Book review

Here is my book review for James Paul Gee's "What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy" (the video is embedded below, or you can click the direct link here):



Here also is a transcript of the video:

BOOK REVIEW OF
JAMES PAUL GEE'S
"WHAT VIDEO GAMES HAVE TO TEACH US
ABOUT LEARNING & LITERACY"

By Alessandro (LSC 597)




Important knowledge ... is content in the sense of information
rooted in, or at least, related to, intellectual domains or academic
disciplines like physics, history, art, or literature. Work that does
not involve such learning is "meaningless." Activities that are
entertaining but that themselves do not involve such learning
are just "meaningless play."
--- James Paul Gee (p. 21)




Gee's argument is whether or not there is
value in how video games (a so-called
"frivolous" activity) can "teach" its users
how to play ...

Can a similar argument be made for how
social-networking tools like Facebook &
Twitter (also considered by many to be
time-wasting activities) can help users
"learn" new skills?




The theory of learning in good
video games fits better with the
modern, high-tech, global world
today's children and teenagers
live in than do the theories
(and practices) of learning that
they see in school.
-- James Paul Gee (p. 7)




Both video games & social media require
users to learn and think in new ways, ways
that they are not necessarily exposed to in
our school systems.

In fact, Gee argues that learning should be
a social experience, where students are not
"isolated" but are instead able to take
advantage of the "social world" in which
we live.




Learning ... is social, distributed,
and part and parcel of a network
composed of people, tools,
technologies, and companies all
interconnected together.
-- James Paul Gee (p. 177)




When we look at learning as a social
experience, an individual's knowledge and
skills are distributed across:

1) the self ("exists in his own head & body")
2) other people ("the social community")
3) various tools & technologies (computers,
the internet, etc.)

This creates a "social mind" that benefits all!




Social networking works the very same
way, in that other users of the
social-media tools (as well as the tools
themselves) "extend" an individual's
intelligence beyond what's simply in
his or her head ...

It's the "social mind" at work, and Gee
argues that it "plays a central role in
helping people to think about learning
in our modern, high-tech world" ...




Video-game players can be part of a
powerful network, if they so desire and
know how. Their own ineptness need
not stop them.
-- James Paul Gee (p. 187)




The power of the network is the ultimate
learning tool ... In video games, players are
asked to publicly display & share their
knowledge for the benefit of the group (and
the system as a whole), just like in social
networks.

The learner as "social isolate" (isolated
from other people & from knowledge
tools) is no longer the answer in our
modern "social" world!




Young people who play video games often experience
a more intense affinity group, leverage more knowledge
from other people and from various tools & technologies,
and are more powerfully networked with each other
than they ever are in school.
--- James Paul Gee (p. 194)




Much like in social media, there are no
"outsiders" when it comes to the world of
video games ...

Players are encouraged to produce & design
content themselves, rather than being mere
passive observers ... Gee points out that
"game designers & game players are both
insiders & producers," making the experience
more "vibrant" and real for the user!




In the modern world, language is not the only
important communicational system.
Today images, symbols, graphs, diagrams,
artifacts, and many other visual symbols
are particularly significant.
---James Paul Gee (p. 13)




Gee also stresses "visual literacy" (learning
to "read" images & symbols) ... Like video
games, social media has grown its own
visual language

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that you have to recognize or else you
won't understand what's being said.




As Gee points out with video games, social
media is its own unique "semiotic domain";
if you can't read/understand the meaning of
terms like "tweet" or "poke" in the context of
social networking, then you can't converse in
that world (you are "social-media illiterate")

Furthermore, one can better understand
the world of social media if one is an active
"producer" in that world (i.e. gain a better
understanding if one participates)!




The bottom line for Gee is that, in a specific
context (like video games or social media),
particular words, actions, objects, & images
take on distinctive meanings ... If you don't
know how to "read" these signs, then you
cannot be "literate" in that domain.

The lesson for us all: Understanding the ways
that things like video games & social media
"teach" us how they work can be applied to
our classrooms to great effect!




Gee, J.P. (2003). What video games have to
teach us about learning and literacy.
New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.




VIDEO CREATED USING

Windows Movie Maker ver. 5.1




MUSIC:



"Saving The Shy Librarian"
from "Famicom Sessions Special Edition"
By MisfitChris

Used under Creative Commons license:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by-nc-nd/3.0/




Images inspired by the sprite artwork of
Kouichi Ooyama
("Earthbound", c1995 Nintendo of America)

Created using

Paint Shop Pro ver. 5.01