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WoW for Education

by PeggySheehy on May 19, 2010

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An overview of the WoW in School Project and the educator guild, Cognitive Dissonance.

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An overview of the WoW in School Project and the educator guild, Cognitive Dissonance.

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Background – my evolution from working with kids in Second Life to WoW. Great things happened in SL but the project, the curriculum design, the continuity had to be established by the practitioner– This is the story of my journey into another MUVE which happens to be a MMORPG where the learning is already intrinsic to the experience.
Meeting Lucas Gillispie was the turning point for me! Learning With the Lich King – Using World of Warcraft in School – Lucas Gillispie Image Credt: Chalkboard Image - http://www.flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Lich King by – Johnboy007007 on Deviant Art - http://jonboy007007.deviantart.com/
Lucas had years of experience working informally with students in many different MMORPGs.
Why Games?
In his book, What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy , James Paul Gee derives a set of learning principles from his study of the complex, self-directed learning each game player undertakes as s/he encounters and masters a new game. He suggests that adherence to these principles could transform learning in schools, colleges and universities, both for teachers and faculty and, most importantly, for students. printable version 1) Active, Critical Learning Principle All aspects of the the learning environment (including ways in which the semiotic domain is designed and presented) are set up to encourage active and critical, not passive, learning 2) Design Principle Learning about and coming to appreciate design and design principles is core to the leaning experience 3) Semiotic Principle Learning about and coming to appreciate interrelations within and across multiple sign systems (images, words, actions, symbols, artifacts, etc.) as a complex system is core to the learning experience 4) Semiotic Domains Principle Leaning involves mastering, at some level, semiotic domains, and being able to participate, at some level, in the affinity group or groups connected to them. 5) Meta-level thinking about Semiotic Domain Principle Learning involves active and critical thinking about the relationships of the semiotic domain being learned to other semiotic domains 6) "Psychosocial Moratorium" Principle Learners can take risks in a space where real-world consequences are lowered 7) Committed Learning Principle Learners participate in an extended engagement (lots of effort and practice) as an extension of their real-world identities in relation to a virtual identity to which they feel some commitment and a virtual world that they find compelling 8) Identity Principle Learning involves taking on and playing with identities in such a a way that the learner has real choices (in developing the virtual identity) and ample opportunity to meditate on the relationship between new identities and old ones. There is a tripartite play of identities as learners relate, and reflect on, their multiple real-world identities, a virtual identity, and a projective identity 9) Self-Knowledge Principle The virtual world is constructed in such a way that learners learn not only about the domain but also about themselves and their current and potential capacities 10) Amplification of Input Principle For a little input, learners get a lot of output 11) Achievement Principle For learners of all levels of skill there are intrinsic rewards from the beginning, customized to each learner's level, effort, and growing mastery and signaling the learner's ongoing achievements 12) Practice Principle Learners get lots and lots of practice in a context where the practice is not boring (i.e. in a virtual world that is compelling to learners on their own terms and where the learners experience ongoing success). They spend lots of time on task. 13. Ongoing Learning Principle The distinction between the learner and the master is vague, since learners, thanks to the operation of the "regime of competency" principle listed next, must, at higher and higher levels, undo their routinized mastery to adapt to new or changed conditions. There are cycles of new learning, automatization, undoing automatization, and new re-organized automatization 14) "Regime of Competence" Principle The learner gets ample opportunity to operate within, but at the outer edge of, his or her resources, so that at those points things are felt as challenging but not "Undoable" 15) Probing Principle Learning is a cycle of probing the world (doing something); reflecting in and on this action and, on this basis, forming a hypothesis; reprobing the world to test this hypothesis; and then accepting or rethinking the hypothesis 16) Multiple Routes Principle There are multiple ways to make progress or move ahead. This allows learners to make choices, rely on their own strengths and styles of learning and problem-solving, while also exploring alternative styles 17) Situated Meaning Principle The meanings of signs (words, actions, objects, artifacts, symbols, texts, etc.) are situated in embodied experience. Meanings are not general or decontextualized. Whatever generality meanings come to have is discovered bottom up cia embodied experience 18) Text Principle Texts are not understood purely verbally (i.e. only in terms of the definitions of the words in the text and their text-internal relationships to each other) but are understood in terms of embodied experience. Learners move back and forth between texts and embodied experiences. More purely verbal understanding (reading texts apart from embodied action) comes only when learners have enough embodied experience in the domain and ample experiences with similar texts 19) Intertextual Principle The learner understands texts as a family ("genre") of related texts and understands any one text in relation to others in the family, but only after having achieved embodied understandings of some