Conversations with Experts

Over the last few months I've had several conversations with faculty about teaching using games.

Punya Mishra is interested in human interactions with and through technology, including how technology can foster jarring moments of discovery. Punya and I are excited by the power of play for learning. We're going to collaborate on reviewing Jim Gee's book on games and literacy.

Rand Spiro is interested in cognitive flexibility. He sees games as a potentially rich environment for students to interact with specific cases in pursuit of general understanding. He's given me copies of some of his work. He's written about ill-structured domains, and how learners must energetically explore such domains, rather than simply assimilate summative lessons.

Patrick Dickson is interested in technology for visualizing, understanding, and solving problems. He's interested in how technology can foster collaboration and community.

David Wong is interested in art and aesthetics, including the dynamic of irrational effects in educational experiences. For example, while playing a fictional character in a game, a player may have moving experiences through events in the game's story. David and I have only just started discussing how he can help me explore these issues.

Carol Sue Englert and Cindy Okolo are interested in using a game-like, online space to teach history. As one of their graduate assistants, I'm responsible for leading the design and implementation of game mechanics to support students exploring Philadelphia during the American Revolution. Carol Sue and Cindy shared an article on the advantages of teaching history by practicing history. In other words, in our game, students will act like historians to learn history.

I'm also writing a column for a Webzine, called Frontier Life, based on conversations with game researchers across the country. These columns indicate some of the issues I need to understand, and possible sources for guidance. See: http://oneir.org/twiki/bin/view/Kym/FrontierLife