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"I don't think it takes much to fix education; it's so broken that any young person today with an appreciation for gaming could probably figure out something be

by Hyena 15y ago

"I don't think it takes much to fix education; it's so broken that any young person today with an appreciation for gaming could probably figure out something better than what exists now." Why so?

pjscott 15y ago
The world of gaming has put a lot of work into discovering how to motivate people to keep going, even if what they're doing isn't actually that fun. Think of grinding in an MMORPG, or whatever the hell people do on Farmville: it's not that fun, probably significantly less fun than playing Super Mario Brothers 3, and yet people spend hours and hours on it. And yet teachers have trouble getting students to learn anything.
- Hyena 15y ago
  I think this is inaccurate both in its presumed comparison and in the premise which underlies it. First, grinding (really farming, no one outside of Korea grinds anymore, which I'll get to) in an MMO or playing Farmville is pretty low intensity mentally, it does not require that much of your attention. Multi-tasking is easy, for example. I'm not so sure that you would be able to grind away at mentally taxing activities. It generates fatigue. Second, though, is that video games have not figured out a way to effectively reward boring activities. Let's use MMORPGs. When I played Final Fantasy XI, grinding was so tedious I quit before level 20. EverQuest 2 was better, but not too much more. WoW was fairly easy. RIFT was a breeze. Each new release is easier than the last, indicating that grinding is something game developers have learned to avoid rather than create ways of rewarding it. As an empirical test, it seems like a resounding rejection of thesis. I'm not sure gamification is going to get much done on the education front. I think this idea resounds with techies because they like video games, they often like to show their accomplishments and they like the ego-stroke the concept of displacing education with games brings.
- pbhjpbhj 15y ago
  Khan Academy has to some extent gamified educational exercises and [video] study. I have reservations about this sort of thing as it focuses on reward fulfilment rather than fostering a love of the topic by engaging the learner.

by Hyena 15y ago

"I don't think it takes much to fix education; it's so broken that any young person today with an appreciation for gaming could probably figure out something better than what exists now." Why so?

pjscott 15y ago

The world of gaming has put a lot of work into discovering how to motivate people to keep going, even if what they're doing isn't actually that fun. Think of grinding in an MMORPG, or whatever the hell people do on Farmville: it's not that fun, probably significantly less fun than playing Super Mario Brothers 3, and yet people spend hours and hours on it. And yet teachers have trouble getting students to learn anything.

Hyena 15y ago
I think this is inaccurate both in its presumed comparison and in the premise which underlies it. First, grinding (really farming, no one outside of Korea grinds anymore, which I'll get to) in an MMO or playing Farmville is pretty low intensity mentally, it does not require that much of your attention. Multi-tasking is easy, for example. I'm not so sure that you would be able to grind away at mentally taxing activities. It generates fatigue. Second, though, is that video games have not figured out a way to effectively reward boring activities. Let's use MMORPGs. When I played Final Fantasy XI, grinding was so tedious I quit before level 20. EverQuest 2 was better, but not too much more. WoW was fairly easy. RIFT was a breeze. Each new release is easier than the last, indicating that grinding is something game developers have learned to avoid rather than create ways of rewarding it. As an empirical test, it seems like a resounding rejection of thesis. I'm not sure gamification is going to get much done on the education front. I think this idea resounds with techies because they like video games, they often like to show their accomplishments and they like the ego-stroke the concept of displacing education with games brings.
pbhjpbhj 15y ago
Khan Academy has to some extent gamified educational exercises and [video] study. I have reservations about this sort of thing as it focuses on reward fulfilment rather than fostering a love of the topic by engaging the learner.