Archive for Pedagogy

Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives Update

[I recently contributed a literacy narrative to The Ohio State University’s Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives and now my story is available for viewing on its website. Any person may make a contribution at any time and researchers (undergraduate, graduate, post-graduate) will make use of them. From Cynthia. BK]

category: Gaming, Life, Literacy, Pedagogy, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics, Technology    

New York Museum Opens National Center for the History of Electronic Games (Gamasutra)

The new National Center for the History of Electronic Games houses a 15,000-item collection — one of the largest in the United States, it claims — including some 10,000 games as well as every major system released since the Magnavox Odyssey, recognized as the first video game console. –Chris Remo

category: Gaming, Pedagogy, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics, Technology    

Microsoft to see if shoot-em-up games can enhance education (El Paso Times)

Microsoft has put up $1.5 million to start The Games for Learning Institute, a joint venture with New York University and other colleges. The goal of the research is to see whether video games — and not just software specifically designed to be educational — can draw students into math, science and technology-based programs. The institute has begun lining up middle school students to study. –Dave Kolpack

[Sources such as Linda Burch, chief program and strategy officer for Common Sense Media, claims that “There isn’t a lot of good research out there,” referring to shooter games. However, James Paul Gee’s What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and LIteracy is a book-length examination of the first-person-shooter video game genre, recently revised and updated in a new edition. BK]

category: Gaming, Literacy, Pedagogy, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics, Technology    

Now Playing (Discourse Chronicle)

[I realized again that much time passed since my last regular updates, so I thought I might share a few games keeping me busy. I am writing on Rock Band, Final Fantasy VII, and hopefully Street Fighter IV this semester. BK]

Rock Band

Final Fantasy VII

Street Fighter IV

category: Gaming, Life, Literacy, Pedagogy, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics, Technology    

Thomas R. Watson Conference 2008 (Discourse Chronicle)

[No blog this week. I am presenting a paper in Louisville, Kentucky at the biennial Thomas R. Watson conference. BK]

category: Gaming, Life, Pedagogy, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics, Technology    

Japanese Schoolgirl Watch: Nintendo DS as Life Coach (Wired)

Female Power Emergency Up! DS promises to “Change your destiny in three months!” by measuring skills in love, fashion, beauty, diet, and fortune-telling(?!), then challenging girls to increase their scores. –Brian Ashcroft

[Nintendo’s DS Lite offers numerous video games, but as a whole, Nintendo seems to be successfully expanding a gaming audience and I suspect offering educational titles is a culprit. However, I never imagined using Nintendo DS titles for life coaching purposes for women or men. Japan is offering other titles dealing with improving social etiquette (My Happy Manner Book), simulating psychiatrist sessions (Mainichi Kokorobics DS Therapy), and demonstrating Yoga workouts (Yoga Anywhere). BK]

category: Gaming, Pedagogy, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics, Technology    

Goodbye Comics, Hello Games (Discourse Chronicle)

[As a second-year PhD student in the Rhetoric and Writing Program at BGSU, my cohort is currently selecting committee chairs for our Prelim exams, which means we are beginning to develop potential dissertation topics. For many years, I imagined pursuing a dissertation arguing that modern comic book crossovers are remediated Greek myths reproduced in a multimodal format and understanding how that changes our literacy practices, but after six years and much deliberation with professors and soul-searching…I am leaving comics behind.

During my coursework as a first-year PhD student, I felt if I wanted to write a dissertation using comics, then I should distance myself from that subject as evidence that I am about more than Rhetoric, Composition, and Comics. Professors confirmed my feeling and I began pursuing papers addressing possibilities using video games and I received a much more positive response, but other signs also contributed to my decision:

  • I received encouragement from Cynthia Selfe (a living legend rhetoric and composition professor) at last year’s CCCC conference about a paper I plan on submitting to Computers and Composition.
  • Watson and CCCC (two major league conferences for rhetoric and composition scholars) accepted proposals from me about video games and composition.
  • I cannot imagine new project possibilities for comics beyond the dissertation.
  • I realized that I want my professional identity to be a teacher-scholar and not a scholar-teacher.
  • Video games are far less personal than comics to me.

Another major reason I am happy and comfortable with leaving comics behind is my composition students. I always love teaching students about writing well and I constantly try incorporating their literacies into my pedagogy. As a younger self, I struggled with writing well, but I loved doing it and that love predates other interests I hold. Now I am pursuing arguments showing how students improve writing through gaming and reading comics becomes a favorite hobby again. BK]

category: Comics, Gaming, Life, Pedagogy, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics, Technology    

Acceptance [CCCC 2009] (Discourse Chronicle)

With pleasure, we invite you to participate in the 60th annual Convention of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, which will be held in San Francisco, March 11-14, 2009. We are following the CCCC policy of allowing only one speaking role in the peer-reviewed concurrent sessions in order to maximize the participation of the CCCC membership.

[I submitted a proposal about how playing video games such as Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin on the Nintendo DS will result in better composition students if we incorporate game elements into our lessons about writing. BK]

category: Gaming, Life, Pedagogy, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics, Technology    

GLS – Beyond Games and the Future of Learning (Brainy Gamer)

Gee clearly situates video games within an overall theory of learning and literacy with genuine power to transform students and equip them to address complex problems. If passion communities could be formed to solve real-world problems like hunger and environmental degradation, Gee believes we would be much better equipped to face these issues head-on. The challenge, according to Gee, isn’t just about teaching our kids; it’s about ensuring they have a viable world to live in. –Michael Abbott

[From Elizabeth. BK]

category: Gaming, Pedagogy, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics, Technology    

Gaming helps students hone 21st-century skills (eSchool News)

Studies of the brain have pointed to data suggesting that repeated exposure to video games reinforces the ability to create mental maps, inductive discovery such as formulating hypotheses, and the ability to focus on several things at once and respond faster to unexpected stimuli. –Laura Devaney

[From Elizabeth. The article focuses on possibilities with Second Life in a classroom.]

category: Gaming, Pedagogy, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics, Technology    

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