Video Games for Learning
Course
Games Help Us Identify Our Strengths [5:02]
When we play video games, it helps us to identify our strengths. And in a good video game, having a strength doesn't necessarily mean that you will or won't succeed at the game, much like having a weakness doesn't mean that you will or won't succeed at the game.
Now certainly, if you are no good at racing games and you are sitting down to play a racing game, that might be an indication that you just can't play that at all. But that's not actually what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about being able to accomplish the level faster than other people, being able to find hidden resources, being able to experience something different from other players.
It's okay to not be good at everything, right? That's something that we tell ourselves. It's okay to play to our strengths, right? Building a culture where we're able to recognize other people's strengths, as well as the strengths of our own, can help us be a closer community. And understanding our strengths and weaknesses by living out a great number of experiences can help us understand ourselves even more.
So in a video game, we look at things like, "Are you a person that's really good at finding every missing item in the level? Are you that completionist that wants to accomplish every single trophy? Are you really good at doing side-quests? Are you good at picking up on the nuances of a story so that you can complete side-quests or missions without needing any hints, without having to consult a strategy guide online?" These are all different strengths that actually carry over very nicely to the real world, very nicely to the classroom.
When you find what you're really great at, it allows you to be an expert. And being an expert means that you can guide or lead others. Being an expert also means that you can dominate on certain games or scenarios against others and that's a really great feeling to be able to have. Owning in a game, as we sometimes call it, is definitely a point of pride, but it's also fun to be on the receiving end of someone who's that good. When you play fighter games, such as Street Fighter or Super Smash Brothers, there are entire World Championship competitions of people that have put in hundreds and thousands of hours playing these games to be able to dominate other people.
And it's fun to be able to play a game with someone who outmatches you in skill. Or, perhaps, you outmatch him in skill because for that time, it's fun to see how well someone else can play, to marvel at their skill or to have your skills have a chance to shine. Then, there's opportunities when it goes on too long. That happens sometimes when I play Super Mario Brothers with my wife. We are different skill levels and there are times when it really frustrates her, at the pace that I want to move through in a level because I'm comfortable with it and she is not. And that's something that can be fun in doses, but is not fun for either of us when it becomes too stressful.
Owning to a gamer could mean a short-lived win over friends or it could mean endless hours of practice and memorization and learning the tool better than anyone else has. Let's take what we've just discussed about identifying our strengths through games and let's consider what that could look like in your library.
What if your students thought of themselves in terms of World of Warcraft stats? What if they thought of themselves in terms of the number of missions they've been able to accomplish, or the number of secret items that they discover, or the number of quests that they've gone on with partners, and the number of things that they've been able to accomplish as a team?
We can apply a game design directly to our library instruction in order to make strengths be amplified in the lives of these individual students, in the way they interact with one another. There are certainly many, many strengths that all these students have. But there's also a limited time we have in our class and so we might not always get the opportunity to have scenarios that can showcase these strengths.
Building lessons or units in such a robust way that we allow exploration, and we allow many different paths to accomplish the same goal, will allow, in turn, students' strengths to flourish and to shine, and also, to become apparent to you. So I encourage you to strive, to build those learning environments where your students can demonstrate to you those things that they care about most and those things that they are the best at.
Gaming provides authentic experiences with uncovering strengths and weaknesses. Through this self-discovery process, gamers build on strengths and find strategic paths to success. As experts in a game or skill, a person can guide or lead others, as well as recognize talents that they may not have. In the library setting, we can recognize varied strengths of students—and help them see the strengths too—through encouraging students' exploration and differentiating our instruction.
1. Read the article, "The LMS and the LMS: How the Library Media Specialist Can Support Teachers' Use of a Learning Management System" by Doug Johnson (provided in the Resources below). In this piece, Johnson explains the librarian's role in the day-to-day implementation of individual student learning devices—a process that by its nature, incorporates differentiation according to students' strengths, interests, and needs.
2. Consider a lesson that you teach with technology tools. Review the sample responses to the question, "How did you use your computer (or other device) in school today?" Write some possible responses that students might give at the end of your lesson. What are ways to inject their learning with the awareness and intention that will help them answer this question effectively?
MLA Citation
Morris, Rebecca J. "Video Games for Learning: How Did You Use Your Computer Today?" School Library Connection, November 2024, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/1985418?learningModuleId=1980803&topicCenterId=2247903.
Entry ID: 2122888
Additional Resources
About the Author
MLA Citation
Winner, Matthew C. "Video Games for Learning. Games Help Us Identify Our Strengths [5:02]." School Library Connection, ABC-CLIO, November 2015, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/1985418?learningModuleId=1980803&topicCenterId=2247903.
https://schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/1985418?learningModuleId=1980803&topicCenterId=2247903
Entry ID: 1985418