The Witness: Motivation and Purpose

Where video games and education come together in a variety of topics.
Continue reading “Press Start: Quest-lines & Assignments in a Composition Class”
During the fall 2015 semester, I taught four composition courses at a local university. I decided to focus on discourse communities for one major writing assignment in my two sophomore-level courses. In particular, I discussed a popular livestreaming website, Twitch (www.twitch.tv), as my primary example for this assignment.Before diving too deeply into my example and its application in class, I would like to define/describe two … Continue reading Press Start: Twitch as a Discourse Community
For this post I have decided to try my hand at tackling an issue that has no clear answer and that is often hotly contested. I am going to be discussing whether or not video games have “literary” value in a traditional sense. Now I have a BA in English (aka literature) and an MA in Literature and Rhetoric/Composition. So I will approach this with … Continue reading Press Start: Video Games and “Literary” Value
Despite being associated with such words as “aggression,” “violence,” and “sexism,” video games have found their way into elementary, secondary, and even college classrooms (for many good reasons). Some games are certainly deserving of criticism, and this is one reason why educators should carefully select the games they use with students. Still, many ask questions relating to the “why?” factor. Why play video games? This question can be branched … Continue reading Press Start: Playing Video Games to Learn