail yet again, and so on.

9. Gaming, Cognition, and Education 4. Video games give a lot of output for just a little input One of the key characteristics of video games is that they operate according to what Gee calls the amplification of input principle. In a video game, you can push a few buttons here and there, or type a few words with your keyboard, and an entire immersive environment springs forth to engage you. Amplification of input is a powerfully motivating feature of video games because learners can put in just a little and still get a lot back out. This encourages them to put in a little more to see what else they might get.

10. 5. In video games, learners get rewards from the very beginning Another significant feature of video games is that participants get rewards from the very beginning. These rewards, both intrinsic and extrinsic, send messages of success to learners and encourage them to continue to play to gain additional rewards. Extrinsic rewards might include new character lives, greater wealth, more points or coins, etc. Examples of intrinsic rewards include satisfaction with character progress or growth, expanded interconnection with other characters, greater understanding and knowledge, and so on. Importantly, these rewards are individually customized to each learner as he or she progresses further through the gaming environment.

11. Gaming, Cognition, and Education 6. Gamers get lots of non-boring practice As Gee notes, people “need to practice what they are learning a good deal before they master it” (p. 68). Moreover, if they don’t continue to practice, they lose much of their previously-acquired skill and knowledge (e.g., how much do you remember about sine, cosine, and tangent?). Because they provide opportunities, for active, interactive learning, video games do an excellent job of allowing learners to practice skills and mentally ingrain existing knowledge in ways that are engaging, not boring. One of the keys to this is the fact that video games embed learning within meaningful contexts rather than being decontextualized like “drill and kill” worksheets or homework problem sets. Video games also facilitate learners’ acquisition of self-selected goals rather than goals that are externally imposed by others.

12. Gaming, Cognition, and Education 7. Video game participants are constantly learning, unlearning, and relearning In most video games, particularly role-playing games, participants must continually unpack prior learning and undo previously-routinized behaviors in order to learn new skills that allow them to progress and be successful. In other words, participants cannot function on 'autopilot' for long before the video game requires them to do something different to reach a new and higher level. As Gee notes Several educators have argued that this cycle of automatization of skills through practice, rethinking this automatization when faced with new conditions in order to learn new skills and transform old ones, and then perfecting these new skills through further practice that once again leads to automatization is the very foundation of intelligent practice in the world. . . . A cycle of automatization, adaptation, new learning, and new automatization is a sine qua non of learning for those who want to survive as active thinkers and actors in a fast changing world. (pp. 69-70)

13. 8. Video games continually and appropriately challenge learners Video games are structured so that learners constantly operate at the outer edge of their competence. Participants are continually challenged but the challenges are not so difficult that learners believe they are undoable. Gee refers to this as the regime of competence principle. Lev Vygotsky, a famous developmental psychologist, called this concept the zone of proximal development - the area in which students are ready to grow. Video games are similar to teachers in that they take the role of what Vygotsky called the 'more knowledgeable other,' the entity that helps students bridge the gap between their current ability and new capabilities. In education, we often call this scaffolding - the idea that learners can progress to new skill levels with structured, individualized, just-in-time assistance. Video games are very adept at scaffolding participants' learning. One of the reasons that video games are so compelling / engaging / 'addictive' is that participants are continually faced with new challenges that are neither too easy nor too difficult. This motivates them to move forward because the next step is always in sight and is perceived as being achievable.

14. 9. Video games foster active, reflective investigation Gee points out that most good video games require learners to probe the virtual world by exploring, looking around, moving items, clicking on something, etc.; form a hypothesis about what something in the game might mean based on reflection while probing and afterward; reprobe the world with that hypothesis in mind to see what effect occurs; and treat this effect as feedback from the world and accept or rethink the original hypothesis. (p. 90) These four stages reflect how expert scientists approach their tasks and embody the process by which children and adults learn when they're not in school. In other words, this probe-hypothesis-reprobe-rethink process is "central to how humans learn things" (p. 91). This model of learning is underutilized in schools, however, as curricula and other pressures often result in a focus on memorization of facts rather than on teaching students how to discover, decode, and test patterns of thinking and meaning. The latter, of course, is an essential skill for individuals living in an everchanging global society.

