Double Entry Journal #3

Quote one:

"Consistent with traditional conceptions of multiculturalism, the QA Council includes male and female characters having features associated with African American, Asian, Hispanic, and Anglo populations. Though this distribution is grounded in the demographics of the early student participants, further reflection might challenge whether mere balanced heterogeneity truly represents broad cultural diversity" (Barab, Carteaux, Dodge, Thomas, & Tuzun, 2005).

I understand that multiculturalism in this context is referring to incorporating aspects of human diversity in the games characters, and in doing so, injecting an important aspect into the learning process.  In modern schools, multicultural education is crucial in the education system because classrooms, particularly in urban areas, grow more diverse each year. By intertwining multiculturalism and video games, we can easily educate students to form not only socially acceptable beliefs, but also make good moral decisions. I found the information in this quote to be very interesting.

Quote two: 

"Numerous scholars and learning theorists have advocated experiential learning— the belief that learning involves real-world participation, the belief in the intimate relations between experience and education, the certainty that understandings are derived from and modified through experience, and the conviction that action and reflection are necessary features of meaningful learning" (Dewey, 1938; Kolb, 1984; Barab et al., 2005).

I absolutely agree with this quote. Learning takes place in many different forms; in the classroom and the real world. Although getting a formal education is a necessary part of establishing a successful future, learning through experience is also important for developing a functional collection of knowledge and ability. Video games contribute to the learning processes by using simulation techniques; allowing the player to participate, perform, or experience the action as if it were real. Experience is one of life's most powerful learning tools.

Quote three:

 

"The term flexibly adaptive can be related to the diffusion of innovations such as QA by considering that innovations must be able to adapt to multiple contexts if they will be broadly implemented" (Barab et al., 2005). 

I absolutely agree with this quote. In any type of educational setting, creating lessons and innovations which are easily adaptable to multiple contexts is paramount. With the increasing diversity, inconsistent educational history, and dissimilar knowledge levels, advancing through the educational process is impossible if teacher are not willing to be flexible with their knowledge and abilities. The same principal works with video game design, in order to construct a simulation scenario that is conducive to numerous aspects of the learning processes, the designer must be flexible; willing to develop and utilize numerous techniques.

Barab, Sasha., Carteaux, Robert., Dodge, Tyler., Thomas, Michael., &Tuzun, Hakan. (2005). Making learning fun: Quest Atlantis, a game without guns. Educational Technology Research and Development, 53(1), 86-107. DOI: 10.1007/BF02504859

Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and Education. New York: The Macmillan Publishing Company.

Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Press.

Resourceful link:  

I chose to link to a video that is called The Secret World "Concept and Game Design" which discusses the elements of design used in a (MMORPG) massively multi-player online role playing game. The game titled Secret World involves forming secret societies which all possess unique skills, templates, uniforms, and missions. It is open ended and built in free form, allowing the player to set goals, create their own characters, and interact within the different societies. This video game is flexibly adaptive, as well as support of experiential learning; although more mature and complex, absolutely valuable to the learning processes.