<div><div>Hi Marie and all,<br>I'm enjoying this fascinating discussion,
especially since my last video game obsession was Mario Brothers several <span
style="text-decoration: underline;">decades</span> ago--I still have that music
in my head, that for many months was often drifting from the living room at 2am
in the morning. But, I can't help wondering how this motivation and energy can
be harnessed for additional educational purposes---I have no doubt that current
gamers are already learning many valuable skills, but it seems like the concept
could be adapted for educational programming. Best, Priscilla <br><br>On Thu,
Jul 24, 2008
09:29 AM, <b>"Kevin O'Connor" <koconnor@framingham.k12.ma.us></b>
wrote:<br><blockquote id="quoted_response" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(0,
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<div class="Section1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="EmailStyle18"><font color="navy" face="Arial"
size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Hi
Marie,<p></p></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="EmailStyle18"><font color="navy" face="Arial"
size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family:
Arial;"> <p></p></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="EmailStyle18"><font color="navy" face="Arial"
size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Great
topic!<span style=""> </span>I had a World of Warcraft
compulsion last year, (along with 10,000,000 other users) and learned a lot
from my time online in this MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing
game). For one thing, I had to learn a lot of online lingo.<span
style=""> </span>Here’s a very short glossary:
<p></p></span></font></span></p>
<ul style="" type="">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: navy;"><span class="EmailStyle18"><font
color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family:
Arial;">“leet”
or ‘l33t”- the online language used; a dialect of English that
substitutes
numbers for letters and leans heavily on texting and game-based
slang<p></p></span></font></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: navy;"><span class="EmailStyle18"><font
color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family:
Arial;">“noob”-
a “newbie”; someone new to the game<p></p></span></font></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: navy;"><span class="EmailStyle18"><font
color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family:
Arial;">“pwned”-
or “owned”; to be defeated<p></p></span></font></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: navy;"><span class="EmailStyle18"><font
color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family:
Arial;">LTP- “learn
to play”; an insult to someone’s online
skills<p></p></span></font></span></li>
</ul>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="EmailStyle18"><font color="navy" face="Arial"
size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family:
Arial;"> <p></p></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="EmailStyle18"><font color="navy" face="Arial"
size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">The other
players in Wow range in age from preteen to middle age, and it is quite a
community.<span style=""> </span>It was interesting to
be in the apprentice role to younger players, especially for an educator who is
used to being the teacher, not the noob.<span style="">
</span>I found myself getting pwned by 12 year-old kids who have figured out
how to tweak the statistics of weapons, character type, skill attributes, mode
of attack and several other factors that always made my head spin.<span
style=""> </span>I grew up playing Asteroids too, and
all I had to do was repeatedly mash the same button!<span style="">
</span>These kids put hours into their online character (their “avatar”)
poring over stats, trying the same missions repeatedly (“grinding”) and
memorizing fussy names of coveted items (“poltroons of the lesser fire
elementals”).<span style=""> </span>It always struck me
that if their teacher asked them to put this kind of time and work into school
they would moan and roll their eyes, but if it is for the sake of leveling up,
well, then…<p></p></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="EmailStyle18"><font color="navy" face="Arial"
size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family:
Arial;"> <p></p></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="EmailStyle18"><font color="navy" face="Arial"
size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">But the
other dynamic at play is the multi-player aspect; there are many missions that
cannot be done alone, and players belong to Guilds and must build short-term
“groups”
in order to get through these levels.<span style="">
</span>If someone doesn’t work well in a group, word travels fast and that
person will have a hard time getting into a group with experienced
players.<span style=""> </span>You can’t steal all the loot,
not follow the plan and keep yelling “LTP N00B” in the online chat and
expect to
be invited back.<span style=""> </span>There is a “worldwide”
chat board, and if someone is a bad group member it will get broadcast.<span
style=""> </span><p></p></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="EmailStyle18"><font color="navy" face="Arial"
size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family:
Arial;"> <p></p></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="EmailStyle18"><font color="navy" face="Arial"
size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">With this
long background, let me respond directly to Marie’s question: If you look at
the players whose character (or characters) have hit level 70, they are the
ones with the best knowledge of game dynamics and a good social network support
that they have built up by sharing and cooperation. However, if a student tells
a teacher that he or she has three level 70 characters and is part of a solid
Guild,
the teacher will not recognize the time, energy and skill invested and instead
tell
him or her to stop wasting time online, thereby dismissing everything learned
and accomplished; then the student dismisses the teacher as being
irrelevant.<span style=""> </span>Don’t just dismiss video games; they
are important to students, so they should be treated with interest, just as we
would do with other childhood pursuits in which children have invested
themselves.<p></p></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="EmailStyle18"><font color="navy" face="Arial"
size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family:
Arial;"> <p></p></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="EmailStyle18"><font color="navy" face="Arial"
size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">There is a
dark side; many point to these kids having virtual friendships while living in
isolation in the real world, and when my daughter grows up I’m going to have
to
set some pretty strict rules around how much time can be spent in the virtual
world, but I would argue that through MMORPGs kids learn a lot about how to
work in a group, negotiate power sharing, and how and when to take
leadership.<p></p></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="EmailStyle18"><font color="navy" face="Arial"
size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family:
Arial;"> <p></p></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoAutoSig"><!--[if supportFields]><span class=EmailStyle18><font
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Tahoma" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma; color: black;">-----Original
Message-----<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> assessment-bounces@nifl.gov
