As part of our research, the Games Group started a working bibliography for our group this year; we hope to add to it each semester to compile a resource for the DWRL.
Working Bibliographies
Games & Pedagogy
Colby, Rebekah Shultz and Richard Colby. “A Pedagogy of Play Integrating Computer Games into the Writing Classroom.” Computers and Composition 25 (2008) 300-312.
In this article, Colby and Colby assert that games have not been more fully integrated into writing classrooms because of our ideological traditions separating games and work (300-303). They attempt to disrupt this paradigm by describing the shared history of classrooms and games, reminding readers that school was originally only for leisure (302), and that “play” or games are frequently very challenging (304). Additionally, games and classrooms are both “other” spaces in the minds of the occupants, cut off from the world outside (303), which allows for immersion in the activity at hand (304). Identifying classrooms as game space “allows writing pedagogy to be informed by computer game theory” (305). The authors propose a series of writing assignments based in the game World of Warcraft that create intersections between the game space, the writing classroom and the “real world” that could take place over a series of weeks alongside the traditional lessons in ethos and pathos, including blogs, websites and gamespace guides that require interacting with the larger World of Warcraft community (306-311). Throughout the article, the authors address concerns by both students and the larger community about the role and “seriousness” of gaming in the classroom.
“‘Emergence’ Wages Peace, Not War, After Droid Revolt.” Duke Research. 15 Oct. 2009. Blog post. 30 Nov. 2009. <http://dukeresearch.blogspot.com/2009/10/emergence-wages-peace-not-war-after.html>
A blog about an MMO that encourages diplomacy and social responsibility, rather than violence.
Gee, James Paul. “Learning and Games.” The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Good Learning. Ed. Katie Salen. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: 2008. 21-40. Print
Gee, James Paul. “Good Video Games, the Human Mind, and Good Learning.” Good Video Games and Good Learning. New York: Peter Lang, 2007. 22-44.
This chapter is particularly useful, as it outlines Gee’s idea of what makes a video game good for learning
Johnson, Matthew. “Public Writing in Gaming Spaces.” Computers and Composition 25 (2008) 270-283.
Johnson argues that MMOGs might be the ideal writing space for composition classrooms. Johnson claims that the often-cited need for civic engagement in composition classes is often either pointless, having no real affect, or too much pressure for students, who have trouble writing and speaking with their peers, much less members of a larger community (270-273). The emphasis on the need for civic engagement and public writing can even impair the development of writing skills, which, he points out, need to be practiced before they should be published (273). The multitude of writing spaces provided by MMOGs allow for practice, allow the students to see real results of their engagement (277), and are low-stakes enough to remove the pressure that prevents learning. Instead of needing to “transform society,” students might write persuasively enough to change the world of the game (279). Using the games Ultima Online (identified as the first MMOG), Seed and King’s Quest, Johnson describes the various methods of writing employed by gamers: blogs, websites, discussion forums, gameguides, and the games themselves. Each of these areas provides the writer with “reciprocity” (277), that is, a clear way to see the impact their writing has on other gamers and the game developers. In short, these game spaces are public enough, without being so public as to frighten the students. He does not include any examples of the success of this kind of work; his article is completely theoretical.
Jenkins, Henry. “Game Design as Narrative Architecture.” FirstPerson: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game. Ed. Wardrip- Fruin, Noah and Pat Harrington. MIT Press: London, 2004. 118-129. Print.
Jenkins begins with a 5 points about the relationship between narrative and games, such as that not all games tell stories, and that games that do tell stories tell them differently than other media do. Then Jenkins turns his attention to space and identifies different categories of how space is used in games and how it relates to the narrative of those games. These categories are evoked narratives, enacted narrative, embedded narratives, and emergent narratives. Jenkins offer examples of how these types of narratives work both in games and other forms of media.
Juul, Jesper. “Introduction to Game Time.” FirstPerson: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game. Ed. Wardrip- Fruin, Noah and Pat Harrington. MIT Press: London, 2004. 131-142. Print.