texts. Understanding a group of texts as a family ("genre") of texts is a large part of what helps the learner to make sense of texts 20) Multimodal Principle Meaning and knowledge ate built up through various modalities (images, texts, symbols, interactions, abstract design, sound, etc.), not just words 21) "Material Intelligence" Principle Thinking, problem-solving and knowledge are "stored" in material objects and the environment. This frees learners to engage their minds with other things while combining the results of their own thinking with the knowledge stored in material objects and the environment to achieve yet more powerful effects 22) Intuitive Knowledge Principle Intuitive or tacit knowledge built up in repeated practice and experience, often in association with an affinity group, counts a good deal and is honored. Not just verbal and conscious knowledge is rewarded 23) Subset Principle Learning even at its start takes place in a (simplified) subset of the real domain 24) Incremental Principle Learning situations are ordered in the early stages so that earlier cases lead to generalizations that are fruitful for later cases. When learners face more complex cases later, the learning space (the number and type of guess the learner can make) is constrained by the sorts of fruitful patterns or generalizations the learned has founded earlier 25) Concentrated Sample Principle The learner sees, especially early on, many more instances of the fundamental signs and actions than should be the case in a less controlled sample. fundamental signs and actions are concentrated in the early stages so that learners get to practice them often and learn them well 26) Bottom-up Basic Skills Principle Basic skills are not learned in isolation or out of context; rather, what counts as a basic skill is discovered bottom up by engaging in more and more of the game/domain or games/domains like it. Basic skills are genre elements of a given type of game/domain 27) Explicit Information On-Demand and Just-in-Time Principle The learner is given explicit information both on-demand and just-in-time, when the learner needs it or just at the point where the information can best be understood and used in practice 28) Discovery Principle Overt telling is kept to a well-thought-out minimum, allowing ample opportunities for the learner to experiment and make discoveries 29) Transfer Principle Learners are given ample opportunity to practice, and support for, transferring what they have learned earlier to later problems, including problems that require adapting and transforming that earlier learning 30) Cultural Models about the World Principle Learning is set up in such a way that learners come to think consciously and reflectively about some of their cultural models regarding the world, without denigration of their identities, abilities or social affiliations, and juxtapose them to new models that may conflict with or otherwise relate to them in various ways 31) Cultural Models about Learning Principle Learning is set up in such a way that learners come to think consciously and reflectively about their cultural models about learning and themselves as learners, without denigration of their identities, abilities, or social affiliations, and juxtapose them to new models of learning and themselves as learners 32) Cultural Models about Semiotic Domains Principle about their cultural models about a particular semiotic domain they are learning, without denigration of their identities, abilities, or social affiliations, and juxtapose them to new models about this domain 33) Distributed Principle Meaning/knowledge is distributed across the learner, objects, tools, symbols, technologies, and the environment 34) Dispersed Principle Meaning/knowledge is dispersed in the sense that the learner shares it with others outside the domain/game, some of whom the learner may rarely or never see face-to-face 35) Affinity Group Principle Learners constitute an "affinity group," that is, a group that is bonded primarily through shared en devours, goals, and practices and not shared race, gender, nation, ethnicity, or culture 36) Insider Principle The learner is an "insider," "teacher," and "producer" (not just a consumer) able to customize the learning experience and the domain/game from the beginning and throughout the experience. *Drawn from Gee, James Paul, What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy , Palgrave Macmillan: New York, 2003
Image Credit: http://tltc.la.utexas.edu/tltc/images/lecture_JimGee.jpg Source: http://df1d1f2be44ed1b00cfcf7d0e4f3861f9706d381.gripelements.com/pdf/Game_Paper.pdf
Image Credit: http://www.foundationsofdigitalgames.org/image/gls2008.jpg Source: From FuturePlay 2007 - http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=16264
Image Credit: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/48/131887149_fcb6cb74f0.jpg Source: http://www.edutopia.org/sims-vs-games
Finally let’s get it out in the open – the 800 pound gorilla in the room – violence!
Henry Jenkins is the director of comparative studies at MIT.
The availability of video games has led to an epidemic of youth violence. According to federal crime statistics, the rate of juvenile violent crime in the United States is at a 30-year low. Researchers find that people serving time for violent crimes typically consume less media before committing their crimes than the average person in the general population. It's true that young offenders who have committed school shootings in America have also been game players. But young people in general are more likely to be gamers — 90 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls play. The overwhelming majority of kids who play do NOT commit antisocial acts. According to a 2001 U.S. Surgeon General's report, the strongest risk factors for school shootings centered on mental stability and the quality of home life, not media exposure. The moral panic over violent video games is doubly harmful. It has led adult authorities to be more suspicious and hostile to many kids who already feel cut off from the system. It also misdirects energy away from eliminating the actual causes of youth violence and allows problems to continue to fester.
