The Promise of Dragons – Strategies for Leveraging Games for Instruction

Presentation Goals Discuss a common instructional challenge and explore a hypothesis for meeting this challenge Contextualize games in learning theory Discuss link between memory, motivation, and emotion Deconstruct a sample game Review my mini “study” Create a strategy for creating and leveraging games Totherow, Session The Promise of Dragons - Strategies for Leveraging Games for Instruction

The Challenge How to teach (and motivate) when appeal to reason fails. Hypothesis: games have the potential to teach and change behavior where traditional teaching methods sometimes struggle. Totherow, Session The Promise of Dragons - Strategies for Leveraging Games for Instruction

A Theoretical Backdrop Games can… – Act as or support the “More Knowledgeable Other” – Construct “scaffolding” in the “Zone of Proximal Development” Lev Vygotsky Totherow, Session The Promise of Dragons - Strategies for Leveraging Games for Instruction

Application to Games Structured Activity (Game as MKO) Social discovery of successful tactics (construct scaffolding) Debrief and Reflect (reinforce scaffolding) Transition (apply scaffolding) ZPD Totherow, Session The Promise of Dragons - Strategies for Leveraging Games for Instruction

The Importance of Emotional Connection Dr. Art Kohn PhD in cognitive psychology Totherow, Session The Promise of Dragons - Strategies for Leveraging Games for Instruction

The Importance of Emotional Connection What makes a game a game? What is the difference between an activity and a game? Totherow, Session The Promise of Dragons - Strategies for Leveraging Games for Instruction

The Importance of Emotional Connection Timer CompetitionScore Tension! Totherow, Session The Promise of Dragons - Strategies for Leveraging Games for Instruction

Summary: The Power of Games Provide emotional context, enhancing the opportunity for memory encoding Act as the More Knowledgeable Other or as a support for the MKO Create meaningful scaffolding within the Zone of Proximal Development Totherow, Session The Promise of Dragons - Strategies for Leveraging Games for Instruction

Example: Clash of Clans Construct a village Create an army Upgrade your defenses Upgrade your army Invest in resources Totherow, Session The Promise of Dragons - Strategies for Leveraging Games for Instruction

This is me, showing off… Gold mine Elixir extractor Dark elixir drill Army Resource storage Defenses Totherow, Session The Promise of Dragons - Strategies for Leveraging Games for Instruction

Developing Resources Troops Defense Totherow, Session The Promise of Dragons - Strategies for Leveraging Games for Instruction

When things go well… Approach: balanced and patient Long-range planning Clear success and broader opportunity! Totherow, Session The Promise of Dragons - Strategies for Leveraging Games for Instruction

When things go… poorly… Approach: immediate gratification Lack of balance and patience Limited opportunity Totherow, Session The Promise of Dragons - Strategies for Leveraging Games for Instruction

My “Test Subject” This screen will contain a video example of the application of these techniques. The video will be available in the live session. Totherow, Session The Promise of Dragons - Strategies for Leveraging Games for Instruction

Adam’s Village Then… Totherow, Session The Promise of Dragons - Strategies for Leveraging Games for Instruction

Adam’s Village Now! Totherow, Session The Promise of Dragons - Strategies for Leveraging Games for Instruction

Debriefing the Interview Adam has been playing for 10 months. Adam prioritizes his choices based on long and short-term success. Adam is “proud” of his village Adam engages in socialization in playing and learning the game. Adam is beginning to articulate basic concepts, such as ROI and investment. Adam’s favorite troop: the dragon (he’s named his first dragon “Sparky”) Totherow, Session The Promise of Dragons - Strategies for Leveraging Games for Instruction

Strategy Construct scaffolding with appropriate game elements, within the student’s zone of proximal development Play the game and instill basic behaviors Debrief positive and negative results Transition from scaffolding to target subject matter Continue to draw parallels to game Buy Now Save High School Diploma College Degree Totherow, Session The Promise of Dragons - Strategies for Leveraging Games for Instruction

Building a Game Engine Consider your Target Behaviors Leverage Common Game Elements – Time – Points – Level Up – Achievements/Badges – Chance – Costs Create an experience which encourages your target behaviors without an explicit conceptual overlay. Totherow, Session The Promise of Dragons - Strategies for Leveraging Games for Instruction

Discuss! Thoughts? Ideas? Questions? Concerns? Played any good games lately? Totherow, Session The Promise of Dragons - Strategies for Leveraging Games for Instruction

Thank you for your attendance and contributions! Totherow, Session The Promise of Dragons - Strategies for Leveraging Games for Instruction ©2013, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis The opinions expressed in this presentation are the speaker’s views, are intended only for information purposes, and are not formal opinions of, nor binding on, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis or the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Systems. Joe Totherow