Juul talks about how time functions in different types of games (abstract games, real-time games, modern games with cut-scenes). He also discusses how cut-scenes and save capabilities affect the user’s experience of time. The article is interesting from a narrative perspective because Juul notes how narrative can be weakened by certain uses of time, and uses of time for narrative purposes can sometimes negatively affect the play experience. Juul also discusses the subjective experience of time by a player and how the passage of time can either speed up or slow down from the players perspective depending on which piece of the game they are engaged in.
Klopfer, Eric; Scot Osterweil; & Katie Salen. “Moving Learning Games Forward: Obstacles, Opportunities, & Openness.” Education Arcade. MIT, 2009. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. <http://education.mit.edu/papers/MovingLearningGamesForward_EdArcade.pdf>.
A white paper from the Education Arcade, an MIT group (including Henry Jenkins & James Gee) that focuses on using video games as pedagogical tools.
Klopfer, Eric; Scot Osterweil, Jennifer Groff, & Jason Haas. “Using the Technology of Today in the Classroom Today: The Instructional Power of Digital Games, Social Networking, Simulations, and How Teachers Can Leverage Them.” Education Arcade. MIT, 2009. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. <http://education.mit.edu/papers/GamesSimsSocNets_EdArcade.pdf>.
A white paper from the Education Arcade, an MIT group (including Henry Jenkins & James Gee) that focuses on using video games as pedagogical tools.
Lee, Carmen. “Text Making Practices Beyond the Classroom Context: Private instant messaging in Hong Kong.” Computers and Composition 24.3 (2007): 285-301.
Abstract: This article explores the ways in which instant messaging (IM) texts are produced by a group of university students in Hong Kong. Even though there exists a body of research on linguistic issues of computer-mediated communication (CMC) in non-Western contexts, much emphasis has been placed on the features of CMC English used by ESL learners. Instead of focusing on one particular language, this article reports on a number of language-related issues that are specific to the Hong Kong CMC context such as the use of Chinese and English, invented Cantonese spellings, and code-mixing. Drawing upon qualitative data such as observational notes and interviews, my study analyzes the text-making practices associated with the use of IM (ICQ and MSN Messenger) within the New Literacy Studies (NLS) framework [Gee, James Paul. (1996). Social linguistics and literacies. London: Routledge; Barton, David, Hamilton, Mary, & Ivanič, Roz (Eds.). (2000). Situated literacies, London: Routledge; Street, Brian V. (1998). New literacies in theory and practice: What are the implications for language in education? Linguistics and Education, 10(1), 1–24], which is a social practice approach to the study of reading and writing in real-life contexts. This article concludes by arguing that learning to produce texts in IM involves an entirely different process from that of formal language learning in the classroom. In a multilingual society like Hong Kong, teachers and educators need to be aware of such differences so as to bridge the gap between actual uses of language in students’ private lives and the form of language used in the formal classroom context.
Moberly, Kevin. “Composition, Computer Games and the Absence of Writing.” Computers and Composition 25 (2008): 284-299.
In this article Moberly explores the rhetorical basis of quest games, and asserts their particular use for the classroom. After explaining that “play” and “game” may not be as different as others have argued, he reviews the current state of voice technology in games and the ways in which texts are being developed as fantasy items in newer versions of older games, focusing particularly on World of Warcraft. He concludes by stating that the leveling process in games can provide students with an especially coherent and approachable way of understanding the role of rhetoric in the larger world.
National Institute for Play. Homepage. 30 Nov. 2009. <http://www.nifplay.org/about_us.html>.
From their description: The National Institute for Play is a 501c(3) non-profit public benefit corporation committed to bringing the unrealized knowledge, practices and benefits of play into public life. It is gathering research from diverse play scientists and practitioners, initiating projects to expand the clinical scientific knowledge of human play and translating this emerging body of knowledge into programs and resources which deliver the transformative power of play to all segments of society.