Claims like this are based on the work of researchers who represent one relatively narrow school of research, "media effects." This research includes some 300 studies of media violence. But most of those studies are inconclusive and many have been criticized on methodological grounds. In these studies, media images are removed from any narrative context. Subjects are asked to engage with content that they would not normally consume and may not understand. Finally, the laboratory context is radically different from the environments where games would normally be played. Most studies found a correlation, not a causal relationship, which means the research could simply show that aggressive people like aggressive entertainment. That's why the vague term "links" is used here. If there is a consensus emerging around this research, it is that violent video games may be one risk factor - when coupled with other more immediate, real-world influences — which can contribute to anti-social behavior. But no research has found that video games are a primary factor or that violent video game play could turn an otherwise normal person into a killer.
While most American kids do play video games, the center of the video game market has shifted older as the first generation of gamers continues to play into adulthood. Already 62 percent of the console market and 66 percent of the PC market is age 18 or older. The game industry caters to adult tastes. Meanwhile, a sizable number of parents ignore game ratings because they assume that games are for kids. One quarter of children ages 11 to 16 identify an M-Rated (Mature Content) game as among their favorites. Clearly, more should be done to restrict advertising and marketing that targets young consumers with mature content, and to educate parents about the media choices they are facing. But parents need to share some of the responsibility for making decisions about what is appropriate for their children. The news on this front is not all bad. The Federal Trade Commission has found that 83 percent of game purchases for underage consumers are made by parents or by parents and children together.
Historically, the video game market has been predominantly male. However, the percentage of women playing games has steadily increased over the past decade. Women now slightly outnumber men playing Web-based games. Spurred by the belief that games were an important gateway into other kinds of digital literacy, efforts were made in the mid-90s to build games that appealed to girls. More recent games such as The Sims were huge crossover successes that attracted many women who had never played games before. Given the historic imbalance in the game market (and among people working inside the game industry), the presence of sexist stereotyping in games is hardly surprising. Yet it's also important to note that female game characters are often portrayed as powerful and independent. In his book Killing Monsters , Gerard Jones argues that young girls often build upon these representations of strong women warriors as a means of building up their self confidence in confronting challenges in their everyday lives.
5. Because games are used to train soldiers to kill, they have the same impact on the kids who play them. Former military psychologist and moral reformer David Grossman argues that because the military uses games in training (including, he claims, training soldiers to shoot and kill), the generation of young people who play such games are similarly being brutalized and conditioned to be aggressive in their everyday social interactions. Grossman's model only works if: we remove training and education from a meaningful cultural context. we assume learners have no conscious goals and that they show no resistance to what they are being taught. we assume that they unwittingly apply what they learn in a fantasy environment to real world spaces. The military uses games as part of a specific curriculum, with clearly defined goals, in a context where students actively want to learn and have a need for the information being transmitted. There are consequences for not mastering those skills. That being said, a growing body of research does suggest that games can enhance learning. In his recent book, What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy , James Gee describes game players as active problem solvers who do not see mistakes as errors, but as opportunities for improvement. Players search for newer, better solutions to problems and challenges, he says. And they are encouraged to constantly form and test hypotheses. This research points to a fundamentally different model of how and what players learn from games.
6. Video games are not a meaningful form of expression. On April 19, 2002, U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr. ruled that video games do not convey ideas and thus enjoy no constitutional protection. As evidence, Saint Louis County presented the judge with videotaped excerpts from four games, all within a narrow range of genres, and all the subject of previous controversy. Overturning a similar decision in Indianapolis, Federal Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner noted: "Violence has always been and remains a central interest of humankind and a recurrent, even obsessive theme of culture both high and low. It engages the interest of children from an early age, as anyone familiar with the classic fairy tales collected by Grimm, Andersen, and Perrault are aware." Posner adds, "To shield children right up to the age of 18 from exposure to violent descriptions and images would not only be quixotic, but deforming; it would leave them unequipped to cope with the world as we know it." Many early games were little more than shooting galleries where players were encouraged to blast everything that moved. Many current games are designed to be ethical testing grounds. They allow players to navigate an expansive and open-ended world, make their own choices and witness their consequences. The Sims designer Will Wright argues that games are perhaps the only medium that allows us to experience guilt over the actions of fictional characters. In a movie, one can always pull back and condemn the character or the artist when they cross certain social boundaries. But in playing a game, we choose what happens to the characters. In the right circumstances, we can be encouraged to examine our own values by seeing how we behave within virtual space.
