Hi William, it very much has been a long time since I've written anything here. I totally can see how competitive gaming environments are great examples of learning environments. I actually happen to think that chess, with vast online communities coupled with computer engines that can help teach and drive learning are great examples of really solid ways in which computers can offer great learning environments. Both my kids like chess, the elder plays a bit online and has access to this opportunity. I have really found it useful over the last year as I have got better at chess and don't think I would have been able to progress as much without online chess.
I think you are right, games are a great learning resource, and there are lots of resources for young people to access learning environments online, there should definitely be more research into games as vehicles for learning.
It's nice to see another post from you, feels like a long time since your last one. I'll give some of my own answers to the questions raised here.
Even when I was still in high school I had some awareness of how deeply ingrained school's way of doing things was in my brain, which made me despise it even more, that I struggled to envision a way of life unlike school because all I had known was a life revolving around school.
Going off your chess examples, competitive gaming communities are a great example of learning environments. My main experience is with the fighting game genre of video games, where due to the genre's history of obtuse and obscure mechanics paired with poor tutorials, there is a strong culture in the playerbase around creating informative resources.
Recently I brought a niche indie game with me to an event where most people didn't know it, and how to teach the game was a big concern for me. I tried to explain it a bit at a time as I played with people, giving them space to play and direct them to what I thought was cool about the game.
One memorable moment was when a friend of mine commentated a match between two players like it was a big event, and it helped them learn what kind of strategies to go for. I think that may have actually been a rather clever teaching tool, because it makes playing more fun with that big tournament stage feeling, and it included relevant and useful information to act on.
And with board games there's always that sense of boredom when a rules explanation takes too long and you haven't even started yet. Even when the game is interesting you can only go through so long of a dry rules explanation. I've struggled with this for games I love that are complex, where I love the complexity but it makes teaching the game while getting to the fun part difficult.
Perhaps games of any sort can be used as ways to test different teaching methods or what methods people respond to best. Either way, it is something many games actively struggle with, they have their own teaching problem that they need to find solutions to it.
To move to a different topic, researching ancient religion and mythology is another difficult hobby of mine. One where I often become aware of a battle between how dull research material can be and my desire for the knowledge contained. But what gets me started in the first place is being deeply interested in certain figures, and being around other people with similar interests.
Having others with an interest in looking up sources is great because they can make me aware of things that then grab my interest and make me want to learn more, expanding my field of knowledge. Talking about my academic reading also makes it easier to do mentally. However with this I ended up stuck in a somewhat toxic community for a while due to it filling too valuable of a role to completely divide myself from.
I think to self direct you need to find a guiding star for your subjects, something that makes you excited, whether that's a deity you find interesting or wanting to improve your performance at a specific game. And I think that relates to the problem of charismatic archeology and the like, more people are excited by those than other things.
Hi William, it very much has been a long time since I've written anything here. I totally can see how competitive gaming environments are great examples of learning environments. I actually happen to think that chess, with vast online communities coupled with computer engines that can help teach and drive learning are great examples of really solid ways in which computers can offer great learning environments. Both my kids like chess, the elder plays a bit online and has access to this opportunity. I have really found it useful over the last year as I have got better at chess and don't think I would have been able to progress as much without online chess.
I think you are right, games are a great learning resource, and there are lots of resources for young people to access learning environments online, there should definitely be more research into games as vehicles for learning.
It's nice to see another post from you, feels like a long time since your last one. I'll give some of my own answers to the questions raised here.
Even when I was still in high school I had some awareness of how deeply ingrained school's way of doing things was in my brain, which made me despise it even more, that I struggled to envision a way of life unlike school because all I had known was a life revolving around school.
Going off your chess examples, competitive gaming communities are a great example of learning environments. My main experience is with the fighting game genre of video games, where due to the genre's history of obtuse and obscure mechanics paired with poor tutorials, there is a strong culture in the playerbase around creating informative resources.
Recently I brought a niche indie game with me to an event where most people didn't know it, and how to teach the game was a big concern for me. I tried to explain it a bit at a time as I played with people, giving them space to play and direct them to what I thought was cool about the game.
One memorable moment was when a friend of mine commentated a match between two players like it was a big event, and it helped them learn what kind of strategies to go for. I think that may have actually been a rather clever teaching tool, because it makes playing more fun with that big tournament stage feeling, and it included relevant and useful information to act on.
And with board games there's always that sense of boredom when a rules explanation takes too long and you haven't even started yet. Even when the game is interesting you can only go through so long of a dry rules explanation. I've struggled with this for games I love that are complex, where I love the complexity but it makes teaching the game while getting to the fun part difficult.
Perhaps games of any sort can be used as ways to test different teaching methods or what methods people respond to best. Either way, it is something many games actively struggle with, they have their own teaching problem that they need to find solutions to it.
To move to a different topic, researching ancient religion and mythology is another difficult hobby of mine. One where I often become aware of a battle between how dull research material can be and my desire for the knowledge contained. But what gets me started in the first place is being deeply interested in certain figures, and being around other people with similar interests.
Having others with an interest in looking up sources is great because they can make me aware of things that then grab my interest and make me want to learn more, expanding my field of knowledge. Talking about my academic reading also makes it easier to do mentally. However with this I ended up stuck in a somewhat toxic community for a while due to it filling too valuable of a role to completely divide myself from.
I think to self direct you need to find a guiding star for your subjects, something that makes you excited, whether that's a deity you find interesting or wanting to improve your performance at a specific game. And I think that relates to the problem of charismatic archeology and the like, more people are excited by those than other things.