Pearce, Celia. “Towards a Game Theory of Game.” FirstPerson: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game. Ed. Wardrip-Fruin, Noah and Pat Harrington. MIT Press: London, 2004. 143-153. Print.
Pearce argues that narrative functions differently and has a different purpose in games than in other forms of media. Narrative is always in the service of game play (144). A major reason for narrative’s unique role in games is that in games authorial control actually, “tends to undermine the quality of the user experience” (146). Abstracted characters, not well-developed characters, actually function better in games because players can project their own ideas about the character onto them (146). Pearce offers MMORPG’s and simulation games as examples of games that are “successful because they are based on a play-netric model of narrative” (148). Both of these types of games are examples of “authorial abdication,” which basically means that game designers set a up a very basic narrative, or base the game on a basic narrative concept that the public is familiar with, and players create their own characters and scenarios. This allows for greater player interaction with the narrative than occurs in films.
Sheridan, David and William Hart-Davidson. “Just For Fun: Writing and Literacy Learning as Forms of Play.” Computers and Composition 25 (2008) 323-340.
In this article, Sheridan and Hart-Davidson outline the ideas behind and the practical application of the game Ink, which has been in production by the MSU Writing Center & Writing in Digital Environments Research Center since the early 2000s. The game is a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) “informed by scholarship on writing instruction and by rhetorical theory” (325) and is designed to give students practical writing skills (325) by immersing them in real-life situations online (326). Rather than leveling out as in most online games, the students become “immersed in a socially, culturally, and sensorially complex ecology” (326, original emphasis). The online environment maintains activity when no-one is present; unlike SL, where buildings can last forever, in this space, neglected buildings will fall down. The emphasis in writing instruction in this game is that of persuasion- all writing occurs as a means to an end within the community (327), similar, I think to what Matt has in mind for his RP 2.0 approach. The developers feel that the impact of student writing in the environment is more engaging than writing directed solely to an instructor, and even more than service-based writing instruction, where, they say, “there are severe practical and ethical limits” to the impact students may have (328). Sheridan and Hart-Davidson tested their game on a group of 12 sophomores and juniors with a stated interest in writing (335), who played the game over a series of class periods; four researchers watched the group (329), the course ended with a survey, and three students were interviewed at the end of the course (329).
The study found that the students did find the game engaging and fun to play (329, 334, 335), and that the students went far beyond their expectations in fulfilling the writing requirements for the course (330-333). The skills the students learned seemed to be transferable to other situations (332), but they did not seem to understand how and why their previously-learned skills were being activated and transferred (337). At the end of the report, the researchers explain the many difficulties they had in developing a program that actually worked; they were forced to deliver much of the game via handout, because the program crashed when students tried to use and upload many of the multi-media items (338).
Stein, Jared. “Defining ‘Creepy Treehouse.’” flexknowlogy. 9 Apr. 2008. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. <http://flexknowlogy.learningfield.org/2008/04/09/defining-creepy-tree-house/>.
Outlines the “creepy treehouse” effect. We should keep this in mind when designing spaces for students.
Zimmerman, Eric. “Narrative, Interactivity, Play and Games: Four Concepts in Need of Discipline.” FirstPerson: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game. Ed. Wardrip-Fruin, Noah and Pat Harrington. MIT Press: London, 2004. 154-164. Print.
Zimmerman’s objective is to elucidate the term “game-story” by breaking it into component parts (narrative, interactivity, play, and game), considering the relationships between those terms, and how this affects the original term “game-story.” For narrative, after offering a definition, he changes the usual question asked about narrative and game from, is this game a narrative?, to, in what ways is this game a narrative? (157). He defines different levels or sense of interactivity, so of which apply well to games, and some that don’t. He separates play into 3 different categories, only one of which games fit into. And, finally, he offers a list of characteristics specific to a game. Although he does gain some ground in defining the relationships between these terms, he falls short of anything that significantly improves the definition of game: “But perhaps there are ways that only games can signify, drawing on their unique status as explicitly interactive narrative systems of formal play” (162).