15. 10. Video games allow learners to follow their own paths There is more than one path to success in most role-playing video games. The path that some players follow, or the choices that they make, can be different than the paths and choices of others and yet still lead to the next level. Those paths may take longer, or some choices may be better, but eventually each player gets to the next stage. By playing and replaying levels repeatedly in ways that are not boring, players can revise and refine their paths to success. Video games allow for individualized learning toward common outcomes.

16. 11. Gamers make meaning within embodied experiences Because video games have the capacity to create complex, experiential simulations, participants’ learning is situated within learning environments that are fairly authentic, at least within the paradigm of the game framework. In other words, learning is not decontextualized, like a multiple choice item or writing prompt might be, but instead is rooted within the ongoing development of the skills, knowledge, and behaviors necessary to be successful in the game environment. For example, instead of reading about a blacksmith or watching a video about a blacksmith, gamers learn by actually being blacksmiths. Participants’ understanding is thus deeper because it is embodied within simulated (and often very real) experiences.

17. 12. Learning in video games is multimodal Most educators know about the theories of multiple intelligences and learning styles. The basic idea is that students learn differently and have different strengths. Teachers thus should try to facilitate multiple paths to learning and attempt to create different ways for students to show their mastery of content material. Most video games seamlessly integrate three of our five senses: sight, sound, and touch - participants also may experience different smells while gaming. Because they can simultaneously utilize images, text, sound, interactions, abstract design, and so on (Gee, 2003, p. 210), video games are better able to simulate real-life experiences than can printed text, audio, or video. This makes learning more authentic, more engaging, and more compelling.

18. 13. Video games can create subsets of a domain One of the most powerful features of video games is their ability to simulate worlds: past, present, or future; real or fictional. The multimodal capabilities of video games allow participants to be immersed in rich, deep learning contexts. For example, instead of reading about the Civil War, learners can take the role of soldier, general, medic, battlefield photographer, news correspondent, and the like. At the same time, however, dropping a new learner into a complex world can be disorienting and discouraging. Video games can create a simplified subset of the real domain, a starting place where participants can safely become oriented to the new world before being exposed to the entire learning environment. The value of this cannot be understated. Imagine if you were an English-speaking American who was about to be dropped into the middle of South Korea. Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a chance for some safe and structured, but authentic, practice first? Gee (2003) sums this up nicely: Learning is not started in a separate place (e.g., a classroom or textbook) outside the domain in which the learning is going to operate. At the same time, the learner is not thrown into the “real” thing - the full game - and left to swim or drown. (p. 122)

19. 14. Video games effectively facilitate “bottom up” learning of basic skills In early stages of video games, learners are exposed to critical fundamental skills that allow them to gradually engage in more complex actions. As Gee (2003) notes, early situations and problems [are designed] in a quite sophisticated way to lead to fruitful learning. When later the player is confronted by harder situations and problems, he or she has just the right basis on which to make fruitful guesses about what to do. (p. 135) These basic skills are learned in a “bottom up” fashion - by playing the game, not through decontextualized exercises. Indeed, the structured learning environments of video games typically are designed so effectively that by the time new players are aware of what are basic skills . . . the basic elements that are used repeatedly and combined and often concentrated in the earlier episodes . . . they have already mastered them. (Gee, 2003, p. 136)

20. 15. Video games facilitate “just in time” learning The artificial intelligences that reside in video games can be structured to respond in different ways to participant activity. Computer-mediated learning environments thus can be designed to provide information “just in time” or on demand. There is a great deal power associated with just-in-time learning or resource acquisition. For example, in manufacturing and industry, the concept of just-in-time manufacturing allows companies to reduce inventory and cut costs, making them more efficient and effective. Similarly, just-in-time learning environments allow participants to acquire skills or knowledge when they need them and not before. This facilitates greater concentration in earlier stages on things that are important (rather than extraneous or unneeded); allows for greater individualization and customization; makes learning more fluid; and leads to more active, engaged, motivated learners.

