MADLat 2014 keynote

Generations, Games,
& Education
Myths and Facts About the Potential of DGBL
Richard Van Eck, 2014
University of North Dakota
richard.vaneck@und.edu
@rickvaneck

Reading
Comprehension
Permanent Now =
No Reflection
What Is Technology Doing?

Rewired
• The brain changes based
on how it is used

Amount of laparoscopic
experience?
Amount of action video
game play.
Years of surgical
training?
Rosser, J. C. Jr., Lynch, P.J., Cuddihy, L., Gentile, D. A.,
Klonsky,J., & Merrell, R. (2007). The impact of video games on
training surgeons in the 21st century. Archives ofSurgery, 142,
181-186.
Laparoscopic
Skill Predictors

Tetris Builds Brains
• Three months of
practice
• Increase in cortical
thickness and function
• Whose brains are we
changing?

Mis-
Genceptions
• Everyone is using
technology
• Baby Boomers: 1945–1961
• Gen X: 1962–1981
• Gen Y: 1981–2001

What They Say
About Boomers
• Trust authority
• Work your way up and
earn respect over time
• Comfortable working on
own without guidance or
contact
• No work-life balance
• Low-moderate users of
technology

• Mistrust authority
• Worry if called in by boss
• Should benefit from
productivity and skills
• Take direction, but want
autonomy to do it on their
own
• Live to work
• Moderate users of
technology
What They Say
About Gen X

• Don’t recognize authority
• Worry if NOT called by boss
• TEXT boss with questions…at
2AM
• Expect to start at top
• This is their first job
• Starting later than previous
generations
• Work to fund lifestyle
• Want constant feedback
• Tech-dependent
What They Say
About Gen Y

Gen Y
•Tech-dependent, not tech savvy
•“Entitlement” is really big expectations
•Most giving generation
•Altruistic, charitable, social justice
•Great work ethic…
•…if you SHOW them how to get there
•Texts are considerate
•Phone calls are an invasion of privacy

Mis-Genceptions
•There are differences but…
• …they have as much to do with geography as
age.
• Town size, rural vs. urban, economy, etc.
• Regions have cultural homogeneity that
determines how you are raised

Low Tech, Hands-On to High Tech, IsolationConcrete to AbstractGemeinschaft to GesellschaftRural to UrbanCommunity to Society
Greenfield, P. M. (2009). Linking social change and developmental change: Shifting pathways
of human development. Developmental Psychology, 45(2), pp. 401–418. DOI: 10.1037/a0014726
As the
world
shifts
from:
It ALSO
shifts
from:
How Do We Explain It?

Greenfield, P. M. (2009). Linking social change and developmental change: Shifting pathways of
human development. Developmental Psychology, 45(2), pp. 401–418. DOI: 10.1037/a0014726
Effects
Profound

Explains Why:
• Games predict
laparoscopic skill
• IQ scores improve
• Tetris builds brain
• ATC students
become more FI
• Kids do better on this
test

They’re Heee-
ere!• Workplace and
Classrooms
• How can we reach
them all?

Generation
Games?
• 60% of Americans play
video games
• All generations play video
games
• Twice as many adult
women play games as
boys under 18
• Women purchase half of
all games; make up 48%
of all gamers

Games & Gen Y/X
Generation/Characteristic Game Analog
Boomers
Work on own without guidance Solo play
Start at the bottom and work your way up You start with nothing
Gen X
Tell me what to do and let me do it Self-paced game-play; Multiple play styles
I should benefit from my productivity and skills Advancement is based on skill
Don’t trust authority—want consistent feedback
and rules
Rules do not change
Gen Y
Expect constant feedback Immediate and frequent feedback
Entitlement = Big Expectations
Unlimited potential for advancement if you
follow the path; Heroic quests/Bosses

DGBL
Four Ways to Use Games for Learning

ARGs
• Alternate Reality Games
• Game world layered on
top of real world
• Rabbit Hole
• Examples
• Reality Is Broken
• I Love Bees
• World Without Oil
• Music Theory
Copyright March.Hare0401@gmail.com

COTS
DGBL
• Commercial Off-the-Shelf
DGBL
• Mapping entertainment games
to learning outcomes
• Examples
• Deadliest Catch
• Sim City
• GTA

Serious
Games
• Building games from the
ground up
• Re-Mission
• Project Selene
• Triad Interactive Media

