By admin<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

I was definitely fascinated by Ms Stivison’s talk on gaming, gender, and education yesterday, even if I am yet to be sold completely. What interested me in particular was her approach of using video game programming as a medium through which to achieve education in other areas.<\/p>\n

I remember, as I walked to the library, wishing that I had been taught how to code (or at least have been told how much potential there was in the field) at a young age. Website design, video game programming, and algorithm manufacturing are such potent skills to have in the job market today that I would be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous of those who are competent in them. Working with Sherwood in troubleshooting final project ideas really helped me see some of the unlimited applications of coding skills (along with allowing me to bother him with rudimentary questions in an attempt to get myself started) and through seeing what he is capable of doing with those skills I was inspired to attend the talk and to get myself on track to start messing around with coding after I graduate. This is where Ms Stivison was so interesting to me; as a music major at a liberal arts college, I was fascinated as to how she got her start and as to how she found her way into teaching programming (and much more).<\/p>\n

But I digress, what subverted my preconceived notions of her programming class is how she had her class program games in such a way as to help them learn mathematics (and help others with it too) rather than just simply learn programming skills. This was important for her ethos of making learning more like a video game in order to achieve some of the benefits that games have over classrooms. Firstly, she outlined, games benefit from the fact that the players (and creators too) have already decided that they want to play\/create it before they begin, bypassing the problem that many classes have of forcing students to perform assignments they wouldn’t otherwise perform. Secondly, they allow the player\/creator, to learn through experimentation as opposed to being given something to memorize. Finally, it allows different difficulty settings to be applied to people at different levels without the need to structure people into different classes based on ability. I think using the process of game development as a means of education rather than simply the subject matter is a fascinating one indeed, but when approached like this I think it does still possess some issues.<\/p>\n

My main problem with this model is the issue of trial and error in learning. I admit that when a student finds the answer on their own, they are undoubtedly more likely to remember it than if they had been bold-fadedly told it, but I spent so many hours in front of Tim Schaffer’s Grim Fandango<\/em> when I was young trying to figure out the preposterous uses of seemingly benign items in such a warped manner that only makes sense to the developer alone that I am hesitant to believe that this process would take a short enough time to make the education process efficient. I asked this question though and while Ms. Stivison admitted that she has not found a perfect answer for the issue just yet, she sung the praises of having a teacher present to act as a \u2018hint system’ to prod the student in the right direction through the asking of leading questions. I think this is probably the right way to tackle the issue, but I wonder how many hints it would take to completely remove the concept of free agency and discovery on the part of the player. And as well as this I could see some students becoming less enthused and relying on the teacher to lead them to the answer every time. And if this proves to be the case, have we not reentered the classroom and lost the benefits of the \u201cmagic circle\u201d inherent with the gaming environment?<\/p>\n

Regardless, I think this bold new form of teaching is a creative step towards a new age of education, one that I think needed to be taken. And even if it never fully works, the education system could benefit from being more like the gaming industry and this venture could at least serve to \u201cflood the indie market with ideas so that we can see what works and what does not\u201d.<\/p>\n

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