Schools Are Setting Videogames as Required Coursework

[Steven Bogos]

Schools Are Setting Videogames as Required Coursework

"Stop playing videogames and finish your homework!" "But Mum, the game is my homework!"

Olds College and Concordia University are two of an increasing number of schools that have set videogames as required coursework. In order to get their diplomas, students at Olds College must complete a Farmville-style iPad game: Lemonade Stand, in which they open a virtual lemonade stand and gradually build it into a business empire. Meanwhile Darren Wershler, an English professor at Concordia University, has assigned the adventure game Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery as required reading for his class.

"What we've done is take the things that make computer games so addictive and apply them to education," said Toby Williams, the Olds College's director of entrepreneurship and international development. He says Lemonade Stand helps develop the students' entrepreneurial skills in a fun and engaging way.

"Students, I think, are excited to see the things that are important to them reflected in their coursework," said Wrshler on setting videogames as reading assignments. "It definitely broadened my thinking about what counts as literature."

But it's not just the world of tertiary schooling that is experimenting with videogames in class. Toronto elementary school teacher Liam O'Donnell plans to introduce Minecraft to his Grade 1 class at Withrow Public School this year. He found that basing writing exercises on the students' experiences in the game helped overcome the lack of confidence that made many of them refuse to even try writing. "They were all so filled with their own stories."

How long will it be before we are studying Half-Life instead of Hamlet in high school English classes?

Source: CBC News [http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2013/08/22/f-video-games-school-coursework.html]

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[viranimus]

Sadly I would fail the superbrothers assignment. Ive had the game on multiple platforms for a year and I know its incredibly short but the music just lulls me to sleep every single time.

There are some practical ways games could be introduced into classrooms effectively. I keep thinking a really meticulously well done RTS is practically begging for all sorts of history classes.

 

[SilverBullets000]

Huh. Actually, the writing potential for games like Minecraft, Skyrim, Sims, and other RPGs and simulation games are kind of astounding once you really stop to think about it. I approve of the teacher that used that to get their kids writing. I'd like to see more exercises like this.

Granted, we already have mountains of fanfiction, but at least these will help them actually learn how to write.

 

[SonicWaffle]

How long will it be before we are studying Half-Life instead of Hamlet in high school English classes?

I'm not sure that's such a great idea. I have a deep and abiding loathing for every work of literature I was forced to study, to suck all the ejoyment out of and analyse in boring and simplistic terms, reading and re-reading because the rest of the class were so slow I'd have finished the book long before anyone else.

Do we really want to ruin videogames for kids in the same way?

 

[sid]

How long will it be before we are studying Half-Life instead of Hamlet in high school English classes?

I'm not sure that's such a great idea. I have a deep and abiding loathing for every work of literature I was forced to study, to suck all the ejoyment out of and analyse in boring and simplistic terms, reading and re-reading because the rest of the class were so slow I'd have finished the book long before anyone else.

Do we really want to ruin videogames for kids in the same way?

yeah I was about to say. The school system has finally found a way to discourage any and all gaming experiences. Nothing like "You need to play a 12 hour marathon of CoD and take notes on your experience, due tomorrow" to make sure nobody plays CoD ever again

In fact, is there anything more alienating and demoralizing than having to dissect a piece of literature for school?

 

[srpilha]

How long will it be before we are studying Half-Life instead of Hamlet in high school English classes?

I'm not sure that's such a great idea. I have a deep and abiding loathing for every work of literature I was forced to study, to suck all the ejoyment out of and analyse in boring and simplistic terms, reading and re-reading because the rest of the class were so slow I'd have finished the book long before anyone else.

Do we really want to ruin videogames for kids in the same way?

I first read The Hobbit in class, and I'm still a huge Tolkien fan more than 25 years later. Same goes for other stuff, and I even learned to appreciate, once older, works I'd initially disliked. I'd say it's the teacher's fault if they can't make Shakespeare seem great in at least a couple of aspects.

 

[SonicWaffle]

yeah I was about to say. The school system has finally found a way to discourage any and all gaming experiences. Nothing like "You need to play a 12 hour marathon of CoD and take notes on your experience, due tomorrow" to make sure nobody plays CoD ever again

In fact, is there anything more alienating and demoralizing than having to dissect a piece of literature for school?

It's the way it's done. Where it's all standardized interpretation, it's taught that there is a right and a wrong way to interpret the literature. If you come out and say you think Romeo & Juliet is a metaphor for ancient man's contact with alien civilizations, you're going to be told you're wrong, even if you can actually find ways to use the text to support your nonsense.

