Serious games? Surely, you can't be serious

The stigma around educational games continues to linger for many.  Studies continue to trickle in, with more focus continued on what tone of voice best resonates with students in a classroom. But in the age of technology, a rising generation of ADD ridden personalities, and the essential American need to keep moving, the very notion of classroom may soon be questioned.  I have worked as a teaching assistant and watched as students (adult students, mind you) game and plan and schedule and chat during class. So much so, the very class I assisted was finally transformed into a fully online course by my final semester.  I helped convert quizzes and assignments into formats compatible with delivery through the school's learning portal. I lamented with teachers about the "entitlement" felt by students. The lack of respect for the teacher, the inability to sit and focus or listen.  We just knew that students would all but forget entirely to submit their assignments without the pressure of attendance and professors and assistants watching over them. But the funny thing is, the grades actually rose.

Yes, we saw more assignments submitted, more log ins, more thoughtful contributions to the online discussions.  We were spending less "time" with the students but getting more results.  It seems with such limited time and interaction, they actually felt pressured to produce better results, to prove themselves.  In a faceless virtual world, they knew they needed to fully commit to assignments in order to be allotted the good grades they wanted.

It's a limited few at this point in time who can see and act witness to these sorts of changes and results.  I've seen the before and after. But many civilians and private sector members of society would still want "credible" proof.  Sure, myself a young recent grad may sound pro-technology, it's expected.  But people still want to hear from higher ups and those of higher authority about the matter.

Well, rest assured I have news for those lingering doubters.  We've all seen the movies. Where do the secret weapons, innovative research and seemingly doubtful processes that somehow produce outstanding results come from?  The results stretching beyond imagination and providing foundation for most commercial projects that soon take over the nature of our daily lives emerges from those lucky researchers with the benefit of being government funded.  Premise established, I would like to introduce the topic of video games used for second language acquisition.

We have numerous military agents hired into our armed forces and sent off to other countries.  But when we spend four years at university, with countless hours of homework in futile hopes of becoming half-way proficient in a foreign language, how do these hundreds of American men and women, often with families at home, have the time to defend our country, learn technologies and protocols, and still become fluent enough to help citizens of another country who often don't speak English?  The answer, my friend, lies in video games.

Tactical Iraqi: Language and Culture Training System
This program was reviewed by SWA Consulting in 2007.  The report was designed to review the efficacy of Tactical Iraqi, a computer based training and video game system.  While agreeing the program is in early stages and could certainly use ongoing improvements over time concurrent with future studies, the conclusion makes some interesting statements.

This report is one of the first I had read that explicitly make the assertion that "videogames are training tools, just as lectures, group discussions, and role plays." We have no problems accepting all the other methods as appropriate for lessons, classrooms, and various sorts of training. Somehow, we only recently are beginning to accept games (specifically video games) as just as appropriate.  The conclusion also brings some important notes to light, that the issues some may have with video games should not be focused on the games themselves. Videogames are simply a tool.  Ongoing research should focus on how we use this tool.  With further exploration on how the audience interacts with the games will dictate what sort of quests, missions, and objectives will be most effective.  It is this sort of matter that I would like to explore further in later posts.

Reference:
Surface, Ward and Associates.  Special Operations Language Training Software Measurement of Effectiveness Study (2007)