[mailto:assessment-bounces@nifl.gov]<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">On Behalf
Of </span></b>Marie Cora<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Wednesday, July 23, 2008
4:36 PM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> 'The Assessment Discussion
List'<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> [Assessment 1369]
Learning and Assessing in Virtual and Real Worlds</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;">Dear
Colleagues,</span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;">I hope this
email finds you well.<span style=""> </span>This is an
unusually lengthy email from me – just so you know.</span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;">Since it’s
summer, I thought I would throw out something a tad unusual as a discussion
catalyst.<span style=""> </span>Quite a while ago I read
a book called “What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy”
by James Paul Gee (NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003).<span style=""> </span>The author studies behavior and learning in people who
engage in video game and on-line play, and he himself becomes immersed in all
types of video and on-line gaming in order to also experience his own learning
and behavior within these environments.<span style="">
</span>It’s a remarkable book.<span style="">
</span>There are many poignant arguments made in support of how gaming
induces/encourages intense critical thinking, stretches the limits of one’s
intellectual abilities, compels people to work together, draws out individuals’
skills that contribute to the success of a group, and generally does not
discriminate in terms of expectations of learning – in other words, video and
on-line games are constructed in ways that assume that ANYONE can engage
successfully, and the necessary scaffolding for such learning is embedded
within the games themselves.<span style="">
</span>Needless to say, Gee makes comparisons between this virtual world, and
the real world of school and education in this country.</span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;">Just for full
disclosure, the last time I fully engaged in ‘screen’ games was a while
ago:<span style=""> </span>I was pretty good at
Asteroids at one point in my life.<span style="">
</span>I just never became very interested in pursuing this pastime.<span style=""> </span>I started to become fascinated again
when my husband engaged our then-4-year-old son (he’s 9 now) in both video and
on-line games.<span style=""> </span>I was floored:<span style=""> </span>with almost no instruction other than
observation at his dad’s elbow, ‘P’ was able to take over the games and carry
on as if he had always been playing them.<span style="">
</span>Really complex games.<span style=""> </span>Very
soon, he was instructing dad in various games, and pretty much could beat the
pants off him in video baseball.</span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;">At any rate,
toward the end of the book, Gee recounts an experience in which he had moved
from a “weak link” (one with far less knowledge) in a network of on-line
players with whom he was engaging, to one who held a piece of crucial knowledge
that he was able to share with his network in order for the group to reach success.<span style=""> </span>He notes:<span style=""> </span>“If you were to assess just my skills playing video games
alone in my own home, you would underestimate me.<span style=""> </span>You need to assess me as a node in a network and see how I
function as such a node” (p. 189).<span style="">
</span></span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;">With this
rather lengthy introduction, the following section of the book is really what I
would like to hear your thoughts on.<span style="">
</span>Gee writes:</span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;">“If we want
to know how good students are in science – or how good employees are in a
modern knowledge-centered workplace – we should ask all of the following (and
not just the first):<span style=""> </span>What is in
their heads?<span style=""> </span>How well can they
leverage knowledge in other people and in various tools and technologies (including
their environment)?<span style=""> </span>How are they
positioned within a network that connects them in rich ways to other people and
various tools and technologies?<span style="">
</span>Schools tend to care only about what is inside students’ heads as their
heads and bodies are isolated from others, from tools and technologies, and from
rich environments that help make them powerful modes in networks.<span style=""> </span>[Skilled video game players] wouldn’t
play a game in these circumstances…..<span style="">
</span>Good workplaces in our science- and technology-driven “new capitalism”
don’t play this game.<span style=""> </span>Schools that
do are, in my view, DOA in our current world – and kids who play video games
know it” (p. 189).</span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;">Gee then goes
on to discuss the work of Jean Lave, a leading theorist of socially situated
cognition.<span style=""> </span>Lave argues that
“learning is not best judged by a change in minds (the traditional school
measure), but by ‘changing participation in changing practices’…and
that…“learning is a change not just in practice, but in <i style=""><span style="font-style: italic;">identity</span></i>” (p. 190).</span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;">Now here is
where I’m tempted to write you a bunch of assessment-related questions to get
you to respond within the context of this Discussion List.<span style=""> </span>But after some thought, I think that
the quotes taken from the book from both Gee and Lave better posit the notions
related to assessment and assessing than I can – what they say is what I want
to hear you respond to.<span style=""> </span></span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;">Ok, I will
pose just this question:<span style=""> </span>if you
agree with the arguments posed by Gee and Lave, do you do anything in your
classroom or program to facilitate this type of assessment of learning?<span style=""> </span>If so, describe this for us.</span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;">Thanks for
indulging me.</span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;">Marie Cora</span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;"> </span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;"> </span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Arial" size="2"><span style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;">Marie Cora</span></span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;"><a href="#"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">marie.cora@hotspurpartners.com</span></font></a></span></span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Arial" size="2"><span style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;">NIFL Assessment </span><span style="">Di</span><span style="">scussion List Moderator</span></span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;"><a href="http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment" onclick="window.open('http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment');return false;">http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment</a></span></span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;"><p></p></span></font></p>
</div>
</blockquote>Priscilla Carman<br>Literacy Specialist<br>Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy<br>Penn State University<br>208F Rackley Building<br>University Park, PA 16802<br>PH: 814-865-1049 FX: 814-863-6108<br><br><br>
</div></div>