It always seemed pointless to me - analyze this work until it isn't fun anymore, then give us your opinion, but you'll be marked down if your opinion doesn't align to what someone else has already decided.

How long will it be before we are studying Half-Life instead of Hamlet in high school English classes?

I'm not sure that's such a great idea. I have a deep and abiding loathing for every work of literature I was forced to study, to suck all the ejoyment out of and analyse in boring and simplistic terms, reading and re-reading because the rest of the class were so slow I'd have finished the book long before anyone else.

Do we really want to ruin videogames for kids in the same way?

I first read The Hobbit in class, and I'm still a huge Tolkien fan more than 25 years later. Same goes for other stuff, and I even learned to appreciate, once older, works I'd initially disliked. I'd say it's the teacher's fault if they can't make Shakespeare seem great in at least a couple of aspects.

Teacher, pupils, system; everyone plays their part in making literature study an anti-fun experience, at least at the teenage level. Once you get off to college and later university, things open up a bit, but a school teacher won't usually have the time or the patience to dedicate to actually teaching the pupils how to interpret, instead teaching them to accept someone else's interpretation.

That was my experience, at least. Then again, I hated school with a fiery passion that lingers to this day, even a decade after I left.

 

[webkilla]

I teach a design class to webdesign students

Its a very broad-scoped class, not just webdesign, but also app-design, database-interface design, webcommunity design... and game design

and for the game design part I make them Spec Ops: The Line

...and then I ask them "So, why do you play video games?"

Love my job

 

[deathbydeath]

Why the hell would you study S&S? Just cut to the chase and find a video of a pretentious hipster douche masterbating to a camera.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Eh, we had that in my days, played a lemonade stand game back on a monochrome screen.

Not to mention Outnumbered and Word Rescue.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

One day gaming will be so advanced and story telling so important that kids will have to play games with a strong narrative the way they are required to read classic literature. One day. I hope.

 

[McShizzle]

Hopefully that prof at Concordia is using Super Brothers: Sword & Sworcery as an example of pretentious Toronto hipsterism that the students SHOULDN'T follow. Otherwise, it's neat to see more games used in an educational setting. I tried to get a history teacher along time ago to let us play Colonization, but she wouldn't bite.

 

[The_Echo]

I'm not completely sure what the educational content in Sword & Sworcery EP is, especially for an English class. Is there even text in that game? I only played the first segment, so I can't recall.

But... I mean, it's cool I guess. I'm not convinced that you can use many games as teaching tools through actual play, however. The concepts displayed in the games, sure (the messages in Metal Gear Solid, for instance). But actually playing them? Not so sure.

 

[Creator002]

I was born 20 years too early. *sigh*
This was sort of happening in my school towards year 9. That entire year (except math) was all computer-based. Everything we did had a computer component. Faced problems when my end of year assignment (an educational game on cloning) was made in Windows-only compatible software (we used macs at school). Fun times having to make my teachers run around trying to find work arounds so I could pass the year.
Still, wish I could have just played games instead of making them.

 

[viggih7]

I teach a design class to webdesign students

Its a very broad-scoped class, not just webdesign, but also app-design, database-interface design, webcommunity design... and game design

and for the game design part I make them Spec Ops: The Line

...and then I ask them "So, why do you play video games?"

Love my job

*Clap Clap Clap* You sir, just became my personal hero.
I do something similar in which I recommend Spec Ops to everyone I meet and later when I meet them I savour their broken souls.

 

[ssgt splatter]

How long until FOX News says something along the lines of, "This dangerous line of teaching will indoctranate our children to becoming mindless psychopaths who can only relate to videogame terms and references in real life" or something else equally rediculous?

As for the post itself; Great idea. Games can be used for learing purposes. Hell, back in High school I actually aced a history test on WW2 in terms of dates and locations because I had played Call of Duty 3 as well as studied from the text book.

 

[Ldude893]

I teach a design class to webdesign students

Its a very broad-scoped class, not just webdesign, but also app-design, database-interface design, webcommunity design... and game design

and for the game design part I make them Spec Ops: The Line

...and then I ask them "So, why do you play video games?"

Love my job

Ah, Spec Ops The Line. I'd love to see Spec Ops as required material should other classes use video games as coursework more often. It's essentially The Heart of Darkness in video game form.