Virtual Worlds
The last chapter was about role playing and this chapter is about virtual worlds. I can't help but wonder if the author is an escapist or something? Did she grow up with her door closed reading novels and not socializing anymore than she had to?
As I read the first description of virtual worlds, the author states, "Virtual environments are places, accessible by the internet, where people can discover, exchange, or share information opinions and ideas (p. 114)." Again, I'm slow to embrace something that distracts people, especially children from reality.
"Kalipea's Journey From Novice to Veteran in Final Fantasy XI (p. 116)" was frightening to me. We have a shy young girl who takes to a fantasy game and is immediately immersed for twelve hours. The author touts her engagement as a positive, confidence building thing but what happened to the real world she lives in? What happens when she naively becomes friends with a sexual predator? I have never been an online gamer and I acknowledge my skepticism may be tempered with some gaming experience.
However, I did a paradigm shift on gaming when I read the description of Quest Atlantis. This is an online game simulating an ecological disaster in a fictitious national park. Students interview different characters, analyze data they gather as well as historical data, consider socio-economic implications, and make recommendations to solve a water pollution problem. They are then transported into the future and they get to see how their recommendations panned out. Critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, communication...it's all there...engaging and based in reality. I can see a realistic game like this as a great teaching tool that both students and teachers would thrive doing.
There is a place for fantasy where someone's imagination and creativity can thrive. I just worry about it being safe and healthy. I wouldn't want my kid "checking out" for twelve hours in an online game. It's a big world out there and I'm always concerned about encouraging students to meet strangers online. Maybe they already are and I shouldn't worry about it, but I do...
Your reflection got me to thinking Marty. If our students do "check out" for twelve hours in an online game, then that means they are not "checked in" to the real world, which is full of problems and challenges and, well, important stuff. How can our students learn what they need to know in order to run our planet when they grow up if they are spending all their time earning experience points for their guild?
ReplyDeleteGames like Quest Atlantis sound great and worth implementing with students. But there should also be follow-up afterward, in the real world, where students, teachers and parents talk about the experience and how it relates to events going on in the real world.