Digital Games and Education

I am currently working as technology consultant for a public school board in Alberta. Myself and two other consultants are working to help teachers improve student engagement though the use of technology in the classroom. I am also working on a masters degree in Educational Technology though the Graduate Division of Educational Research at the University of Calgary. One of the two courses I am presently taking is Digital Game Based Learning and the text book that we are using for this course is James Paul Gee’s “What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy.” I have just finished reading the introduction to Gee’s book and I think I have come to an understanding, but it has nothing to do with video games. One of the constant struggles I deal with is a conflict between the E.T (educational technology) and the IT professionals that I work with. I think Gee’s explanation of how we as individuals read an think in different ways due in large part to the cultural and social groups that you associate with. I think this translates very well to professional groups as well. I find myself associated with other educational technologists that have a passion for using the power of technology to teach. Typically when I see a new piece of technology my fist thought is, wow that would be great to use with students to teach them (whatever). My experience has been that the first thoughts of an IT professional are, what are the safety concerns? How much bandwidth will that require? What is this going to cost? In the past I have viewed these positions as stalling tactics used to prevent us from leveraging the power of technology in the classroom, these viewpoints were merely unnecessary brick walls built up to make my job more difficult and theirs simpler. What I think Gee’s explanation has cleared up for me is that these perspectives are simply two very different interpretations of the world. My interpretation, which I thought and admittedly still think is right, is the educational technology perspective focusing on the possibilities for learning. The IT interpretation is much more about the limitations of the current technology and the accompanying security risks (Note: What ‘security risks really implies is up for debate but that is an entirely different post).

Working more effectively with IT professionals may be as simple as understanding their interpretation of technology is not the same as mine, and that, that interpretation strongly influences what they say and do. Know that and working with that knowledge I hope will help me affect the change that I so profoundly wish to see.

Reference

Gee, J. P. (2008). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy (Rev. and updated ed.). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.