Great Literature Great Games - Week 2 Reflection

After our second week, students are really beginning to think about how video games incorporate some of the same literary "stuff" that they are used to studying.  While in studying traditional literature we talk about character development differently, video games offer a whole new way of observing character development.

Most of the notes for this week's class come from Character Development and Storytelling For Games by Lee Sheldon.  In this text book, Sheldon highlights some of the major ways game developers handle character and story development in games.  While the book is pretty straightforward, I used video clips of new games in the power point presentations to show the students how the notes relate to some more recent games.

I allowed a bit more time this week to focus on game play because I wanted the students to have enough time to really dive into the game and connect with the characters.  We focused our attention on Heavy Rain, Alan Wake, L.A. Noir, and Uncharted 3.  Students kept game play logs with focus questions in order to focus their game play on analysis of the characters.

The reflection essays were both varied and thoughtful.  Here are a few excerpts from this week's reflection essays:

"...we can learn a lot about a character from more than just what he says and how he says it...Drawing clues from how a character looks and what they choose to surround themselves with is an important part of gameplay.  In this age of high-tech and extremely realistic graphics and movement, the smallest details can be important."

"...one can build believable characters not only by using techniques from literature and other forms of fiction, but by taking advantage of the potential of video games to tell a narrative in ways that other media cannot.  A video game by its very nature requires the play to be sympathetic to the player character's difficulties, usually physical, but also emotional."

"The two most important things for a [video game] character are its sociological and physical attributes because it really brings out the character more because it resembles a real person more."

At the end of the week, I believe my students have a better understanding of characterization and how character development is just as important in interactive fiction and storytelling as it is in traditional literature. As we look forward, we will focus on storytelling and narrative theory and discuss how characterization and character development plays a part in the development of story in video games.

Stay tuned!  

Defining "Character" in Video Games

Game Informer - 30 Characters Who Defined a Generation

Week 2 in our Great Literature Great Games class is centered around Character.  As in literature, video games develop characters with many different dimensions in order for the player to feel connected and immersed in the fictional world.  While some characters are cliche and fall flat, other characters are well rounded and are presented with unique physical and psychological characteristics, back story, and deep connections to the world around them.

Our focus question for this week is: How do video games develop characters?  (What are the similarities and differences to traditional literature?)

This week, students will be researching a variety of reviews on video games they have selected and posting discussions about how those reviewers analyze and comment on character in the game.  Additionally, students are creating their own video game characters with unique physical, sociological, and psychological characteristics.

During our game play sessions, students are analyzing character development through the games Heavy Rain, Uncharted 3, Alan Wake, and L.A. Noir.  Students, while playing, will track and analyze the physical, sociological, and psychological dimensions of the characters and determine how much "interactivity" plays in the development of the game characters.  Students will also determine if game play affects how much a player connects with the character. 

At the end of the week, students will write their unit reflection that synthesizes their knowledge of character development in games and literature.

Classroom Practice: Allow students to create their own video game characters that have specific physical, sociological, and psychological characteristics.  Students can present these characters to the class for discussion. 

Stay tuned for updates! 

Picture Link: www.gameinformer.com/p/decade.aspx

Great Literature Great Games - Week One Reflection

Unit 1 of the Great Literature Great Games summer class focused on stereotypes, myths, and the culture of video games.  Our work revolved round the following essential questions:

        Are video games art?

       Are video games literature?

       Are video games educational?

While the conversation in class was varied and rich, students conducted interviews with community members, friends, and relatives to help them answer these questions.  Additionally, after playing Journey, Flower, Child of Eden, and Lost in Shadow, students were able to apply their opinions to these interesting games.  Below are some excerpts from their weekly reflection papers:

“If a [game] designer is able to combine all elements of a game (narrative, aesthetic and sound design, game play elements, etc.) into a cohesive product that is, in turn, more than the sum of its parts, that is what truly make a game an art form.”

“…video games excellently illustrate how significant a protagonist’s choices are.”

“Video games can teach you about many different things…in Angry Birds [for example] you never flick [the bird] the same way twice; you adapt and learn to either go a little higher or a little lower.”

Classroom Practice: Determine, as a class, a working definition for art, literature and education.  Play several video games and allow students some time to analyze and discuss if those games fit the definitions you developed as a group. 

The second week of Great Literature Great Games will focus on character development in games and the similarities and differences to traditional literature.

Stay tuned!

Flipped Out!

