What do video games, a middle school in New York, and the future of university education have in common? Not enough. Susannah F. Locke writes in the January 2010 issue of Popular Science about a middle school in NY that has its entire curriculum based on gaming. Why? She notes that "videogames have outperformed teachers in one key way: they command attention for hours."
So the school's directors have capitalized on that inherent interest and designed courses that have students learn by doing, in particular by designing and playing videogames. Instead of listening to a lecture, doing worksheets and being tested (say on facts about ancient Greece), they become Spartan spies and have to gather data on Athens. Learning the material by engaging in and using it to solve a problem or complete a task is a much more dynamic, interesting, and it turns out successful way to learn. The success of this school and these students remain to be seen, but the beginning looks promising.
The vast majority of students who arrive at the doorstep of higher education come preprogrammed to listen (well sort of), take notes, and take tests. From an early age their school environment has been focused on behavior management (be quiet, raise your hand, do what you're told) and teaching to the test. They get to college and we want them to question, be critical, synthesize and be curious. Instead, all too often the only question asked in class is "is this going to be on the test?" Breaking students of these ingrained habits is challenging and often uncomfortable for them. Worrying about grades (instead of learning), focus on a degree and a job (instead of knowledge and skill acquisition) are all too common.
That said, the college classroom is often not so different from their grade school one. Professors lecture, manage behavior problems (chatters, cell phone users, sleepers), and test. Students copy Powerpoint slides (from the eye to the hand, somehow bypassing the brain), worry, get frustrated, cram, and test. The push for online learning (through distance education or hybrid classes where some portion of the course is online and in person) is in danger of exacerbating this problem. Many (though with some notable exceptions) online courses try to mimic the classroom environment digitally by provide lectures via Powerpoint slides or video files, sometimes incorporating some kind of interaction via chats or online discussion threads, and, yes, testing.
The average brick and mortar university will fail at this endeavor if they only try to digitize the instructor and course content. Those of us who teach and do research at these sorts of schools have long said that there is something important, special, different about a university education that can't be replicated by a community college or online university. And while both of those sorts of educational opportunities serve important functions, the traditional residential college experience is somehow different (and let's face it when most of us say that we mean 'better').
So in this budget shrinking, highly competive marketplace of higher ed, how are we to remain relevant? How are we to teach and inspire the students who do show up for our brand of education? I can tell you it's not going to be by having them watch a videotaped captured lecture with corresponding Powerpoint slides. Just as the classroom requires dynamic engagement, so does any online component to a course. My classroom is already a place where a lot of doing is going on (mock crimes, investigations, and trials; Survivor-esque public quizzing, "sit down if you get it wrong", etc), but this semester, I'll be expanding the online component of my courses, and I'll be looking for ways to make that online experience equally engaging.
Locke notes that "30 years of research show(s) that people learn best when they're in a social context that puts new knowledge use." These days, what's more social than the internet? I'll be keeping those young gamers and their cool school in mind as I figure out how to have students put their knowledge to use online and in the classroom.