E-Learning and Digital Media
ISSN 2042-7530

Volume 5 Number 2 2008

CONTENTS [click on author's name for abstract and full text]

SPECIAL ISSUE
Games in Learning Contexts
Guest Editor: JESSICA HAMMER

Jessica Hammer. Introduction. Games in Learning Contexts, pages 142‑145 VIEW FULL TEXT doi:10.2304/elea.2008.5.2.142
Jung-Hoon Ahn. Application of the Experiential Learning Cycle in Learning from a Business Simulation Game, pages 146‑156
Stephanie Vie. Tech Writing, Meet Tomb Raider: video and computer games in the technical communication classroom, pages 157‑166
Will Slocombe & Chris Price. On the Case: designing an interdisciplinary learning game with Neuromancer, pages 167‑179
Sandra Wilson Smith. Conceptualizing Cognitive Skills Developed during Video Game Play: a case study in teaching composition, pages 180‑188
Bryn Neuenschwander. Playing by the Rules: instruction and acculturation in role-playing games, pages 189‑198
Gillian Andrews. Gameplay, Gender, and Socioeconomic Status in Two American High Schools, pages 199‑213

BOOK REVIEWS VIEW FULL TEXT
New Literacies in Action: teaching and learning in multiple media (William Kist), reviewed by Melinda Starc, pages 214‑217
Configuring History: teaching the Harlem Renaissance through virtual reality cityscapes (James J. Sosnoski, Patricia Harkin & Bryan Carter, Eds), reviewed by Laura Nicosia, pages 217‑220
Displacing Place: mobile communication in the twenty-first century (Sharon Kleinman, Ed.), reviewed by Stephanie A. Schmier, pages 220‑222
20 Questions about Youth and the Media (Sharon R. Mazzarella, Ed.), reviewed by Reijo Kupiainen, pages 222‑225 doi:10.2304/elea.2008.5.2.214

GAME REVIEW VIEW FULL TEXT
What’s Learning Got to Do with it? Devil May Cry 4, reviewed by Aaron Chia-Yuan Hung, pages 226‑233 doi:10.2304/elea.2008.5.2.226

E-REVIEW LINKS VIEW FULL TEXT
A book review portal compiled by Michele Knobel, pages 234‑236 doi:10.2304/elea.2008.5.2.234

Application of the Experiential Learning Cycle in Learning from a Business Simulation Game

JUNG-HOON AHN Hong-Ik University and Chung-Ang University, South Korea

doi:10.2304/elea.2008.5.2.146

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of engaging students in Kolb’s experiential learning cycle on facilitating students’ simulation game performance and knowledge application skills in learning with a business simulation game. A sample was drawn from a population of business-major undergraduate students at the School of Business at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. A total of 57 subjects, who were enrolled in the entrepreneurship course in the fall semester of the 2006 school year, participated in the study. This study used two different types of prompt questions – the strategy question and the knowledge application questions – to engage subjects in the reflective observation step and the abstract conceptualisation step of Kolb’s experiential learning cycle respectively. The results of data analysis revealed that subjects, who were engaged both in the reflective observation step and the abstract conceptualisation step of Kolb’s experiential learning cycle, scored higher in the knowledge application posttest, and performed better in the business simulation game than subjects who were engaged only in the reflective observation step. Data analysis also found that subjects’ knowledge application skills were positively correlated with their simulation game performance scores. The survey results indicated that subjects who were engaged both in the reflective observation step and the abstract conceptualisation step of Kolb’s experiential learning cycle perceived their learning experience more positively than subjects who were engaged only in the reflective observation step did, and furthermore, subjects’ positive perceptions of their learning experience were positively correlated with their simulation game performance scores.

Tech Writing, Meet Tomb Raider: video and computer games in the technical communication classroom

STEPHANIE VIE Fort Lewis College, USA

doi:10.2304/elea.2008.5.2.157

This article examines the common genre of the usability study in technical communication courses and proposes the incorporation of computer and video games to ensure a rhetorical focus to this genre. As games are both entertaining and educational, their use in the technical communication classroom provides a new perspective on multimodal literacies that is appropriate to meet the needs of twenty-first-century learners. This article both describes a theoretical rationale for the inclusion of video and computer games in the classroom and also offers suggestions for their practical pedagogical incorporation.

On the Case: designing an interdisciplinary learning game with Neuromancer

WILL SLOCOMBE & CHRIS PRICE Aberystwyth University, United Kingdom

doi:10.2304/elea.2008.5.2.167

Computer games are increasingly being considered as a means of promoting learning, especially the use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) games in the classroom. This article extends this idea by proposing an innovative method of fostering interdisciplinary collaboration through the design of computer games. The game to be developed, On the Case, is based on William Gibson’s seminal Neuromancer, and will be used to augment and enhance the learning experiences of literary studies students studying this text. However, these users will also assist in the design process before a prototype version of the game is developed by peers on game-design degree programmes. The article offers an overview of the design considerations behind the game, primarily in terms of the intellectual engagement such a game will promote, the learning it is designed to foster, and the mechanisms – game-play, environment, and learning design – through which it will do so.

Conceptualizing Cognitive Skills Developed during Video Game Play: a case study in teaching composition

SANDRA WILSON SMITH Rowan University, USA

doi:10.2304/elea.2008.5.2.180

While video games have been much maligned in the popular press, a number of scholars have begun to explore the positive side of these games, especially in terms of learning. Some critics have analyzed video games and the act of game play as complex, cultural texts. In college courses, such as composition, in which one goal is the development of rhetorical skills like analysis, video games and game play can be used as texts that are both accessible to students and rich in meaningful information. In this article, the author presents a case study of a composition course she developed using the book Everything Bad is Good for You, in which Steven Johnson focuses on popular media, such as video games. Through exposure to Johnson’s complex discussion and by drawing on their own experience and observations, students were able to think and write critically about abstract concepts and produce their own meaningful analyses.

Playing by the Rules: instruction and acculturation in role-playing games

BRYN NEUENSCHWANDER Indiana University, Bloomington, USA

doi:10.2304/elea.2008.5.2.189

The open-ended, informal, and socially negotiated nature of role-playing games creates a distinct learning challenge for newcomers to the hobby. The explicit rules of the game provide only an incomplete framework for structuring the actions of players, and the expectations and mores of a given group will add other, unspoken rules that discourage or reward certain patterns of behavior. Through a combination of casual instruction, mimesis, and situated learning, new players become acculturated to the ways of both role-playing games in general and specific games in particular. Online resources can facilitate this process, by placing individuals in contact with a wider network of fellow hobbyists, but the limited channel of communication available online also restricts the social cues that could otherwise contribute to learning.

Gameplay, Gender, and Socioeconomic Status in Two American High Schools

GILLIAN ‘GUS’ ANDREWS Teachers College, Columbia University, USA

doi:10.2304/elea.2008.5.2.199

In a study of 195 high school students, differences by gender and socioeconomic status (SES) were found in their gaming habits and game literacy practices. Low-SES students generally preferred console video games, particularly those in the sports genre. They expressed frustration with the controls involved in long-form computer games such as those in the role-playing and first-person-shooter genres. Girls overwhelmingly rejected being identified as gamers, though they actively engaged in playing casual games in isolation. Very few students in any demographic group were found to participate in the game literacy practices described by Steinkuehler, and high-SES males were most likely to engage in these practices. These findings suggest cautious further research when generalizing from recommendations of how to harness games for education, such as those presented by Gee. Also, it appears that more attention to sports-themed digital games is warranted, particularly for those interested in reaching low-SES populations, as both boys and girls at the low-SES school played these games.

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