Who needs a manual...?

Have you ever seriously thought about the way video games are set up? How they manage to walk the gamer step by step without needing a users manual? How they build on prior knowledge? How video games seem to teach without the gamer really realizing that they are being taught?

Me neither.

Until recently. 

As part of this MALT process (yep, that word again), I have been given the following assignment:

• Choose a minimum of one game from each category (Single Player, Multi Player, Potty Game), and play it as a way of observing the learning methods and theories that the game uses to teach you how to play.  Each game should be one that is new to you.
• As you play the game, keep a journal of the reflections and experiences you have.  Publish a written journal of your observations...

Playing Halo provided me with plenty of opportunities to be frustrated and entertained. After all, who doesn't love a good shoot out? However, as I am in the midst of the process, I observed. I thought about those learning methods and theories. I reached into the recesses of my brain, back to my education and credentialing classes. I tried to step back from just being a player and think about what I was actually doing. How I was learning to play a game that was completely new to me. How did I know how to shoot, how to break the necks of weird alien creatures, and where to go?

Keep in mind that while I play plenty of "potty games" on my iPhone, I can't remember the last time I sat down in front of a game console to play a video game. I have had some fairly spectacular moments with friends playing Rock Band and Wii Tennis, but I am fairly certain the original Nintendo system is the last console I sat in front of, on my own, controller in hand.

My observations in the first 2 levels of the game?

1. The narrative aspect of Halo, and I am assuming most games now, magically explains the game, who the players and characters are and what the objective is. No lecture involved. A story plays out before my eyes and I am sucked in, ready for my mission.
2. If not part of the story, directions appear on the screen in one sentence.
3. Prior knowledge is built upon at each level and skills demands are increased as the game progresses.

The learning is progressive. A video game is set up in the same way our lessons in the classroom should be. Building on skill and increasing challenge. In the book Gamify, by Brian Burke, points out that to gamify is to start with "small steps first and build those skills over time." Isn't this exactly what teachers need to be doing?

Why is this important? Because, as it turns out, gaming is an excellent example of learning and instruction.  Inquiry based, skill building, complex growth wherein the gamer is guided, helping the gamer find a path to success.

We can learn a lot as educators about learning and education.

No instruction manual needed.

Go play a game.

Failure IS an option

I am not a person that believes failure is not an option. I've learned to accept that failure is a part of life, a part of learning. It may not be fun or good on the ego, but I fail. As human beings, we fail on a fairly regular basis.

Talking the other day with some cadre mates, I made the comment "Started playing Halo 4. I die. A lot. And often." You see, over the weekend my brother dropped off his X-Box (really, I am doing him a favor. The kid is in Med School and shouldn't be wasting his time on such frivolity) and I started to play Halo. Here's the thing, I am truly terrible. And, playing Halo makes me want to punch someone. I want it to slow down I hate that my hands and brain can't catch up with what is actually happening on the screen. It is safe to say that I am a failure at Halo.

I am okay with being a failure at Halo. Let's be honest, it really doesn't matter. Maybe I wasn't a complete failure. I did actually get better with each resurrected turn. But ultimately I was frustrated, frustrated that I couldn't seem to get past a level. What's the point of dying over and over again?
Somewhere in the midst of my perpetual cycle of death, I began to think about the kids in my classroom. How often have they felt this way in school; feeling like they are stuck in a cycle of educational death? After all, gaming is a way of learning.

I just don't get it.
Why isn't this working?
I hate (fill in the blank with the subject or concept of your choice).
But I studied. 
I practiced.
But I can't fail!
I HAVE to do well on this!

I hear it every year. Kids who feel frustrated. Some of them give up. Some do not.

I am thinking of giving up on Halo. It's not my favorite and as I stated earlier, who cares if I stop playing. It doesn't matter in the grand scheme of life. But am I done with gaming? Nope. There are a lot of games I actually like. I can move on to the next one. Find something I do enjoy.

What about the kids in my classroom? Classrooms everywhere for that matter?

For many of them failure is not an option. Failure is earth shattering.
For many others, the constant failure is the death of learning. It is a constant source of frustration. They do not have the option of simply stopping and playing another game. There are certain things that they have to know. They need to know how to read, write, multiply. Options. There need to be options. Just as I can find another game to enjoy, I am still gaming. As a teacher, I want to provide options to my students. I want to help them work through the frustration and feeling of failure. I want them to understand that failure is an option and it will all be okay. They will learn, get better. And if they need it, we will find another option. Another game. Another way to figure it out.

For the record, I did enjoy creating my avatar.

I Am Ready For This

Thrown together, from all over the country (though California is heavily represented, myself included), 16 people are gathered together, all starting their Masters program in Learning Technologies at Pepperdine University, Graduate School of Education and Psychology. They stay in dorms, hang out all day and it turns out, they actually like one another. During the course of the week they are given the following tasks: imagine a yo-yo in space...does it work, make a portrait poster, build lego robots that can make through a Goonies inspired obstacle course while The Goonies plays in the background, build sandcastles, pretend it's 2 years down the road at a party and you are introducing yourself to a friend and handing them your business card, and chop vegetables. And delicious snacks are there for the taking.

Totally what I expected of my grad school orientation. Yeah, not so much. 

Myself and 16 others are preparing to walk together for the next year. It will be hard work. There is no doubt about it. I have spent this last week observing, laughing, listening, absorbing and questioning. I am thinking about brain and what makes them tick. Why do I like editing video but am not so game for coding (no pun intended)? Is this an opportunity to re-invent...to find my 2.0? What future do I want to create? What are my student's brains doing? How does this experience translate to my classroom? Is the Lego robot challenge going to ever work? 

I am supposed to ask the why and find answers.

Right now, I have no answers.

My brain is full. 

I am ready. 

But...maybe remind me 6 months from now.

I am not a gamer

This has been a constant thought since the days of Nintendo. I am not a gamer.  Day 2 of this grad school thing was spent creating a game...coding. Then, I was informed that the first assignments to be completed involved playing video games. Not just one, but multiple video games. I do not find this to be at all appealing. Further more, each group is responsible for building (I'm good with that) and coding a lego robot.

But wait, I play poker and word games on my phone. Does that make me a gamer? And, how about this, I sort of enjoyed the coding we did today. I mean, I could not do it as a job on daily basis, but I didn't hate it.

So I am left with this: Why is it that "I am not a gamer"?
What is my hesitation and discomfort? Why do I have this "eh" feeling. Why is it that when I think of completing the gaming assignments, my first thought is to find a pet shop game intended for children? What is this tech phobia? Not technology, but technical.

Most games today are story based. I love story.

I spend way to much time watching T.V. What is the difference between gaming and T.V.?

One is passive?

Also, I helped make this today. The Hardest Game Ever. You should play.

And so it begins...

I started a Master's Program in Learning Technologies (MALT) at Pepperdine. For reals. Today is day 1. Cadre Camp. A time for "adults" to come together, get to know one another and become oriented. Living at Pepperdine is not a bad way spend the week. Sitting in a room with 15 new friends, exciting and slightly intimidating. Going over the program goals and classes...the winning combination of nausea and excitement. I am going to have to work and work hard. And yet, I feel like I can do this. Why?

I am ready for this, not because I feel like I know enough, but because I am ready. I am ready for this adventure. I am indeed feeling overwhelmed and slightly intimidated. So many different backgrounds are represented in this group. But...I feel like I can do this! After the overview today, I can say there are definitely aspects of the program that I am not looking forward to. Gaming. Not my thing. Never really has been, aside from Mario and Luigi and Duckhunt. But...I can do this. I am doing this.