The reading this week combines most elements I'm fascinated in the research: mobile learning, design-based research and second language learning. A good design of gaming environment brings all of the elements possible and meaningful: Learning second language in an authentic environment which engage students and transform students' learning.
What constitutes a good game? I think Susan brought up two of the most essential questions: which games did you like most when you were a kid? Are there any games you like playing now? By answering the questions we may find the keys of her third questions: In what ways do you think games can be used for teaching and learning. Suzan encouraged us to think broad, not just narrowing the concepts of games to video games.
As a typical girl who grown in the traditional chinese society (I hate to say it's typical, but somewhat it is true), I was not interested in motion games. Instead, I loved to play something at home, no matter it is a role-playing game in the house or a poker game. I loved to stay calm, with my brain turning and can't stand too much excitement. It's a pity to me for not participating more games which involve motion skills in my childhood. Now I love to play such games through Nintendo Wii. In addition, I also love playing the game Smurfs' Village on my iPad, which allows me to build a customized village by following the Smurfs' story.
By analyzing several games I stated above, I listed some elements in these game which may provide as inspirations to design educational games:
- A good game may have some problem-solving designs, which allow players to apply their prior knowledge and reasoning skills, either individually or collaboratively, in a virtual, but save and authentic environments.
- A good game is always engaging and challenging, which provide playersmotivation to keep playing with given rewards or instant feedbacks.
- Last but not the lease, a good game need to have a good narrative/storytelling, which sequences all other exciting elements, to help players achieve their goals.
We've learned that in both adventure learning course and the online learning course. A successful narrative not only describe the legitimates and details, but also has a "hook," a tension and release, so that readers/players will feel sense of self-achievement by experiencing the "ah-ha" moment came afterward.
So let's come back to the Holden and Sykes article. The article presents a good example of constituting these key elements together by informing a design-based research. This is the first DBR research article I read carefully and thoroughly. Therefore, I particular paying my attention to how they design the research, how they collect and presents their data, and how the research connected to second language learning. I think they are doing a great job to explain the background of augmented reality, their focus of the importance of "place" in language learning, and how they use mobile technology to bring these idea possible in a college Spanish course setting. I appreciate how they utilize the Spanish speaking environment provided around the campus of U of New Mexico, which may be the biggest strength to incorporate culture context in this research. The Los Greigos town itself, also provided the perfect setting to preserve the essence of Spanish Colonization. The author also stated clearly about the story setting and tasks designed to the learners in the article. Multiple data sources such as quantitative data gathered by the game system and qualitative data collected from pre-survey, observations and interviews and how these data to be triangulated are also well-presented.
Except for analyzing the pattern of learners' using the program, as a reader, I want to know further how student learn and what student learn through this process. Of course we know that the spirit of DBR is not comparing or measuring the differences of students' learning outcomes. Instead, the DBR researchers seek to understand how students "experience" through the design. The research provide some qualitative data to show how students change their attitude toward this program by comparing the findings from pre-survey and interview. However, the discussion is not enough for me to draw a picture of students' perceptions and experience of learning Spanish through the program.
There is a "5C" standards published by American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language (ACTFL) : Communication, Culture, Connections, and Communities. The Mentira program actually connected their designs to the standards very well. The program not only "stresses the use of language for communication in "real life" situations but also enables students "experiencing other cultures develops a better understanding and appreciation of the relationship between languages and other cultures," encourages students to "to compare and contrast languages and cultures" and extends students learning experiences "from the world language classroom to the home and multilingual and multicultural community emphasizes living in a global society." I'm looking forward to see how the researchers continue to work with language educators and improve their design for more extensive pedagogical needs in second language field in the future.
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