Second Life-Specific
“Annotated Bibliography of Second Life Educational Online Resources.” Purdue U. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. <http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~mpepper/slbib#pedagogy>.
As the title says, this is an extensive bibliography to resources for using Second Life. It includes sections on Pedagogy, Research, Virtaul Campuses, and Software.
Bump, Jerome. “Teaching English in Second Life.” Currents in electronic literacy [1524-6493] Bump yr:2007 vol:10
Students created avatars, then modified the avatars after famous characters. Then they were assigned chat sessions as described below. They saved their chats for later analysis. “They were then assigned four different locations on the island to discuss the relationship between leadership and three other topics: compassion, diversity, and history.”Note: The students selected outfits from a clothing box made available by the instructor.
Burn, Andrew, Diane Carr and Martin Oliver. “Learning From Online Worlds, Teaching in Second Life.” http://learningfromsocialworlds.wordpress.com/ This ongoing project at the University of London features articles spanning the last two and a half years of research by the group into uses of SL in the classroom. An invaluable resource for instructors considering including virtual worlds into their syllabi.
Carter, C. “Second Life Projects.” Sharing Knowledge. Blog post. 30. Nov. 2009. <http://www.cxknowledge.com/Intro_SL.html#>.
This website contains how-tos on introducing your students to SL, including cheat sheet handouts on constructing an avatar, moving, using the Help Island, etc.
Clark, Elizabeth. “The Digital Imperative: Making the Case for a 21st Century Pedagogy.” Computers and Composition 27 (2010) 27-35.
In this article Clark first identifies the recent “call to action” by Kathleen Yancey in the March 2009 NCTE to “research and articulate new composition,” that is, composition instruction that accurately reflect the multitude of writing environments presented through the internet (27-8). In response, Clark says that most composition classrooms still rely upon process- and essay-based instruction techniques, in part because students, having never encountered digitally-based reading and writing in the classroom, resist their inclusion. Digital environments are perceived to be “not real” (28-9, 32). However, by emphasizing public production of personal narratives, Clark has encouraged engagement and increasingly useful writing skills in her own composition classes (29-33). She requires her students to go (in groups) into Second Life and afterward reflect upon their experiences there in public blogs (33, 30). Her emphasis on the development of public writing and public personas, which she identifies as the most important aspect of Web 2.0 (35), is cultivated through the use of “ePortfolios.” Although the author doesn’t define these portfolios in the article, they can be found at her college’s website, here: http://www.eportfolio.lagcc.cuny.edu/benefits.html. Essentially, these are individual websites that can be shared with whomever has a password, a repository of the student’s digital creations. These semi-public spaces are used to connect the student’s work to real activities and communities outside of the classroom.
DeWinter, Jennifer, and StephanieVie. “Press Enter to ‘Say’: Using Second Life to Teach Critical Media Literacy.” Computers and Composition: An International Journal for Teachers of Writing (2009) 25: 313-322
“in this article, we argue that participating in virtual online communities and cultivating player avatars are particularly fruitful activities for students’ analyses and production of media in the writing classroom because they often make explicit the ambivalences of new media. We examine Second Life as a productive space to theorize subjectivity through the creation of players’ avatars and their interactions with a virtual world commercialized by major corpora- tions, populated by volunteer players, and immersed in hegemonic power structures. Finally, we discuss some logistics concerning how to establish virtual composition classrooms in Second Life.” The general message here is “caution.” There’s much talk regarding the adult businesses in SL, and the idea that communities are run as theocracies. They recommend buying your own island for safety. More interestingly, perhaps, they are careful to distinguish between games and SL, and provide a list of questions for students regarding avatar creation and experiences.
“Education.” Second Life Wiki. 10 Nov. 2009. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. <http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Education>.
The Second Life Wiki’s education page. It provides links to the top 20 educational sites in SL as well as current news about educational sites in SL.
