Game-Based Learning

This is an area of personal interest to me. I am a life-long gamer and am amazed by the overall progression of the gaming industry over the course of my lifetime. I enjoy all genres of games and am excited about researching how game-based learning will continue to develop and give students an opportunity to engage their own studies in new and interesting ways.

I was interested in the premise of SuperBetter and how it applied to real world obstacles. The game was developed by Jane Mcgonigal who has spent the past ten years as a game developer. A quick Google search of her name and her appearance on The Colbert Report and a Ted Talk convinced me that Game-Based Learning is clearly having a cultural impact. SuperBetter uses the basic tools that make gaming addictive to help motivate the user. There are goals, quests, and tasks that help create a sense of urgency. Whether we like to admit it or not, lists are not an effective tool to accomplish tasks in a timely manner. SuperBetter is now a downloadable app for the iphone which helps users stay accountable when they are away from their computer. It is a great idea that could be used in a classroom setting in a variety of ways. It could be set up to track the progress of work over the course of individual units. Each unit could be a task that must be completed and eventually, the final task (or test) would be the ultimate obstacle. This feature is very interesting, and I intend to sign up and download the app as soon as I upgrade to an iphone in September.

I really liked the layout of the CPED 5401 gamefied course. The idea that is presented could be used as a template for further implementation. For instance, instead of the same old language used on a syllabus, a teacher could develop a syllabus with this type of language and visual images. Students may roll their eyes, enjoy the change, or remain indifferent, but the difference in format and language could influence their engagement to the course and consideration of its material. Overall, there is so much potential with game-based learning and I look forward to researching it in the Expand portion of the course.