Videogames and collateral learning
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Abstract
Many people wonder how something serious can be learnt from videogames when most commercial titles do not appear to transmit much in the way of educational contents. Yet, if we really want to understand the actual educational potential of entertainment-type videogames, we need to shift our perspective and adopt evaluation criteria that differ from those used for reading a novel or watching a movie. In other words, we need to carefully examine how players participate in the unfolding of the game. Accordingly, this paper analyses what happens in some well-established types of videogames, focusing on the rules, constraints and affordances that are constantly negotiated during gameplay. This form of participation generates added value for collateral learning and is connected to the development of attitudes and competencies rather than to knowledge acquisition.
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Antinucci F. (2001). La scuola si è rotta. Perché cambiano i modi di apprendere. Roma-Bari, IT: Laterza.
Benassi A., Orlandi C., Cantamesse M., Galimberti C., Giacoma G. (2011). World of Warcraft in the classroom. A research study on social interaction empowerment in secondary school. In Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Games Based Learning (Atene, Grecia, 20-21 ottobre 2011), pp.35-45.
Dewey J. (1967). Esperienza e educazione. Firenze, IT: La Nuova Italia.
Dijk N.M.V., Broekens J. (2010). Virtual team performance depends on distributed leadership. In Proceedings of ICEC 2010, pp. 91-102.
Gee J.P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York, NY, USA: Palgrave Macmillan.
Gee J.P. (2005). Good video games and good learning. Phi Kappa Phi Forum, 85 (2), pp. 33-37.
Jang Y., Ryu S. (2010). Exploring game experiences and game leadership in massively multiplayer online role-playing games. British Journal of Educational Technology, 42 (4), pp. 616–623.
Jenkins H. (2007). Cultura convergente. Milano, IT: Apogeo.
Johnson N., Xu C., Zhao Z., Ducheneaut N., Yee N., Tita G., Hui P. (2009). Human group formation in online guilds and offline gangs driven by a common team dynamic. Physical Review E, 79, 066117. http://www.nickyee.com/pubs/Johnson et al - Gangs (2009).pdf (ultima consultazione 17.07.2012).
Johnson S. (2005). Everything bad is good for you. New York, NY, USA: Riverhead. Murray J. H. (1997). Hamlet on the Holodeck: the future of narrative in cyberspace. New York, NY, USA: The Free Press.
Prensky M (2001). Digital game-based learning. New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill.
Thomas D., Brown J.S. (2006). You play World of Warcraft? You’re hired!. Wired Magazine, 14 (04). http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.04/lea rn.html (ultima consultazione 17.07.2012)
Thomas D., Brown J.S. (2009). Why virtual worlds can matter. International Journal of Learning and Media, 1 (1), pp. 37-49. http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdfplus/ 10.1162/ijlm.2009.0008 (ultima consultazione 17.07.2012)
Williams D., Ducheneaut N., Xiong L., Zhang Yee N., Nickell E. (2006). From tree house to barracks: the social life of guilds in World of Warcraft. Games & Culture, 1 (4), pp. 338-361.