Ignatius Rigaskara's List: DGL - Video Games Literacy

• "Games are based on problems to solve, not content.
• we are increasingly seeing that a critical part of being literate in the digital age means being able to solve problems through simulations and collaboration."
• A 2008 study completed by researchers at Fordham University found students in grades 5 to 7 improved their cognitive and perceptual skills after playing a video game they'd never seen before.
• In 2006, Will Wright, the creator of The Sims, wrote in Wired Magazine that the new generation has a completely different way of completing tasks
• they don't bother reading instructions and then attempting to solve a problem.
• Instead, they figure things out through trial and error, as they've learned to do through video games.
• And it's a fundamentally different take on problem-solving than the linear, read-the-manual-first approach of their parents," Mr. Wright says.
• Mr. Levasseur wraps up his Mediashift piece encouraging parents to play games themselves so they can properly engage with their kids on this new type of literacy.

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• he social context of gaming offers opportunities for "civic gaming experiences,"
• But certain kinds of game play do appear to foster higher levels of civic engagement.
• which players have opportunities to help or guide other players; learn about problems in society; think about moral or ethical issues;
• organize game groups or guilds.
• The survey found that teens who have had these civic gaming experiences report much higher levels of civic and political engagement than do teens who have not had these kinds of experiences.
• For example, they are more likely to go online to get information about politics or current events, to raise money for charity, to say they are committed to civic participation, to express an interest in politics, to stay informed about current events, and to participate in protests, marches, or demonstrations.

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• The project,

   

   Literacy in the Digital Age of the Twenty First Century:learning from computer games 

   

   (Beavis, Bradford, O’Mara, and Walsh,2009) was funded by the Australian Research Council
• with Thomas Apperley as Research Fellow and Amanda Guiterrez as Research Assistant
• Project schools were also able to take advantage of the

   

   Game On

   

   exhibition
• The process was chronological; starting withsimple games, students developed an understanding of the increasingcomplexity of more recent and contemporary games
• while developing ametalanguage to discuss their experience, space, actions and interactionsin game space.
• The data that students gathered formed the starting pointfor their own gaming portfolios, whose development will proceed aroundthe paratextual (Consalvo, 2007)
• elements of gaming, reviews, FAQs,
• walkthroughs, YouTube videos, gaming magazines, strategy guides etc.
• Through the design of a games portfolio, the teacher and studentsintegrated writing, reading, speaking, listening and design activitiesaround game play and the design of multimodal texts
• Games and game play are linkedto friendships and family relationships, the development of personalauthority and identity, the development of perceptions andunderstandings of themselves, and their location within youth culture,globalisation and contemporary life.

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