Gamification
• Applying game
strategies to some
activity
• Learning, social
change, getting
healthy
• Figure out how game
strategies map to the
classroom

Bonus
Round
• Have students build
games
• Quest 2 Learn
• Machinema
• Minecraft & maker
movement

The Top 10 List
Reasons People Say We Cannot Use
Games for Learning

# 10: “We can’tcom pete with commercial
games”
• Average cost for AAA
Multiplayer game: $23M
• What’s the competition?
• The bar is low!
• Not all DGBL requires
making games
Haveyoufoundtherestofthestory?vaneckconsulting@gmail.com

# 9: “There’s no evidence that games can
teach” • Unless you’re worried about a
zombie apocalypse!
• Games beat lectures
• 7%-40% percent
• Can turn “Fs” into “Bs”
• Games teach many things
• spelling, reading, mathematics,
physics, health, biology, computer
science, spatial visualization,
divided attention, surgical skills,
and knowledge mapping*
• Results are not uniform
• Wrong question
*See Tobias and Fletcher, 2011; O'Neil, Wainess, &
Baker, 2005; Hays, 2005; Randel, Morris, Wetzle, &
Whitehead, 1992; Vogel,.Vogel, Cannon-Bowers,
Bowers, Muse, & Wright, 2006

# 8: “School’s abou t more than Motivation
and Fun”
• True
• Not all learning has to be fun
• Does that mean it has to be
painful?
• Motivation ≠ fun
• Perserverance
• #1 motivator?
• $
• Gamers and motivation
• 10:1 failure:success Ratio

# 7: “Serious games are boring”
• “IDers suck the fun out of
games”
• Edutainment & Shavian
Reversals
• Bad ID sucks the fun out
of any learning
• Gagne’s Nine Events in
every game
Marc Prensky

# 6: “It’s not practi cal to use DGBL for all
students and subjects”
• True
• Hasn’t stopped us from
using LECTURES and
POWERPOINTS for all
students and subjects!
• False argument

# 5: “Games promote isolation”
• False
• 62% of game players play
with others
• MMOs are played by the
most people
• 400M worldwide
• 50M USA
Families with
children under 18:

# 4: “Games are addi ctive”
• True*
• 7%-9% of video gamers are
addicted
• < 1% became addicted
THROUGH gameplay
• 84% start and stay
• Impulsivity/emotional
regulation predict
• Gambling: 7%
• Alcohol: 8%
* Gentile, D., Hyekyung, C., Liau, A., Sim, T., & Li, D. (2011). Pathological Video Game Use Among Youths: A
Two-Year Longitudinal Study. Pediatrics. doi:10.1542/peds.2010-1353

# 3: “Games model and promote unethical
behavior”
• True (in some cases)
• GTA
• No predictive value
• Generations
• Where you live and how
you were raised are more
important

• Not all equally moral or ethical
• Practice makes perfect
• Examples & non-examples
behavior”

• Games (with violence) can
also promote ethics and
morality
• Hunger Games
• Heavy Rain
• Fallout 3
• Bob DeSchutter
• http://tinyurl.com/VanEckGa
meEthics
behavior”

# 2: “There’s too much
violence in games”
• Maybe
• Violence and behavior
• 18 studies show a connection
between violent games and
aggression
• 3o% of the studies are by the
same authors
• And yet…
• 65% of the top-selling games
are NOT rated M
• 12% of all games are rated M
• Not all GBL is commercial

• Aggression vs.
violence
• Self-report, not
behavioral
• Hitman study
• Driving study
• Cooperative play
study
# 2: “There’s too much
violence in games”

#1: “Not Enough Research”
•True
•Too many media comparison studies
•No control for ID
•Unanswered questions
• Problem-solving validation; violence and
cooperative play; resilience; ethical/moral
development; cultural factors

•And yet…
•Many things we do know about
how games can help
•What we are doing is not
working
#1: “Not Enough Research”

Schools Today
•Technology = 2%
•Lecture/Independen
t Work = 92%

Dropouts
• 12%–22%
• Most had passing grades*
22%
*Center for Labor Market Studies, May 5, 2009
“Left Behind: The Nation's Dropout Crisis”

Are Games the Answer?
•No
•DGBL is no panacea
•DGBL is not easy
•DGBL IS a powerful tool
•The stakes are too high

MADLat 2014 keynote

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