“Education in Second Life: Explore the Possibilities.” 29 May 2007. YouTube video. 30 Nov. 2009. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMGR9q43dag>.
A video giving suggestions on how to use Second Life for pedagogical purposes.
Edwards, Alun. “War Poets Exhibition.” Second Life.Second Life site. 30 Nov. 2009. <http://slurl.com/secondlife/Frideswide/219/199/646/>.
An interactive exhibition in SL.
Harrison, Denise. “Second Life’s Role in a Curriculum.” Campus Technology. 18 March 2009. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. <http://www.campustechnology.com/Articles/2009/03/18/Teaching-in-the-Trenches-Second-Lifes-Role-in-a-Curriculum.aspx?Page=3>.
This source outlines a project by Elon University in which they recreated the moon landings in Second Life.
Jones, Steven E. “Second Life, Video Games, and the Social Text.PMLA: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, 2009 Jan; 124 (1): 264-272.
In this article Jones asserts that the best use of SL is as a “simulated landscape of textualizable events” (270).
New Media Consortium. http://www.nmc.org/keyword/second-life
This link will take you to the ongoing work of the NMC on SL and pedagogy.
Perkins, Ross. “Info Island.” Second Life. Second Life site. 30 Nov. 2009. <http://slurl.com/secondlife/Info%20Island/49/197/32/?title=Info%20Island>.
An island in second life that has good tutorials on getting started.
Robbins, Sarah. “Course Description.” Second Life Writing. 2 July 2006. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. <http://eng104sl.intellagirl.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=27>.
This website is for a basic rhetoric/comp course using SL. There are assignment descriptions, grading rubrics, etc. From 2006, many of the links are dead or password protected, but it looks like they required a controversy to be explored in SL. Interestingly, one of the assignments was to interview a stranger in SL. Sarah Robbins is the co-author of Second Life for Dummies (Wiley, 2008).
Sanchez, Joe. Homepage. University of Texas’s School of Information, 2007. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. <http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~sanchez/>.
Joe Sanchez’s homepage detiling some of his projects.
——-. “Implementing Second Life: Ideas, Challenges, and Innovations.” Library Technology Reports. ALA TechSource, Feb/Mar. 2009.
A resource by UT’s own Joe Sanchez that gives examples of how virtual worlds are used for pedagogical purposes.
——-. “j0esanchez’s channel.” 20 Aug. 2007. YouTube Channel. 30 Nov. 2009. <http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=j0esanchez#g/u>.
Joe Sanchez’s YouTube channel that highlights some of his projects in Second Life.
——-.
Thomas, Angela. Persephone. U of Sydney, 10 May 2009. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. <http://angelaathomas.com/tag/persephone/>.
A blog post by Dr. Angela Thomas, a lecturer in English and Arts Education at the University of Sydney. It discusses the Greek myth build “Persephone” in Second Life.
Wigginton, Chris. “Virtual Poeisis: The New Creative Pedagogy of Second Life.” English Subject Centre. U of London, 2009. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. <http://www.english.heacademy.ac.uk/explore/projects/archive/technology/theatron/wigginton.php>.
“This website contains a project summary and an entire syllabus for a rhetoric & composition class using SL. From the project summary: This project will consider and exploit the potential of Second Life as a location for the teaching of collaborative inter – and multi-disciplinary work across writing, performance and media. In so doing, a series of teaching sessions will use Theatron’s virtual theatre spaces as locations within which to develop students’ understanding and awareness of the significance of cultural material (historic/environmental/social/contemporary, etc) upon the creation of new works (texts/digital poetries/role-plays, etc).”
Young, Jeff. “Will Second Life Upgrade Help Virtual Classrooms?.” The Chronicle of Higher Education (2010): n. pag. Web. 26 Feb. 2010. <http://chronicle.com.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/blogPost/Will-Second-Life-Upgrade-Help/21475/>.
This is just one of several articles published by The Chronicle of Higher Education on the uses of SL in the academy; in general, they’re rather dubious about its potential usefulness.
Tags: bibliography
