Collected Item: “It’s Dangerous to Learn Alone – Play This: Video Games in Higher Education, Particularly in the Composition Classroom”
First Name
Joy
Last Name
Sterrantino
Department
English
Title of scholarly or creative work
It’s Dangerous to Learn Alone – Play This: Video Games in Higher Education, Particularly in the Composition Classroom
Please add the abstract if submitting a scholarly work, or detailed description if submitting a creative work.
When people think of educational games, they often just think of ones geared towards kids: these might
include spelling and vocabulary games like Scribblenauts, creative games such as Minecraft, as well as historical
games such as Carmen [Sandiego]’s Ancient Caper, but according to the Entertainment Software Association
in 2019, 65% of adults play video games (almost half of which are female), the average gamer is 33 years old,
and 63% of all gamers are playing with others at least one hour a week (“Essential Facts” 4, 5, 8). This means
that the majority of the population plays video games of one type or another. Video games are part of most
people’s discourse today, so it is odd that they are virtually ignored as a pedagogy once students enter middle
or high school, and they certainly are not considered as a viable learning method in college. However, since
games may be the key to how the majority of people of all ages learn best, it is a tool worth utilizing in higher
education. I believe in particularly stressful classes, such as freshman composition, gamifying the classes
can help reduce student stress and help achievement by couching complex and unfamiliar ideas in a fun and
familiar structure.
Thus, dialect is important because we often get caught up in “proper dialects,” academic language and in this
case, traditional academic formats. And while these are important to learn, students can learn them better
when working by adapting an already-effective language to new and often intimidating information. Gaming
has been proven to be one of the most effective methods of motivation and feedback to exist which is exactly
what students need.
include spelling and vocabulary games like Scribblenauts, creative games such as Minecraft, as well as historical
games such as Carmen [Sandiego]’s Ancient Caper, but according to the Entertainment Software Association
in 2019, 65% of adults play video games (almost half of which are female), the average gamer is 33 years old,
and 63% of all gamers are playing with others at least one hour a week (“Essential Facts” 4, 5, 8). This means
that the majority of the population plays video games of one type or another. Video games are part of most
people’s discourse today, so it is odd that they are virtually ignored as a pedagogy once students enter middle
or high school, and they certainly are not considered as a viable learning method in college. However, since
games may be the key to how the majority of people of all ages learn best, it is a tool worth utilizing in higher
education. I believe in particularly stressful classes, such as freshman composition, gamifying the classes
can help reduce student stress and help achievement by couching complex and unfamiliar ideas in a fun and
familiar structure.
Thus, dialect is important because we often get caught up in “proper dialects,” academic language and in this
case, traditional academic formats. And while these are important to learn, students can learn them better
when working by adapting an already-effective language to new and often intimidating information. Gaming
has been proven to be one of the most effective methods of motivation and feedback to exist which is exactly
what students need.
Primary Author or Creator
Sterrantino, Joy
Citation (if applicable)
“It's Dangerous to Learn Alone; Play This: Video Games in the Higher Education, particularlyin the Composition Classroom”, Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture andPedagogy, Jun 2021,http://journaldialogue.org/issues/v8-issue-3/its-dangerous-to-learn-alone-play-this-video-gam es-in-higher-education-particularly-in-the-composition-classroom/
Access rights
Creative Commons license
Type of item
Scholarship
Publisher (if applicable)
Southwest Popular/American Culture Association
Web Link or DOI to work (if available)
http://journaldialogue.org/issues/v8-issue-3/its-dangerous-to-learn-alone-play-this-video-games-in-higher-education-particularly-in-the-composition-classroom