7. Video game play is socially isolating. Much video game play is social. Almost 60 percent of frequent gamers play with friends. Thirty-three percent play with siblings and 25 percent play with spouses or parents. Even games designed for single players are often played socially, with one person giving advice to another holding a joystick. A growing number of games are designed for multiple players — for either cooperative play in the same space or online play with distributed players. Sociologist Talmadge Wright has logged many hours observing online communities interact with and react to violent video games, concluding that meta-gaming (conversation about game content) provides a context for thinking about rules and rule-breaking. In this way there are really two games taking place simultaneously: one, the explicit conflict and combat on the screen; the other, the implicit cooperation and comradeship between the players. Two players may be fighting to death on screen and growing closer as friends off screen. Social expectations are reaffirmed through the social contract governing play, even as they are symbolically cast aside within the transgressive fantasies represented onscreen.
8. Video game play is desensitizing. Classic studies of play behavior among primates suggest that apes make basic distinctions between play fighting and actual combat. In some circumstances, they seem to take pleasure wrestling and tousling with each other. In others, they might rip each other apart in mortal combat. Game designer and play theorist Eric Zimmerman describes the ways we understand play as distinctive from reality as entering the "magic circle." The same action — say, sweeping a floor — may take on different meanings in play (as in playing house) than in reality (housework). Play allows kids to express feelings and impulses that have to be carefully held in check in their real-world interactions. Media reformers argue that playing violent video games can cause a lack of empathy for real-world victims. Yet, a child who responds to a video game the same way he or she responds to a real-world tragedy could be showing symptoms of being severely emotionally disturbed. Here's where the media effects research, which often uses punching rubber dolls as a marker of real-world aggression, becomes problematic. The kid who is punching a toy designed for this purpose is still within the "magic circle" of play and understands her actions on those terms. Such research shows us only that violent play leads to more violent play.
The MAGIC CIRCLE
1) Active, Critical Learning Principle All aspects of the the learning environment (including ways in which the semiotic domain is designed and presented) are set up to encourage active and critical, not passive, learning 2) Design Principle Learning about and coming to appreciate design and design principles is core to the leaning experience 3) Semiotic Principle Learning about and coming to appreciate interrelations within and across multiple sign systems (images, words, actions, symbols, artifacts, etc.) as a complex system is core to the learning experience 4) Semiotic Domains Principle Leaning involves mastering, at some level, semiotic domains, and being able to participate, at some level, in the affinity group or groups connected to them. 5) Meta-level thinking about Semiotic Domain Principle Learning involves active and critical thinking about the relationships of the semiotic domain being learned to other semiotic domains 6) "Psychosocial Moratorium" Principle Learners can take risks in a space where real-world consequences are lowered 7) Committed Learning Principle Learners participate in an extended engagement (lots of effort and practice) as an extension of their real-world identities in relation to a virtual identity to which they feel some commitment and a virtual world that they find compelling 8) Identity Principle Learning involves taking on and playing with identities in such a a way that the learner has real choices (in developing the virtual identity) and ample opportunity to meditate on the relationship between new identities and old ones. There is a tripartite play of identities as learners relate, and reflect on, their multiple real-world identities, a virtual identity, and a projective identity 9) Self-Knowledge Principle The virtual world is constructed in such a way that learners learn not only about the domain but also about themselves and their current and potential capacities 10) Amplification of Input Principle For a little input, learners get a lot of output 11) Achievement Principle For learners of all levels of skill there are intrinsic rewards from the beginning, customized to each learner's level, effort, and growing mastery and signaling the learner's ongoing achievements 12) Practice Principle Learners get lots and lots of practice in a context where the practice is not boring (i.e. in a virtual world that is compelling to learners on their own terms and where the learners experience ongoing success). They spend lots of time on task. 13. Ongoing Learning Principle The distinction between the learner and the master is vague, since learners, thanks to the operation of the "regime of competency" principle listed next, must, at higher and higher levels, undo their routinized mastery to adapt to new or changed conditions. There are cycles of new learning, automatization, undoing automatization, and new re-organized automatization 14) "Regime of Competence" Principle The learner gets ample opportunity to operate within, but at the outer edge of, his or her resources, so that at those points things are felt as challenging but not "Undoable" 15) Probing Principle Learning is a cycle of probing the world (doing something); reflecting in and on this action and, on this basis, forming a hypothesis; reprobing the world to test this hypothesis; and then accepting or rethinking the hypothesis 16) Multiple Routes Principle There are multiple ways to make progress or move ahead. This allows learners to make choices, rely on their own strengths and styles of learning and problem-solving, while also exploring alternative styles 17) Situated Meaning Principle The meanings of signs (words, actions, objects, artifacts, symbols, texts, etc.) are situated in embodied experience. Meanings are not general or decontextualized. Whatever generality meanings come to have is discovered bottom up cia embodied experience 18) Text Principle Texts are not understood purely verbally (i.e. only in