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Blogpost 8: Play in Problem Based Learning (Wang Xinru)
In the reading “Reconfiguring Interactivity, Agency and Pleasure in the education and computer games debate”, Pelletier (2005) attempts to establish the concepts of pleasure, agency and motivation in education technologies within a framework that could analyse how games can be considered educational. The three factors are seen to be dependent on each other, whereby an increase in one factor would automatically increase the other two. Digital or computer games has increasingly gathered interest of education researchers and policy makers for their interactivity and inherent pleasures that is gained out of playing the games which can be linked to the motivation to learn. She makes use of the notion of interpassivity in Zizek’s theory of subjectivity in cyberspace to define its relation to interactivity, where games are seen as dramatic stages for reality construction. This suggests how games could be seen as educational, since they provide players with the ability to manipulate and experiment with rules that builds the sense of identity.
In an educational point of view, games provide the platform for students to learn, motivating them to clear the stages in the games. Pelletier argues that games require the players to overidentify with the rules of the game, and because of this requirement, players do not identify with the game characters, but rather with the process of clearing the game itself and gaining the extra points.
The aspect of games in education to motivate students is apparent in my society where we can see many instances where games are incorporated into teaching in educational institutions. Having experienced gamified learning personally, I would agree to Pelletier’s argument, but only to a certain extent. When I was young, my schools utilized this online platform called Marshall Cavendish Online, where students could use the platform to submit online homework during E-learning week which happens once a year. Students would be able to tinker around the platform to try the quizzes in the form of games that are available on the platform. In retrospect, my friends and I were doing extra practices on the platform, just that the pretext of having fun and “gaming” allowed me to focus on the act of completing the quest rather without realizing that problem-based learning is in play. In another example, a computer science module in NUS is designed such that playfulness is a central component of learning in its effort to achieve learning outcomes through problem based learning. Students are tasked with “Missions” (assignments) to complete and “Quests” (optional assignments) for students to attempt outside of curriculum time. Upon completion of the missions and quest, students are awarded points where maximum number of points would guarantee the student another module credit.
Screenshot of MCOnline platform that I used when I was in primary school
However, this approach could only work in if the problems given are solvable in the students cognitive capability in my opinion. If most of the problems given are out of the students ability to solve, the student may then choose to give up and quit the game. In the example of university students where they are not allowed to quit, they may lose the interest in solving quests for points and thus treat each assignment as something to be submitted as it is. The learning through play would be backfired as students are demoralized and loses the motivation to learn from the start. Furthermore, while students are incentivized to complete assignments on the pretext of gaining points, the fun in play loses its meaning when a grade hangs over the game. Hence, gamified education is a great method to incentivize students to learn and takes away the boredom from studying, but caution has to be exercised when implementing these methods as it could backfire.
References:
Pelletier, C. (2005). Reconfiguring Interactivity, Agency and Pleasure in the Education and Computer Games Debate—Using Žižek's Concept of Interpassivity to Analyse Educational Play. E-Learning and Digital Media, 2(4), 317-326.
Cs1101s: Programming methodology. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2021, from https://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~cs1101s/
Brainy ARKIES – learn and build through play. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2021, from https://www.brainyarkies.com/
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