The Power of Games
Beverly Vaillancourt, M.Ed
Educator, Instructional Designer
Welcoming you to a new fall semester with Zulama!
This newsletter is for both new and “veteran” Zulama teachers. It contains links to videos, articles, our monthly Google Hangout, and many more resources to augment your game-based learning strategies.
My name is Bev Vaillancourt, and I’ve had the privilege of meeting several of you at trainings. During my days writing state assessments I wondered if the focus of education had gone awry. But after working with you, I know the future of education is in very good hands. You, as a Zulama teacher, foster the excitement of kids wanting to be in school. You help them recognize that learning has a much broader purpose than the final exam. You are making an incredible difference in the lives of many kids.
More and more, game based education is being described as a system, more specifically an complex ecosystem, that engages learning in a variety of meaningful ways. Learners in this ecosystem include everyone within a learning space who continually trade roles as teacher, student, mentor, facilitator, cheerleader, subject matter expert, and designer. Direct instruction, though an important educational strategy in its own right and in its own place, takes a back seat in this learning ecosystem built around the power of games.
Using games and game design to deepen content knowledge and develop 21st century skills will not cure the educational crisis occurring nationwide, but it will go a long way in mitigating chronic truancy, the educational divide between the academically skilled and those whose talents lie in non-academic arenas, and a lack of career and educational goal setting by too many who envision little personal growth beyond their high school years. An article in the Journal of Adolescence (Vaughn, M. G., et al., Prevalence and correlates of truancy in the US: Results from a national sample, 2013) reports that truancy rates in the United States have remained unchanged over the past ten years, with “overall, 11% of adolescents between the ages of 12–17 reported skipping school in the past 30 days… Studies have found that students who are chronically absent from school are more likely to drop out of school and less likely to be employed 6 months after the end of compulsory schooling.”
It is very hard to get a handle on the actual rates of chronic truancy, but several consequences are certain. It costs school districts in school aid dollars. It costs the individual in future earnings. It costs the individual’s self-worth and positive purpose. A lot of effort has focused on mitigating this national tragedy, with little change in results. It’s long past time to do things differently.
Enter the power of games and game design. We know from statements students have made that Zulama’s courses are the reason many kids come to school. They look forward to their game design courses and the collaboration that happens in the classroom. They also enjoy the ownership they have of their learning and the social interaction within a course where talents are shared instead of compared. Game based education and the game design courses offer kids bright horizons with rainbows of opportunities. They know it. They get it.
Games are the great equalizer. Everyone gets to play. Everyone has the opportunity to win. At times you need to depend on someone who you least expect to complete a mission and succeed. Other times, you are alone in your quest. Games are a community. There is power in games on many levels. Zulama teachers see that happening every day in every classroom. It’s an ecosystem very much worth engaging and empowering.
It is everything Zulama, for it is the paradigm shift that is absolutely necessary if we really are serious about preparing kids for the challenges of a future that are beyond any frame of reference. The power of games is the power of thinking beyond the obvious in search of a goal yet to be experienced. And, it all begins in your classroom, with your class, within your students.