terms of the definitions of the words in the text and their text-internal relationships to each other) but are understood in terms of embodied experience. Learners move back and forth between texts and embodied experiences. More purely verbal understanding (reading texts apart from embodied action) comes only when learners have enough embodied experience in the domain and ample experiences with similar texts 19) Intertextual Principle The learner understands texts as a family ("genre") of related texts and understands any one text in relation to others in the family, but only after having achieved embodied understandings of some texts. Understanding a group of texts as a family ("genre") of texts is a large part of what helps the learner to make sense of texts 20) Multimodal Principle Meaning and knowledge ate built up through various modalities (images, texts, symbols, interactions, abstract design, sound, etc.), not just words 21) "Material Intelligence" Principle Thinking, problem-solving and knowledge are "stored" in material objects and the environment. This frees learners to engage their minds with other things while combining the results of their own thinking with the knowledge stored in material objects and the environment to achieve yet more powerful effects 22) Intuitive Knowledge Principle Intuitive or tacit knowledge built up in repeated practice and experience, often in association with an affinity group, counts a good deal and is honored. Not just verbal and conscious knowledge is rewarded 23) Subset Principle Learning even at its start takes place in a (simplified) subset of the real domain 24) Incremental Principle Learning situations are ordered in the early stages so that earlier cases lead to generalizations that are fruitful for later cases. When learners face more complex cases later, the learning space (the number and type of guess the learner can make) is constrained by the sorts of fruitful patterns or generalizations the learned has founded earlier 25) Concentrated Sample Principle The learner sees, especially early on, many more instances of the fundamental signs and actions than should be the case in a less controlled sample. fundamental signs and actions are concentrated in the early stages so that learners get to practice them often and learn them well 26) Bottom-up Basic Skills Principle Basic skills are not learned in isolation or out of context; rather, what counts as a basic skill is discovered bottom up by engaging in more and more of the game/domain or games/domains like it. Basic skills are genre elements of a given type of game/domain 27) Explicit Information On-Demand and Just-in-Time Principle The learner is given explicit information both on-demand and just-in-time, when the learner needs it or just at the point where the information can best be understood and used in practice 28) Discovery Principle Overt telling is kept to a well-thought-out minimum, allowing ample opportunities for the learner to experiment and make discoveries 29) Transfer Principle Learners are given ample opportunity to practice, and support for, transferring what they have learned earlier to later problems, including problems that require adapting and transforming that earlier learning 30) Cultural Models about the World Principle Learning is set up in such a way that learners come to think consciously and reflectively about some of their cultural models regarding the world, without denigration of their identities, abilities or social affiliations, and juxtapose them to new models that may conflict with or otherwise relate to them in various ways 31) Cultural Models about Learning Principle Learning is set up in such a way that learners come to think consciously and reflectively about their cultural models about learning and themselves as learners, without denigration of their identities, abilities, or social affiliations, and juxtapose them to new models of learning and themselves as learners 32) Cultural Models about Semiotic Domains Principle about their cultural models about a particular semiotic domain they are learning, without denigration of their identities, abilities, or social affiliations, and juxtapose them to new models about this domain 33) Distributed Principle Meaning/knowledge is distributed across the learner, objects, tools, symbols, technologies, and the environment 34) Dispersed Principle Meaning/knowledge is dispersed in the sense that the learner shares it with others outside the domain/game, some of whom the learner may rarely or never see face-to-face 35) Affinity Group Principle Learners constitute an "affinity group," that is, a group that is bonded primarily through shared en devours, goals, and practices and not shared race, gender, nation, ethnicity, or culture 36) Insider Principle The learner is an "insider," "teacher," and "producer" (not just a consumer) able to customize the learning experience and the domain/game from the beginning and throughout the experience. *Drawn from Gee, James Paul, What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy , Palgrave Macmillan: New York, 2003
Overall, students are extremely engaged in these virtual environments. Games like World of Warcraft are compelling and designed to teach you “how to play” in incremental steps that start small and grow in complexity as you play. All of this takes place in a community/social environment. You’re not learning alone. What if our classrooms worked like this?
Step aside “sage on the stage!” Be prepared to be a co-learner with student or better yet—to be mentored by them! Students will spend hours in self-guided and initiated research about things that pertain to their character’s advancement. Again, what if they did this for your Biology class?
The semblance of Anonymity can be a good or a bad thing. More often than not, I saw positive effects. Virtual environments give students the opportunity to escape the preconceived notions their peers have about them due to their race, weight, or looks—peer pressure is eliminated and a new identity emerges Image: Peter Steiner, page 61 of July 5, 1993 issue of The New Yorker, (Vol.69 (LXIX) no. 20)
As the old saying goes, “Nature abhors a vacuum,” the same could be said of leadership in an MMORPG. Students are driven to push their characters to the highest levels and to obtain the best gear, too. To do this, they need the assistance of other players, and they’ll organize and lead groups as large as 40+ to accomplish this goal. Talk about 21 st -Century Skills!
