2009 Conference Reflections
Over the past year I’ve attended academic conferences in the U.S., Mexico, Spain, and Bahrain. Here are a few key takeaways I can offer from my perspective as a higher education assessment consultant.
Academics worldwide are debating the scholarship of teaching and learning quite intensely due largely to the disrupting change of the online for-profits, the ubiquitous acceptance of social networking, and the reality of user created content. An article in last week’s The Chronicle of Higher Education nicely summarized the online for profit sector’s impact on challenging all colleges and universities to do a better job not only of creating and tracking student learning outcomes but also for using the data collected to refine curriculum and instruction with an eye toward improving the student learning experience. Most online programs are able to track all activity in a course including page visits, class discussions, assignment uploads, exams, and grades. They are also able to standardize learning outcomes for all sections of a course to ensure comparability of data. This is the point where traditional academics will raise the academic freedom argument, however, I’ve seen traditional faculty agree on a common set of outcomes and even common assessment rubrics even though the assignments they develop to assess student progress may differ by instructor.
I also just returned from the SACS-Commission on Colleges Annual Meeting in Atlanta. I noticed that many universities were talking about course level assessment of student learning outcomes this year which was new. This is an area where I’ve been focusing for the past 18 months so it was nice to see the academy starting to recognize the importance of getting more granular in the assessment of student learning. Previously nearly everyone was satisfied with program level assessment. Program assessment is still important but it should be triangulated with course level assessment data along with indirect measures such as NSSE, CSSE, or Noel Levitz. Many institutions also participate in either the Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA) or the University and College Accountability Network.
The rise of social networking and user created content is another salient takeaway this year. If Web 2.0 or education gaming was in the session title you could count on a packed room. This was the case worldwide. These technologies are moving beyond the early adaptor stage and more into the mainstream. It is important for digital immigrants (those born before 1995) to recognize that digital natives are used to processing multiple channels at once and having just in time access to information. There are theories circulating that indeed even the structure of a digital native’s brain is different. This means we must adapt our method of teaching to be more of a facilitator as opposed to a lecturer who disseminates knowledge. During a Web 2.0 presentation in Guadalajara, Mexico last week I challenged participants to start using at least one new Web 2.0 application first in their personal lives and then to try to integrate the application into their teaching in the Spring semester. I’d be happy to share my presentation with anyone who’s interested. You can email me at briane@ecollege.com if you’re interested.
It’s truly an exciting time in higher education. The next decade is going to bring about dramatic changes at colleges and universities. I look forward to participating in dialogue with many of you as we do our best to make education more accessible and effective for both learners and employers.
Brian McKay Epp
Academic Trainer and Consultant
A.R.G.
We try really hard to come up with new and innovative ideas at eCollege. It's actually even more creative around here since Pearson took over. We get to flex our academic muscle against technology and financial viability on a regular basis. We talk about CBL (confidence based learning - basically where competence and confidence meet), we discuss programatic and institutional data mining (correlating, comparing, and contrasting grade data, completion metrics, user activity, etc.), and much, much more.
A lot of this has gone relatively unnoticed by the general population. Purdue University recently made a splash on CBS about how they are finding ways to get data across the institution out of the LMS and how it's leading to actionable, data-driven decisions. We've actually done that for years...
But one area that our academic training & consulting team first talked about at a conference 2 years ago is starting to get some traction. It's the notion of alternative reality games for education - ARG's for short.
I happen to get Wired magazine - I highly recommend it! A few years back there was an article about Nine Inch Nails lead singer Trent Reznor and how he created an ARG to market a new album, as well as to try and enlighten folks about the government, global warming, and other things. Without repeating the whole article, the group essentially had thousands of players engaged in a game that they didn't know they were playing. It started with a shirt that had bolded letters on it which spelled out a website and ended with people coming to California to get on buses with blacked out windows and head to a "rally" that turned into a N.I.N concert. But the idea stuck with me.
Why couldn't teachers create games for their students with the students having no idea they were playing? I started by creating a list of learning objectives in my class. Each starting letter of the list was a corresponding letter of my personal website. To my surprise, several students found it, went to my site, and got a small bit of extra credit! So, I started trying other things. I placed "hot spots" on my pages - white text that blended into the background - the when rolled over sent students to a YouTube video. Some students found it. Meanwhile, other students found a puzzle that I created and, upon solving it, found their way to a wiki. There were 4 sets of students working the game from different angles and they didn't realize it until they were well into the game. But here's the cool part...the game was all about the educational stuff I was teaching normally!
Yep - these same students who complained regularly about not having time to dedicate to my class, became entrenched in a game that forced them to learn specific concepts in order to "unlock" puzzle clues. By the time they were into my alternative reality of speech communication, they were already learning! So, my team and I created a game for our user's conference that incorporated many of these same elements.
Fast forward 2 years. At our last user's conference a teacher explained how he played a game of educational clue with his students. He was really just testing the theory - replicating the action to see if it worked. And you know what? It did. He said that students got involved immediately. Students were engaged from start to finish. And he was able to teach them important concepts through the game.
The bottom line is that there are several types of games you might play with your students. But the ramifications are real. Games work. Just Google, "Serious games" and see what you find. You'll find research, data, comprehension statistics, retention numbers, etc., all of which illustrate the power of a game in an educational setting. So give it a shot. Try creating a game that students don't know they're playing until they are in it. You'll be the clever, cool instructor who uses social networks or puzzles or whatever. They will be the enlightened students who remember the details about the theory. You both will be winners.
