Interesting paper: game learning

[Marielle Lange]

Dear all,

Some of you may be interested in the following paper (you need to go  
through a rapid and free registration process to view the paper for  
the innovate journal of online education):

Game-Informed Learning: Applying Computer Game Processes to Higher  
Education
by Michael Begg, David Dewhurst, and Hamish Macleod
http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=176

An extract:
> Consider the following description of gameplay:
>
> When entering a gaming environment, a player adopts a character  
> role or assumes an identity appropriate to the environment.
> Once within the gaming environment, the player perceives tasks to  
> be completed and, consequently, progress to be made.
> In order to progress through the game's more complex levels, the  
> player picks up the necessary game vocabulary.
> The player explores intriguing hidden corners and alluring vistas.
> The player adapts to the gaming environment by interacting with it.
> The player realigns expectations and judgments through each  
> exploration and interaction, reappraising the cause and consequence  
> of each experience accordingly.
> Now, reread this sequence while replacing "player" with "student."  
> The result is a model paradigm of the active, constructive learner.  
> Conceptualized by Piaget (1970) but also applied within the work of  
> other influential figures such as Vygotsky (1978), Biggs (1999),  
> and Wenger (1998), constructivist theory suggests that learning is  
> intrinsically linked to learners' sense of identity. Through  
> personal experience and critical reflection on their beliefs about  
> the world in which they live and the domains in which they hold  
> affective agency, learners come to know themselves and what they  
> are becoming.
Best wishes,
Marielle

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Marielle Lange (PhD),  Psycholinguistics, Lecturer in Psychology and  
Informatics
University of Edinburgh, UK

Homepage:  http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/mlange/
Lexicall project: http://lexicall.org
Revolution-education project: http://revolution.lexicall.org