Module One: Understanding New Media
In this module, you will investigate the social, cultural and educational implications of new information and telecommunications technologies. You will also begin to explore the role of games as a medium for learning and communication of ideas.
Module One Outcomes and Activity Checklist
Module Two: Games as Semiotic Domains
This module introduces "semiotic domains," i.e., social spaces where knowledge is co-constructed and meaning is defined by social agreement.
Beginning with a discussion of the way in which videogames present players with meanings and patterns to be discovered, it continues with understanding how those patterns are meant to manipulate our behavior (a critical perspective of the meanings in the game) becomes a central aspect of playing.
This module concludes with an analysis of the way in which the interpretation of these meanings plays out in the videogame violence controversy.
Module Two Outcomes and Activity Checklist
Module Three: Gameplay and Mechanics
In this module, you will explore some of the features that make games powerful learning environments for players. You'll begin by looking at the interplay between the player’s identity and the identity of the character played in game. You'll move on to some of the mechanics that work to make games effective learning experiences. Finally, you will explore the design of games as a practice of composing meaning, i.e., as a form of literacy.
Module Three Outcomes and Activity Checklist
Module Four: The Learning Process in Games
This module introduces embodied experiences as the core of the learning process in games. When people play, they take on an identity through an avatar that then becomes a projection of the player’s body and consciousness.
Then, a discussion of how game designers produce fun and engaging experiences by using the learning and design principles to make a game "good" is also included.
Finally, the mechanisms that are commonly used to facilitate learning in games are analyzed.
Module Four Outcomes and Activity Checklist
Module Five: Social Organization of Gaming Culture
In this module, you'll discover how cultural models from around the world are reflected in games. Cultural models about learning in schools and in games are contrasted and compared.
Next, Massively Multiplayer Games are looked at as gamer discourses in the use of language and player identities. Player strategies as social and literacy practices are also reviewed. Finally, the literacy practices in virtual worlds are analyzed.
Module Five Outcomes and Activity Checklist
Module Six: Finding Meaning in Games
In this module, you will discover the social mind through distributed phenomena and intersubjectivity. Epistemic spaces in games are also reviewed. Finally, analysis of children's social interactions within games is explored.
Module Six Outcomes and Activity Checklist
Module Seven: Emerging Models of Academic Gaming
In this module, the pros and cons of using commercial games in the classroom are discussed. The importance of game design elements and their importance to instructional content are analyzed. Finally, you will examine how learning in virtual worlds takes place.
Module Seven Outcomes and Activity Checklist
Module Eight: Future Games and the Classroom
In this module, augmented reality and place-based games are compared and contrasted. The design cycle of place-based games is also discussed. Next, epistemic games are explored, including advantages and disadvantages this type of game offers educators. Finally, you'll examine augmented reality games and their place in education.