Jeff D Borden, M.A.
Senior Director of Teaching & Learning
Ed Gaming – A Trend to Watch
“Games have moved beyond 'edutainment' into complex topics that require higher-order thinking.” – Brandon Hall, Chief Learning Officer |
According to http://screentime.org the average American watches 4 hours and 35 minutes of television every day. The same organization cites a study saying 1 in 4 children under the age of 2 have a television in their rooms. In fact, a 2009 report by ABC News found that back in 1999 a survey of seventh grade students in Montreal revealed that 50% of boys and 25% of girls self-reported spending at least 42 hours a week in front of a screen (Dotinga, 2009). Given the advancements in technology one can only assume this number has increased since then.
As an educator, I continually hear teachers at all levels mourning the loss of attention spans among students caused by excessive screen usage. But is there a way to leverage this tendency to actually motivate and engage students in learning? Bryan Alexander, a researcher at the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education, explains that games can nurture the following list of pedagogical principles: “repetition, scaffolding, multimedia reinforcement, assessment, taking learners to the edge of their zone of proximal development, and increasing challenges over time” (2008).
Creating a culture of gaming on campus requires faculty to be engaged in uncovering quality games for their content areas along with university libraries acquiring digital game assets and promoting them to students. Finally, IT staff must be consulted regarding the bandwidth required to support high-demand software on campus.
As I researched this topic I found myself easily distracted by the wide variety of gaming options for a wide variety of content areas. The first to catch my attention was developed in the UK to educate the pubic on the spread of the swine flu virus http://www.clinical-virology.org/killerflu/killerflu.html. Be careful, you may end up entranced for hours.
Here are some sites that have been highlighted by thought leaders in educational gaming:
- http://www.bogost.com/games/
- http://www.persuasivegames.com/
- http://seriousgames.ning.com/
- http://www.seriousgamessource.com/
- http://www.watercoolergames.org/
A good first step would be to search for a game that would be appropriate for your course and then include it as an assignment with a threaded discussion follow-up activity where students reflect on the content that was presented. Just try not to spend too much time in front of a screen as you’re putting this activity together.
References
Alexander, B. (2008). Games for Higher Education: 2008. EduCause Review, 43 (4).
Hall, B. (2009, January). Five Learning Trends for 2009. Retrieved August 5, 2009 from Chief Learning Officer, http://www.clomedia.com/take-five/brandon-hall/2009/January/2503/index.php
Dotinga, R. (2009). Teens Spending Too Much Screen Time. Retrieved August 4, 2009 from ABC News, Health http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Healthday/Story?id=4510769&page=1
Brian McKay Epp
Academic Trainer and Consultant
Game On!
Do you want to play a game? These words have been uttered in several movies to varying degrees of audienCe fright and delight. From Joshua in War Games to Saw, as a (human) race, we seem fascinated by games. Board games, basketball games, the Olympic games, head games, miNd games, digital games, children’s games, and the list of Games we play as a people goes on and on.
So, why have games gotten such a bad Reputation in educational contexts? After all, we know that games are a great way to teach foundational skills. Ask any 1st grade teAcher about the games they use to teach various subjects and the list will likely be lengthy. Memory, flash cards, word games, and the like are used with great effecTiveness as children learn math, reading, science, and other skills.
But when yoU hear “game” used in any context past 5th grade, it’s generally negative. We talk about people “gaming” the system – there is a popular YouTube video directed at educators which taLks about students learning to “game” school for example. (These students learn just enough to pass, just enough to take the test, etc.) In fact, to try and combat these negative assumptions, educators who reseArch and create games for the classroom have to create phrases like “serious games” or “educational games” just to try and give credibility to the medium.
But games have tremendous teaching and learning potential! NoTe, I’m not just talking about Battleship or Pac Man, but about games that integrate currIculum, increase comprehension, or augment content. I’m talking about gaming in its various forms like simulations, puzzles, word play, alternative reality games, first person narrative games, timed events, logic brainteasers, riddles, and even 3rd person mysteries.
I’m talking abOut River City, created by Chris Dede from Harvard, that allows students to learn about history, chemistry, group communication, biology, research, and math by playing a game in a virtual world. I’m talking about Mystery at M.I.T., the game that integrates political science, logic, journalism, engineering, biology, and other disciplines. I’m referriNg to Discover Babylon, the first person game created by the Foundation of American Scientists and Sony Playstation. From the simulated surgeries at www.edheads.org to the M.U.V.E. (multi-user virtual environment) gameS, educational relevance is well researched and effectiveness is proven.
There are waYs for you to create yOur own, find free downloads, or share resoUrces with others when it comes to gaming. There are conferences, conventions, websites, forums, books, and Journals dedicated to games in educational contexts. BUt I think gaming in the clasSroom comes down to this.
If you don’T think you have time for games, you’re probably right. If you don’t think Games work, you probably won’t find any that do. (I’m A big believer in the self-fulfilling prophecy.) But I would argue that these mindsets are uninforMed and narrow-minded. There are pre-created games in almost every discipline. From political science to math to education to music, games are being used quite imprEssively in schools around the globe. So go find some. In this day and age, we (eDucators) had all better be fantastic “Googlers” – or we can’t stay relevant anyway. So here are a few suggested searches! Type in your discipline followed by the word “game” or the word “applet” or the word “simulation” and see what comes up. You might be pleasantly surprised at what’s out there to support your efforts and (more importantly) your student’s learning.
--J Borden--
Director of Academic Training & Consulting
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