 Online Learning Update Ray Schroeder, editor, COLRS - Online@Illinois SpringfieldOnline Learning Update - a blog published daily since 2001 by Ray Schroeder, Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois at Springfield |
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Sunday, August 21, 2005
Epistemic Game - David Williamson Shaffer, Innovate Online
In an article in this issue of Innovate, Jim Gee asks the question "What would a state of the art instructional video game look like?" Based on the game Full Spectrum Warrior, he concludes that one model is "to pick [a] domain of authentic professionalism well, intelligently select the skills and knowledge to be distributed, build in a related value system as integral to gameplay, and clearly relate any explicit instructions to specific contexts and situations" (2005, para. 20). That is, he describes a good instructional game as an adaptation of "authentic professionalism" in video game format. Here I would like to give a more detailed account of this idea by looking more closely at the terms "authenticity" and "professionalism." I begin by connecting these concepts to some of the theories of learning on which they are based: ideas about communities of practice (Lave and Wenger 1991; Wenger 1998), reflective practice (Schon 1987), epistemic frames (Shaffer 2004a) and pedagogical praxis (Shaffer 2004b). These theories link games, simulations, and professional practices. In so doing, they provide tools and techniques to guide the development of games for learning. To show how this works, I will give an example of one such game that, while still a prototype, demonstrates how a deliberately constructed simulation of professional practice can be both an engaging activity and a compelling learning environment.
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