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Last week I had the pleasure of attending the annual SxSW (South by Southwest) conference in Austin, TX – “Interactive” track. As happens after all great conferences, my head is still swimming with the energy of great ideas.
If I had to condense the learnings of the conference into one main idea, it was this: Game mechanics are changing our world. It has already started, and will continue to accelerate. This is true in education, as well. There were about a half-dozen panels and speaker sessions dedicated to education at this year’s conference. Some of them investigated the evolving relationship between technology and education, but many mentioned gaming & game theory as central to the way education should be redefined. Most of the sessions that focused specifically on game theory mentioned education as an obvious arena in which these learnings should be applied.
One of the most influential speakers of the week was Jane McGonigal. She has been speaking for years about gaming and its power for intellectual inquiry and social good, but now even slow-adopters like me are finally listening.
“…those who continue to dismiss games will be at a major disadvantage in the coming years. Gamers, on the other hand, will be able to leverage the collaborative and motivational power of games in their own lives, communities, and businesses.”
There are other brilliant minds who have been in this arena for years as well, such as the Institute of Play people and their charter school, Quest to Learn. These and other researchers (and gamers) like them are asking such perspective-altering questions as: Why do all kids take the same tests on a specific date? Why do some kids have to “fail” tests? These revolutionaries are not suggesting a Pollyanna world in which everyone is told they are perfect and we sail along in ignorance. They are suggesting that we make learning like we make gaming:
- Try. Fail. (in a small way)
- Try again. Fail again.
- (repeat)
- Try again – Win the level! Level up! Yay you! You have mastered Multiplication Level 1.2! Now, and only now – you are ready to move on.
In the scenario above, there is no grand concept of failure, and no question about progression until a student has mastered the work. And most importantly, the whole experience should be engaging, immersive, addictive, …and fun.
I have to admit, as networked as I am in my daily life, I’m a bit of a luddite when it comes to gaming. My kids of course have access to simple games on the iPod touch, but after listening to the speakers at SxSW I’ve been convinced of the power of multi-player gaming to teach children about collaboration, mentoring, and persistence. It’s time to move into this new world, and I hope that education will as well.
Hi Heather – I think you may be over selling a bit the role that multi-player online games should or can play in public education. While I haven’t read Jan McGonigal’s book yet, I did hear her hold forth on the Colbert Report, I think. I was impressed with her zeal, but underwhelmed with the evidence she offered for the positive impact of gaming. Perhaps you can share a couple of research references that will speak to natural-born skeptics like me.
At the present, I would say that game technology as an education innovation is not yet ready for prime time.
Hello Ron,
Another good presentation that I heard at SxSW was entitled, “Can Design and Technology Save Education?” The answer from two of the three panelists was a resounding: No. (Dennis Littky of College Unbound, @Dennis_Littky, and Jon Kolko, Director of Austin Center for Design, @jkolko) The panelists made a persuasive case that fundamentally, education has to be about interpersonal connections.
I agree with that. Nevertheless, current technology provides a tremendous opportunity for both skill reinforcement and the presentation of supporting content. What I heard in Austin, not only from Jane McGonigal but from many others as well, is that interactions with all technology are being redesigned to make use of new understandings of game mechanics. Game theory is the new user experience design.
And while we are learning about what makes games compelling, and what motivates kids (and adults!) to become deeply engaged, why don’t we use those lessons to move out of the digital world and into the physical world as well? We want kids to become engrossed in an activity, and to try & try until they succeed. The theory is: we can use lessons from game designers to help us achieve that in school as well.
I know from watching my own children that even simple games on the iPod touch can be great teaching tools. This arena will continue to expand exponentially over the next few years. I’m excited to see where it goes.
Heather