As a hybrid summer school class, Great Literature Great Games has been successful on many levels this week.  Students were immediately thrown into this "flipped classroom" when they realized that the bulk of their work would take place on the days they physically weren't in school.  While some of them are still grasping this concept, most really enjoy the freedom that the flipped classroom allows.  While I do have online office hours, my students are completing work, responding on forums, and asking questions at all hours of the day. 

Our in-class sessions have been excellent because the majority of the students are coming to class with an understanding of the materials we are discussing because they completed the online work.  This has allowed our conversations in class to be much more meaningful and relevant.

On the other hand, there are some students who have not logged in to complete any work and are only taking part in conversations in class at the surface level.  Addressing an absence from school as an absence from any online work, discussion, etc. was a hard concept for many students to grasp. 

In the end, after the first week of this new class, I have seen some excellent discussions online, some excellent work, and students who are invested in learning more about Great Literature and Great Games. 

More to come...stay tuned!

Great Literature Great Games

Summer school has begun and Great Literature Great Games is off the ground.  I worked on the curriculum for Great Literature Great Games for about two years and was finally granted the opportunity to teach the class this summer. 

In our first class session, students explored the history of video games to establish some context for the class.  While most of the students took the course because they have an interest in games, many are too young to know the early innovations that names like Atari and Nintendo brought to the industry.  With this in mind, students learned about early video games, the video game crash of 1983, and got to play some actual consoles from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. 

As a hybrid summer class, students will be doing much of their work at home, so our sessions in the classroom will revolve around analysis of literature and games, discussion, and collaborative work.  Here's a look at our first week's assignments:

• Metagame of the Week - Metagame is a card game that encourages players to create and support verbal and written arguments.  In our class, I post the question each week and students respond in our class forum.  Check out this video to learn more...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrzwhK5Ehx4
• Video game culture, stereotypes, and perceptions
• Video games in/as art, literature, and education

Stay tuned for updates!  Students will begin exploring character development and narrative theory in literature and games in the coming weeks.  Lots of fun ahead.  

Post a comment below! Thanks. 

Finding Places to Learn

In my last blog post, I discussed creating spaces for learning.  However, after reading a recent article in the New York Times, I have to consider the other side of the argument: the spaces are already there, teachers just need to find and use them.  

In this article, students from the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, a private school in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx, take part in experiential learning and focus on the place in which they live as their primary source.  And it is clear that the students, despite some scheduling conflicts, benefit from this type of experiential, hands-on learning.  

So my question: How can we engage our city?

If the ultimate goal and vision of schools is to produce productive and educated citizens of the community and world, I think we have an obligation to provide our students with as many opportunities to engage their community in their learning. And with the ease at which technology could be used to facilitate these kinds of experiential learning experiences, we don’t have many excuses.  

In the end, I wholeheartedly believe that an engaging learning experience that incorporates all subjects will not only prepare students to pass a standardized exam but will prepare students to be better people and citizens of their community.  

To read the New York Times article I referenced, click on the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/04/education/in-fieldston-school-course-all-of-new-york-is-a-classroom.html?smid=tw-share

Share your thoughts and comments below.

Creating Spaces for Learning

Final exams are upon us and with reviews out of the way, my students and I took the opportunity to enjoy some "creative play" time.  The focus for our final two days of instruction was to answer this question: How do you define LEARNING?

The definitions, as you can imagine, were wonderful and varied.  Several students seemed to answer with the exact dictionary definition, but others add terms like "teaching" and "application" to their definitions. I actually scribbled down my own definition only to scratch it out after hearing how deeply my students thought about theirs. 

However, we ended this conversation wondering if LEARNING is restricted to certain spaces or if we, as learners, restrict our own learning based on the spaces we occupy. 

To answer this question, then, I set up stations in my room where students were able to "creatively play" several different video games.  On one television students were building in Minecraft.  On another television, students were creating goo bridges in World of Goo.  And on a final set, students were applying physics knowledge in Portal.

So what did they learn?  Some student testimonials...

"In Minecraft, I learned how to use resources to build new things."
"In World of Goo, I learned to use anything I could find to get to my destination."
"In Portal, you have to think about forward momentum and think about how to solve the puzzle...think outside the box."

Though I gave my students only a brief opportunity to be creative in these virtual spaces, I think it's safe to say that we create our own spaces for LEARNING!  Even in spaces that attempt to restrict our learning, we can create our own opportunities to learn.  With these video games, the game designers have created a space with rules and limitations, but the students found ways to learn inside those spaces.  As teachers, we must create and cultivate spaces in our classrooms that allow students be creative because they will, quite honestly, create their own spaces without us!