Throughout the course of this semester, I will be exploring and designing assignments/activities for my critical pedagogy 2.0 test class. The first text I am employing in this journey is Reality is Broken. Play is emerging as a key concept for me. Henry Jenkins lists it as a new media literacy; it is tied to John Dewey's experiential learning. Jane McGonigal makes an interesting argument to promote the use of games to engage students socially, asking "What if we decided to use everything we know about game design to fix what's wrong with reality? What if we started to live our real lives like games, lead our real businesses and communities like game designers, and think about solving real-world problems like computer and game theorists" (7).
I have to admit that I am not much of a gamer unless you count Mahjong. I don't understand sitting in front of the computer for hours on end laboring away in online worlds... at least not fictitious worlds. If we could harness the labor of WoW and Halo players, perhaps we could solve the great problems of the world. Could video games be a training ground? Steve Johnson would say yes.
The question is how can I employ a computer game in an online composition class? It will need to be tied to research to fulfill the outcomes and objectives of an English 112 class. The first game I examined is Evoke. It sounds great, but I can't figure out how to play it now. All the information seems to be out of date and my membership has been pending for over a week. I tried a game called Play the News, but after a few minutes I found myself asking, shouldn't a game be fun? If it can't hold my attention, how can it hold the attention of a student?
My quest continues...