This is a sample of a guild membership, Harbingers of Light-from Lucas Gillispie
So what is a guild But what does it mean to belong to a guild?
Guilds are about being part of a community of players. You share common goals and interests. You rely on each other whether for friendship or for heals during a difficult boss fight.
A guild is about building relationships. After awhile, the bonds formed between guild members grow strong. You initially learn each others’ idiosyncrasies, and ultimately come to accept them and adapt to them
When allowing students into your guild, always be aware of “teachable moments...” Have I had to deal with drama, ninja-looting, obnoxious behavior, etc.? Of course I have. But, these are some of the best opportunities to teach students about some of the most important life lessons and what some call “digital citizenship.” Ninja Looter: http://grimhalo.com/images/NinjaLooter.jpg DAoC ML 2: http://www.gamerdna.com/uimage/09u66eM/full/unwanted-harpy-rides-on-master-level-2-daoc-trials-of-atlantis.jpg No Drama: http://hechicerosden.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/no-drama.jpg
In hindsight, one of the things that guilds are about are the stories. “Remember the time we...” For instance =The Wumpus Flash Mob
Lucas wrote a great Blogpost in response to an article Is World of Warcraft the New Golf? Tech entrepreneurs meet, quest, talk shop. By Jane Pinckard , 02/08/2006 tweetmeme_style = 'compact';
Cognitive Dissonance (Sisters of Elune, Alliance) was chartered in December 2007 as a group of educators exploring MMORPGs and their relationship to education. It has grown to a guild of colleagues and friends exploring the platform and experiencing the implications and applications to teaching and learning while having fun! Cognitive Dissonance is also an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously. It became our name in honor of the conflict in thought between traditional learning structures and the ubiquitous use of technology in education. General themes of collective learning within the guild have emerged over time. Learning to game together, learning about gaming together, and in general learning from one another constitute the general domains of scholarship investigated by the group. We work to introduce new members to the game through meetings, resources, and events, and support one another from n00b to raiding at 80 through our guild structure and server-based guild alliances. Remembering the concept of "play" being an integral part of learning, we have established an arena to recall it for ourselves and include it within our teaching. A MMORPG guild has become for us an extension of our personal learning networks. We are educators... who play.
One of the strengths of the growing education community in MUVEs is their "fundamental predisposition to collaborate,” John Lester formerly known as Pathfinder Linden, is quoted as saying"With teachers, you have this built-in culture of collaboration,” "It's in their DNA; they succeed by working with other people on projects and learning from them and leveraging each other's work. It's not surprising that WoW is proving to be such a useful platform for their own professional development. * A very real sense of community * A source of creative ideas * A means to get different perspectives on a problem that might otherwise go unseen * you can benefit from the knowledge of many people and tap information instantly * A way of reducing risk when others have experienced what you are about to do and inform you of the hazards * An extension of your own intelligence * A reference point for expectations (when you do things alone it’s so very easy to lose yourself but when you can see your efforts and achievements relative to other people it grounds you and you usually see that your results are not half as bad as you would like to make out!) * A means of gaining insight through clever questioning * A source of support to tide you through the rough patches (Nick Pagan: http://tinyurl.com/cmq26r )
Student drop-outs are a huge problem. Many students drop out simply because they don’t have something to “anchor” them in school. If they’re not involved in sports, clubs, or student government, for example, why keep going back? Image Credit: http://earlycollegeofalaska.org
What if students from different schools in different states or even countries game together?
Will leaders emerge? How will they handle the challenges of managing a socially (and geographically) diverse group?
What if these students, who largely go unnoticed, were suddenly recognized for their accomplishments. What if we share their writing, their videos, the achievements with the world?
So, what’s next? WoWinSchool... http://wowinschool.pbworks.com
The best way to get involved is to simply jump in! Already researchers from universities, teachers, college students, and even high school students are getting involved. Helga Brown from Elizabeth City, NC has written some incredible lessons. We need more! We need them aligned to state standards. We need folks to discuss logistics, funding, and more! Since May, the wiki has had 3,806 visits came from 69 countries. 28 registered authors contributing, supporting research, funding ideas, logistics info., and most importantly lessons.
So now you’re thinking, “This is too cool... How do I get involved?” We need folks like Helga Brown who can write WoW-based lessons. We need people who can align lessons to state and national standards. We need people to collect supporting research. We need people who can connect interested teacher to funding sources. We need you to talk about what’s going on with the project. We need people to edit pages and lessons. We need educators to play WoW. We need people who love learning!
