A recent North American study has shown that by the time a boy is 21 years old, he will have spent 10,000 hours playing video games. That is, according to Malcolm Gladwell, enough time spent to become an expert in any field or job in life. Gamers live in a world that they create, and it is a world that is becoming three dimensional as we speak. A gamer’s world is literally all around them, digitally re-wiring how their brains input information; for us, this means they will never fit into a traditional classroom. A traditional class is analogue, where one thing is going on at a time and where one person stands up in the front of the class and talks. This no longer engages students. They are used to being in a digital world in which they control everything. In the traditional classroom a student controls nothing; rather, they sit passively.
MMO’s or Massive Multiplayer Online games are examples of learning happening on a continuous basis. Players are internally motivated to find, filter, and share new information on a near constant basis. On games spaces such as World of Warcraft, EVE online, Star Wars Galaxies, and Lord of the Rings Online, collectives are formed. In these collectives, players question, use their imagination, and fueling their learning. While players defeat bosses, kill monsters, coordinate raids, and find new armor; they read blogs, contribute to wikis and forums, and learning happens.
To engage students today, we have to let them control something. We are underestimating the power of technology in re-wiring young people and we have to adapt and change our current way of doing school.
For me, this ties in directly with good digital citizenship and teaching students responsible computer time usage. It also speaks loudly for the need to change the way we (our brick and mortar school) do school to engage students in a similar way they are learning on their own.
I would like to hear your responses to how you see us (the school) re think learning and engage students in the classroom.
Philip Zimbardo “The Secret Powers of Time”
Douglas / Seely Brown “A New Culture of Learning”
Malcolm Gladwell “Outliers”
