Learning in World of Warcraft

When Chris Dede came to University of North Texas as a keynote speaker in a conference my department held, he spoke about how he and other researchers at Harvard are learning about educational games through their efforts with River City.

One thing Dr. Dede said in his lecture stood out to me. He said that of course students are learning things in commercial video games. James Paul Gee had recently published his book What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy to widespread acclaim. However, Dr. Dede said, what kids are learning in commercial products is mostly junk.

The week before last, I presented at the Texas Computer Education Association annual conference, the biggest state ed tech convention. At the Technology Coordinators Special Interest Group (TEC-SIG) luncheon, with tech directors and superintendents from across the state, our guest speaker was David Warlick. Mr. Warlick spoke on millennial learners, and touched upon the many-faceted ways technology impacts the lives of young people in and out of classrooms. He made essentially the same comment, that we have known for some time kids are learning in commercial video games, but what they are learning is junk.

It boils down to, I suppose, what our definition of junk is: I presume Dede & Warlick define the learning derived in commercial games as junk because it is usually not academic learning, or learning that is needed for standardized tests taken in schools. This truly gets at the larger question of, not whether games can be used for learning (they can), but whether we can use them somehow for academic pursuits.

Or, perhaps, they are best suited for learning about life? I’ve notice a couple of “what I learned while playing World of Warcraft” posts, lately. These fall along the lines of the book, Everything I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Of the two, the more prominent one is by noted screenwriter and director John August. His post, Seven Things I Learned from World of Warcraft is an honest effort to tie life lessons through playing the largest online game.

Regardless of the questions raised, these comments and posts, papers and research serve to illustrate how intriguing is the field of educational video games. Trying to figure out what questions to ask, how to ask them, and then seeking the answers will occupy many people for years to come.