Recently, LUCAS started a separate Twitter feed for the project. You can find it at: http://www.twitter.com/wowinschool.
Largest wiki in world? Wikipedia 2 nd Largest? WoW wiki 81,308 articles on this wik

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WoW for Education — Presentation Transcript

- AZEROTH ACADEMY
Thanks to...
Lucas Gillispie @PCSTech and @wowinschool #ncties
The Path…
- Games as Learning Theory
- Myths BUSTED!
- MMORPG as PLN
- WoW in School
36 Learning Principles
- Active, Critical Learning
- Design
- Semiotic
- Semiotic Domains
- Metalevel Thinking
- Psychosocial Moratorium
- Committed Learning
- Identity
- Self-Knowledge
- Amplification of Input
- Practice Principle
- Ongoing Learning
- Regime of Competence
- Probing
- Multiple Routes
- Situated Meaning
- Insider
- Intertextual
- Multimodal
- Material Intelligence
- Intuitive Knowldge
- Subset
- Incremental
- Concentrated Sample
- Bottom-Up Basic Skills
- Just-in-Time
- Discovery
- Transfer
- Cultural Models about the World
- Cultural Models about Learning
- Cultural Models about Semiotic Domains
- Distributed
- Dispersed
- Affinity Group
“ ...the designers of many good games have hit on profoundly good methods of getting people to learn and to enjoy learning.” -James Paul Gee, University of Madison Wisconsin
Hard Fun
- Learning works best when new challenges are “pleasantly frustrating” in the sense of being felt by learners to be at the outer edge of, but within their “regime of competence”. That is, these challenges feel hard, but doable (Gee, 2007, p. 36).
“ ...within games, there are in fact multitudes of literacy practices – games are full of text, she asserted, to say nothing of the entirely text-based fandom communities online that take place in forums, blogs and social networks.” -Constance Steinkhueler, FuturePlay 2007, Toronto
Constance Steinkuehler
- Socially and materially distributed cognition
- Collaborative problem solving practices
- Novel literacy practices
- Scientific habits of mind
- Computational literacy
- Reciprocal apprenticeship & collective intelligence
“ Today's game designers have figured out something today's educators are still searching for: how to make learning engaging for today's kids. It would be a shame not to employ this knowledge in our classrooms.” -Marc Prensky
VIOLENCE
Reality Bytes: Eight Myths A bout Video Games Debunked
1. The availability of video games has led to an epidemic of youth violence.
- 2. Scientific evidence links violent game play with youth aggression.
- 3. Children are the primary market for video games.
- 4. Almost no girls play computer games.
- 5. Because games are used to train soldiers to kill, they have the same impact on the kids who play them.
- 6. Video games are not a meaningful form of expression.
- 7. Video game play is socially isolating.
- 8. Video game play is desensitizing.
21 Research-based Instructional Strategies
- Taking student readiness into account
- Defining instructional expectations
- Providing instructional evaluation
- Providing corrective instruction
- Keeping students on task
- Maximizing teaching time
- Providing ample learning time
- Providing transfer of learning instruction
- Providing decision-making instruction
- Providing prediction and problem-solving instruction
- Providing contiguity
- Using repetition effectively
- Utilizing unifiers
- Providing one-to-one tutoring
- Utilizing reminders
- Utilizing teamwork
- Reducing student teacher ratio below 21 to 1
- Clarifying communication
- Utilizing question and answer instruction
- Utilizing computerized instruction
- Utilizing demonstrations
Learning Principles in Gaming
- Active, critical learning principle
- Design principle
- Semiotic principle
- Semiotic domains principle
- Metalevel thinking principle about semiotic domains principle
- “ Psychosocial Moratorium” principle
- Committed learning principle
- Identity principle
- Self-knowledge principle
- Amplification of input principle
- Achievement principle
- Practice principle
- Ongoing learning principle
- “ Regime of Competence” principle
- Probing principle
- Multiple routes principle
- Situated Meaning Principle
- Text principle
- Intertextual principle
- Multimodal principle
- “ Material Intelligence” principle
- Intuitive knowledge principle
- Subset principle
- Incremental principle
- Concentrated sample principle
- Bottom-up basic principle
- Explicit information on-demand and just-in-time principle
- Discovery principle
- Transfer principle
- Cultural models of the world principle
- Cultural models about learning principle
- Cultural models about semiotic domains principle
- Distributed principle
- Dispersed principle
- Affinity group principle
- Insider principle
http://mason.gmu.edu/~lsmithg/jamespaulgee2
How Games Teach
- Activity
- Engagement
- Experience
- Constant Achievement
- Expanding Circle of Competence
- No Right Answer
- Working Within the Rules
- Language, Signs, and Symbols
- Social
- Identity
- Empathy
- Simulation
- Practice
- Applied Learning
- Context
- Feedback
- Multimodal
- Mastery
http://www.muzzylane.com /
Students in Virtual Worlds... What I’ve Seen...
