Preview
I won't lie that I was a little skeptical about the usefulness of this guy's perspective when I learned about how old he is (65). After all, most of my experiences learning from old people about new things is that they're years behind everyone else. Example: Teachers trying to show funny videos in class that were a huge thing 5 years ago or becoming really invested in a meme that has been on the internet since the dawn of Homestar Runner. However, I can already tell that this author has spent a lot of time with a lot of different video games trying to learn them. As a professor of literacy studies with a great deal of research experience, I think he'll be able to offer a very unique perspective.
Social Proof
Nobody on Google+ was thrilled about the idea (though I need to make more of my posts public according to professor) so I mentioned it to my BFF Rachael in Ohio. She can't wait to hear if this guy has any cool ideas about gaming. I might be able to talk her into reading it too because we like a lot of the same things. That's why we're BFFs.
BFFs of my Book
James Paul Gee has released an updated version of this book. The one I am looking at is from 2003. His new one is from 2007. Both are still a little old considering how quickly the gaming world changes.
Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal, also on our Goodreads shelf, appears on the Amazon search. This author was mentioned in the lecture on campus from Blizzard guy whose name I already forgot. She created Super Better and has cool curly hair.
Mathematics Education for a New Era: Video Games as a Medium for Learning by Keith Devlin appears in both the Google and Amazon searches. I don't know if mathematics really fits into my focus of video games for bettering the workplace.
Good Video Games and Good Learning by James Paul Gee. This one is also from 2007. I wonder if this is an extension of an essay that I found from him with the same title online.
Who Cares?
Most of the Twitter feed about James Paul Gee is about his books about teaching. I bet a lot of teachers read his stuff to learn about how to do better in their classrooms. There also seem to be a variety of gamers who are also very academic minded who appreciate his combination of gaming and learning techniques.
Formal Review
I found a review by Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen at this site which is devoted to the science of video games. He applauds the personal approach, saying that it gives a unique perspective as opposed to the very business oriented Digital Game-based learning by Marc Prensky. He views this as a very comprehensive look at learning through games, so it might be worth looking into later. Nielsen points out that the book has the issue of being primarily experience based and doesn't cite much work in the field that has already been done. I agree that I would need to read more than just JPG's book to get a good idea of how gamification might be incorporated into the workplace (or if doing so would be a good thing at all).
Informal Review
This informal review by a soulful, long haired man named Kaj Sotala on his blog. He makes a comparison between this book and an opinion piece from the NY times that says that maybe we don't need to all be jumping into the educational video game craze because children should have fun during fun time and focus on learning during learning time. He goes on to say that in order to make our rigorous "non-fun" learning more effective, we need to connect it to meaningful ideas. He cites the personal example of becoming more interested in probabilities after reading A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I agree that trying to gamify everything may not be productive and it made me think back to my brain goal of gamifying work so it's not so bad anymore. Are there some things that shouldn't be gamified? The main reason I would be careful about bringing Sim City into a classroom (as is discussed in the opinion piece) is that public schools and experts are vastly disconnected. I can see this going awry very quickly. I also feel like kids will find engaging games that they like on their own and they may not necessarily need to be incorporated into the school day.
The Book in Syllabus
I found a course called EngC1014-01 at Trinity University in Texas that uses JPG's book as its only course reading. In the class they discuss the pedagogy of game design, games as a new narrative, and seems to contribute to the overall topic of games in education. I think games have been a bigger topic for educators as a shiny new way to attract the attention of students. Like Kaj Sotala and the opinion piece of the NY times, I'm a little skeptical about how well this will play out. That doesn't mean we won't be proven wrong! (By games being very successful in the classroom.)
Multimedia
This was a helpful search because I was able to find lectures that James Paul Gee has given at gaming or learning conventions with ideas that are more updated (since this book is from 2003). I watched a portion of his keynote speech at the 2012 "9th Games for Change" festival. He responds to followers of his work who have mistakenly interpreted that he thinks that we can learn from all games. He differentiates between regular games and "Games" (with a big G). He defines big-G games = Affinity Space + X. I like seeing him interact with his audience based on the idea that they are familiar with some of his work. He also has a very linguistic approach to the subject and syntax is important. He takes the time to define the words he's using which makes sense as a language professor.
I think this goes along with the idea that we have to be careful what games we deem "educational" and how we can learn from games that aren't labeled as educational. As I skimmed through his book he talked about how exploration and experimenting with the environment is pivotal in Pikmin, which is aimed at young children. I'm betting a 7 year old could learn more about the scientific process from discovering his blue Pikmin can go underwater than from an hour on a science Leap Pad or other "educational" game. JPG wants to help us see which games are best for learning and why.
First Impressions of the Book
Coming soon!
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