Before I began reading Remapping the Foreign Language Curriculum, I was sent a couple chapters from a book called Learning with Digital Games: A Practical Guide to Engaging Students in Higher Education. My recorded thoughts on the chapters will likely not come into play until the summer or when I start creating games, but it never hurts to have a digital log of my thoughts, instead of what I threw on some ripped out notebook pages. These notes come from Chapters 1 and 3.

To keep in mind: The author’s background is in UK higher ed (I’m in the states)

They use a constructivist learning approach, which works under the assumption that students are kinetic learners, and has the element of self-teaching. They compare the instructional or transmissional model for teaching as opposed to the author’s active learning environment for games, tying into that constructivism – using collaborative learning, experiential learning, and problem-based learning, all of which can be accomplished through games (although collaboration is not something that is feasible for my site in the near future).

The author used 3 games as examples to show how games tie well into constructivism:

• Runescape: an MMO is definitely not what I’m going for, but it primarily demonstrates collaboration and a highly interactive world. There are some gameplay elements that could be pulled from it, primarily the open exploration. I’m not sure what direction I would take with a game like that, but freedom of exploration can be a great teaching tool, and a combination of that with an immersive world could prove highly effective.
• NotPr0n: this was a fantastic browser puzzle game similar to the hd white puzzle in its solving process. (If you haven’t tried this, I highly recommend it). I don’t know if NotPr0n is still around, but the kind of clever riddles it uses is definitely something I would be interested in throwing into my text and storybook games. I actually hadn’t thought of his game style until reading these chapters. The author describes this game as “an excellent example of a game that uses simple technology to create engaging game-play,” which is the ideal.
• Sleuth: A detective point-and-click game. While I haven’t played it myself, I have played similar games with investigative stages similar to it (such as Ace Attorney). Other similar point-and-click puzzle solving games include escape-the-room games or mystery-solving games. This is actually something I have thought of in terms of games to create, and I think it would be fantastic for teaching vocabulary for various common objects that may not come up in conversation all that much. Games like this also “provide a good example of a detailed environment the player can interact with” which could also be great for throwing in a little cultural learning, if we set the game in a francophone country.

Each activity I create will have to be designed with a clear purpose in mind, ie what will the learners have gained from the experience after they have completed it? Does it have an application to the real world?

At some point, I’m sure someone will ask me “Why games? Why not some other form of pedagogy? Why not simple readings and exercises?” Honestly, I should probably make a whole post about this at some point, but here are a few of my initial thoughts that cropped up while reading these chapters. For one thing, there are plenty of exercise-based FL sites online, and I don’t want to make a duolingo clone either. The purpose of this site is not to teach, but help with retention in between courses. The reason people forget so many things is because they lack the ability and/or the motivation to practice. However, if there were fun, engaging things like games in a foreign language, they might feel more encouraged to practice. They wouldn’t be doing exercises, or trying to read a book while looking up an unfamiliar word every minute. This site’s adaptability and easy-access vocab list would solve that issue, and the games would (hopefully) keep people interested and immersed. I think of it in a similar way to exercise – running on a treadmill is not very exciting to many people, but many people do enjoy playing sports – casually or otherwise, and it’s much easier to pass the time that way without even noticing how much work one is doing. Similarly, games would help with language retention without people even noticing because they’re focusing on the game instead of work. An issue I recognize, however, is that not everyone plays games, which is why there will be a variation of games – some will be short, or casual, and others will be more difficult mechanics-wise or more time-consuming.

The biggest aim here, is that it will be fun and optional. It is not my wish for professors to require their students to play my games online, but for students who want to practice to have the option to play games to practice for themselves. Even if students enjoy an assignment, if it is required of them, most of the time there will still be a certain amount of resistance on the part of the student. I hope to avoid that.

This article was clearly written for a pedagogical audience, as much of their terminology is over-explained or redefined. For example, there was a phrase called flow theory, which they defined carefully, that is the exact same thing as immersion. They also often used the word engagement over immersion, which I found interesting (engagement is used more in the teaching world, immersion in the gaming world, though they are very similar in definition).

Control in games will be important for immersion – there must be consistency and logical interactions in the game, choices for the player to make, and power – that is to say, that the player’s choices matter. The author suggests that lots of choices in a narrative will lead to better learning, and I am inclined to agree, at least that there will be a better understanding of the narrative as the player sees how their choices affect the world.

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Misc notes:

Situated cognition – environment and context shape learning

cognitive puzzlement – stimulus for learning. ie the goal for learning something shapes how well it is learned

problem-based learning, games in broader context, fixed goals v. emergent goals, sensory v. cognitive curiosity

This book relates more to in-depth, bigger games, rather than casual games (such as little word games that have no minimum or maximum time to play)