Why don’t they spend this much time studying for their Biology exam? http://www.ljplus.ru/img4/j/i/jibo/pir2.JPG Extreme Engagement Warhammer Online Screenshot
They spend hours outside of the game collaborating and planning in forums, researching maps, statistics, and strategies to improve their game. Students Become The Experts
The Playing Field Is Leveled...
Students Emerging As Leaders... Students are leading people from around the world (often 40 or more) to accomplish collective goals. These events take planning, coordination, and decision-making skills.
They are collaborating, online, with people from all over the world. Differences in race, age, gender, and nationality are no longer an issue. http://www.ljplus.ru/img4/j/i/jibo/pir2.JPG Source: http://www.harbingersoflight.com Who Are They Playing With? Game Designer Teacher Ph.D. Candidate Stay-at-home Mom County Sheriff Researcher Business Owner Editor for the Canadian Senate Produce Clerk Business Analyst K-12 Instructional Technology Coordinator Technology Engineer Quality Assurance Supervisor Water/Sewer Technician College Student University Admissions Representative Director of IT Network Administrator Protestant Minister
What Does It Mean To Be... A Guild?
A Guild Is... Community
A Guild Is... Relationships
A Guild Is... Teachable Moments
A Guild Is... Remember The Time We... Stories http://www.lesliefisher.com/handouts/handouts/wow_fisher.htm
Lucas Gillispie (Pantego)
- Bring your creativity, your curiosity, your collaboration, and your courage!
http://cognitivedissonance.guildportal.com / “ Learning to Game to Game to Learn”
community creative ideas different perspectives ‘ collaboration’ participatory culture Take Risks communication reference point grounds you inspires you gaining insight support experience
What If?
WHAT IF... we could use World of Warcraft to engage ONE disaffected student?
… we called them quests and missions instead of lessons? … students had access to the tools they need-to find out what they want to know? … we scaled the challenge of learning based on students’ achievements? … we provided opportunities for students to form collaborative learning communities? … learning was this much fun?
Statistics? Literacy? Leadership? Economics? Culture ? Algebra? Ecology? Digital Storytelling? Writing? Citizenship? Empathy? What If We Could Use World of Warcraft to Teach... History? Geography?
What If we mix students from distant areas in the same guild?
What If we put these students in guild leadership positions?
What If we share the students’ accomplishments with the world?
We Did!
What is the WoWinSchool Project? A collaborative project that aims to use World of Warcraft in an after school program, targeting at-risk or “fringe” students, and focusing on literacy, writing, mathematics, 21 st -century skills, and digital citizenship.
We are... “ THE LEGACY”
Holiadore. It is a name of honor and pride. He has not yet lived up to the dream, but this night elf will train and train in the ways of the druid until he achieves his ultimate goal- to be as good as his father. His father never had pride in him so Holiadore ran away from home as a child and has practiced the ways of the druid ever since. He uses the skins of his foes to craft armor to use against stronger foes. He goes through many perils to do the bidding of the townspeople. He, in doing so, trains his abilities until they can increase no more. And when he reaches his ultimate goal, he will return to the place where he was raised, the place that, once, his family lived. And he will place flowers upon his father's grave, and continue in his practices. This is the story of Holiadore. The Student Forum http://www.edurealms.com/wowinschool/index.php
The Wiki http://wowinschool.pbworks.com
How You Can Get Involved! Write Lessons! Curriculum Alignment! Grants ! Spread The Word! Play ! Collect Supporting Research! Edit ! Learn !
@WoWinSchool Follow on Twitter:
INFORMATION
World of Warcraft Wiki
WoW Resources
- http://www.worldofwarcraft.com
- http://thottbot.com /
- http://www.goblinworkshop.com /
- http://www.wowwiki.com /
- http://www.google.com
Peggy Sheehy [email_address] Twitter: peggysheehy WoW: Maratsade, Sheehredd
Many thanks to...
- Lucas Gillispie: Instructional Technology Coordinator, Pender County Schools, NC. lucas_gillispie@pender.k12.nc.us
- Catherine Parsons: Asst. Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, Pine Plains SD, NY [email_address]
- The Cognitive Dissonance Guild: http://cognitivedissonance.guildportal.com
Namaste’ “ I See You...”

WoW for Education

by PeggySheehy on May 19, 2010

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WoW for Education — Presentation Transcript