Category: Education and Video Games

Where video games and education come together in a variety of topics.

Education and Video Games, Final Thoughts/Game Critique, Video Games

The Witness: Motivation and Purpose

The Witness was both an infuriating and relaxing experience for me (mostly the former). It has been touted as a masterpiece and a revolutionary video game. While I offer some critique of The Witness as a video game, the majority of what follows will be an inquiry into the aspects of learning and motivation in The Witness. This post is rather lengthy because of my analysis and approach. Warning: some spoilers ahead.e51551_f17420f4b7454fae9221f8a28cc347c1 Continue reading “The Witness: Motivation and Purpose”
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Education and Video Games, Press Start Series

Press Start: Twitch as a Discourse Community

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

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Education and Video Games, Press Start Series

Press Start: Video Games and “Literary” Value

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

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Education and Video Games, Press Start Series

Press Start: Video Games in the Composition Classroom

write-593333_1920What do video games have to offer writers? This is an important question that educators should ask when considering the implementation of video games as texts in the composition classroom. While the study of classic literature is a bit passe in writing classes, a wide variety of texts are regularly studied to instruct students regarding sound composing practices. Many composition approaches and pedagogies place an emphasis on voice, self expression, process, audience, purpose, genre, and collaboration (conferencing, peer review, workshopping, etc.). Continue reading “Press Start: Video Games in the Composition Classroom”
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Education and Video Games, Press Start Series

Press Start: Playing Video Games to Learn

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

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