21. 16. Gamers are discovery learners Virtually every role-playing game requires participants to actively investigate the learning environment. As noted previously, this active learning aspect replicates real-life learning contexts and deepens overall knowledge and proficiency. Unlike many K-12 classrooms, video games rarely tell learners anything overtly. If games do, it’s usually planful and related to something small. All of the big discoveries - the conceptual breakthroughs - are left for the learner to discover in a structured, scaffolded way. Educators have long recognized the value of guided, inquiry-based learning methods, particularly for problem-solving, even if they have rarely implemented such methods on a large scale.

22. 17. Gamers have many opportunities for learning transfer One of the key outcomes that educators try to achieve with students is the transfer of learning from one context to another. In rapidly-changing societies such as ours, the ability to transfer and/or adapt existing knowledge and skills to new situations is an essential requirement for life success. Video games give participants many opportunities to practice already-acquired skills and to transfer their learning to new and different challenges. To succeed in video games, learners must not only exhibit near transfer (i.e., replication of prior learning to new, fairly similar, situations) but also far transfer (i.e., adaptation and modification of prior learning to substantively different contexts).

23. 18. Gamers are producers and insiders, not just consumers Like other modern technology tools (e.g., digital cameras and camcorders, podcasts, blogs, wikis), many video games allow learners to be producers of original content, not just consumers of pre-packaged material. Some of the most popular role-playing games (e.g., Second Life, EverQuest) have very sophisticated economies built upon user-created content. These video games have tools that allow for rich, individualized customization of the learning environment by participants. This stands in sharp contrast to the “one size fits all” instructional model that we see in many schools and classrooms, where teachers and textbooks are the insiders and “the learners are outsiders who must take what they are given as mere consumers” (Gee, 2003, p. 194) Control of the learning path, and perhaps the learning environmentitself, can be powerfully motivating and engaging for learners.

24. Questions of the day Are our K-12 classrooms set up . . . to encourage active rather than passive learning? to be places where students can safely take risks? to be mentally-engaging and -compelling learning environments where students will try repeatedly despite possible and/or actual failure? Are our K-12 classrooms set up . . . to give students a lot of output for just a little input? to provide, from the very beginning, both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards for learning? to allow students opportunities for non-boring practice within meaningful contexts and on self-selected learning goals?

25. Questions of the Day Are our K-12 classrooms set up . . . to allow students to continually learn, unlearn, and relearn at higher levels? to have students work at their own pace and individualized levels of challenge? to foster active, reflective investigation? Are our K-12 classrooms set up . . . to allow students to travel their individualized and unique learning paths? to create embodied, authentic learning experiences that are not decontextualized or overgeneralized? to facilitate multimodal learning as the dominant pedagogical model?

26. Questions of the Day Are our K-12 classrooms set up . . . to create safe but authentic subsets of real learning domains? to help students invisibly learn important skills from the “bottom up?” to allow students to gain information only when they need it (i.e., when it can best be understood and put into practice)? Are our K-12 classrooms set up . . . to facilitate discovery learning? to facilitate learning transfer, both near and far? to allow students to be producers and insiders, not just consumers?

27. Let’s Explore http://21stcenturylearning.typepad.com

28. World of Warcraft enables thousands of players to come together online and battle against the world and each other. Players come from across the globe and leave the world behind and undertake grand quests and heroic exploits in a land of fantastic adventure.

29. World of Warcraft Tens of millions of people are honing their leadership skills in multiplayer online games. The tools and techniques they’re using will change how leaders function tomorrow—and could make them more effective today. Harvard Business Review

30. WoW Stats 10 million players $15 per mo 22 hours per week Avg age 27 85% Men

31. Organization Strategies Used in WoW • IDing and capitalizing on organizational advantage • Analyzing multiple streams of data to make quick decisions that have wide-ranging and sometimes long lasting effects • Recruiting • Assessing • Motivating • Rewarding • Retaining talented and culturally diverse team members

32. Demo of WoW- Noah Beach