Better Learning through Gaming?

From the April 2006 Issue of InFocus

A screen shot of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro's Econ 100, which delivers the undergraduate Economics 201 course through a video game. Students guide an alien race through the establishment of a new society, playing the game through a Web browser.

Photo courtesy of University of UNCG.

Economics can be a daunting—if not dry—subject matter to an undergraduate student. From an educator's perspective, lower level courses also lend themselves to memorization and regurgitation, with little application or learning retention. The Division of Continual Learning at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro is working on an extremely innovative delivery method that promises to address both problems.

Next fall, UNCG will offer its Economics 201 course for the first time as Econ100—in the form of an online video game. It will become only the second course offered entirely through this experimental delivery method, with no face-to-face interaction, and no textbook. Instead, a student enrolled in the course will become the virtual leader of a group of aliens crash-landed on a post-Apocalyptic Earth, forced to create a society complete with a form of government and a sustainable economic engine. Students will play the game—which consists of all original artwork, sound effects and musical scores, and a 3-D look and feel—through a Web browser.

"We decided to deliver it as a game for engagement and application," says Robert Brown, Dean of the Division of Continual Learning. "Seventy-five percent of college students play games—they leave their lectures and go back to their residence halls and play them—so why not take this opportunity to use a form of delivery that we know students are already using? One of the problems with economics is students learn the terminology and principals, but they don’t apply them. Here, they have to use that knowledge, and this increases not only comprehension, but retention."

Overcoming Gaming's Stigma

Video gaming has grown into a $10 billion-a-year industry domestically, trailing only the film and music industries and steadily trimming the gap. Yet according to Scott Hutchinson, Continuing Education Program Specialist in Fine Arts at UCLA Extension, game playing has thus far been viewed by institutions—and parents—primarily as an entertainment form. With violent and explicit content driving sales to console game players, some of the most popular video games generate the most negative press. Generally, health experts shun game playing in favor of any type of physical activity. But Hutchinson says gaming does hold educational value.

"The wonderful thing about game technology, and about what has been happening over the past 10 years, is that a tremendous amount of money has been poured into the development of these games, many of which a lot of us do not like," he says. "But the technology that is driving this is also driving some true innovations that are being moved into ancillary areas that might now be considered game design. The road has been paved by these console games."

At UCLA, Hutchinson and his colleagues have been utilizing video games in conjunction with education in a variety of ways, through a campus-wide initiative to integrate gaming principles into different departments. Approaches vary from seeking out existing games with components that translate to the classroom (of which Hutchinson says there are, to the surprise of some, quite a few), to building games from scratch or modifying existing games through IT resources, to actually developing games in conjunction with professional game designers.

"The question is whether the learning takes place in a strategic context," he says. "Slides, or a podcast, are probably not the right context to teach you how to land a 747. A flight simulator is much more meaningful."

At Carnegie Mellon University, for example, the Entertainment Technology Center in conjunction with the Fire Department of New York last summer developed "Hazmat: Hotzone," a simulation that uses video game technology to train first responders how to respond to hazardous materials emergencies. The game, like the ones utilized at UCLA, augments existing faceto-face teaching and other methods of instruction. Carnegie Mellon last fall released another game, "PeaceMaker," that drew praise for how it teaches students, through assuming the role of the Palestinian president or Israeli prime minister, to maintain peace in a volatile region.

Delivery Method Carries Risk

Hutchinson cautions that because educators and the public have initially resisted games as an educational tool, there is a general lack of research in the area, and educators must be careful before leaping into a new technology that can be used improperly. "How is it going to be interesting" he asks, "and not the same thing as when video was introduced in the 70s and was not used properly, or when courses used Edugames that didn’t match up with what was going on in the classroom?"

The costs also can be steep upon entry. At UNCG, where the ECON100 online game constitutes the entirety of the eight-week, threecredit course, some 45 people including nine fulltime employees have been working on the project since its inception less than a year ago. Costs have already reached into the six-figure range with approximately 35 percent of the work complete, with the funding coming entirely out of the Division of Continual Learning’s budget.

Still, Dean Brown notes that once the game launches, opportunities to recoup the initial investment will present themselves. While the course is expected to draw about 50 students next fall, UNCG already plans to extend it to other institutions. And publishers have shown interest in using the game to augment their own texts.

The course already exists as a face-to-face microeconomics class, so only the delivery method is being changed. Assessment is built into the game, which grades players as they make their way through three quests. "The risk is really being taken by the Division of Continual Learning, which is underwriting the whole thing," says Brown.

As for concerns that adult learners may be slower to embrace the gaming format, a tutorial of sorts is used during the early stages of the game. "Students, like their first day in any class, have to become familiar with the environment, so that’s built into the first quest," says Scott Brewster, Director of Online Development and Support at UNCG. "We know there will be adult students who may not be game players, so they can use that stage to become comfortable."

—Doug Davala