Colby+and+Colby.+A+Pedagogy+of+Play

=Colby, Rebekah Shultz and Colby, Richard. "A Pedagogy of Play: Integrating Computer into the Writing Classroom."= //Computers and Composition// v. 25 no. 3 (2008) p. 300-12

=Abstract=

Traditional distinctions between work/play and classroom/gamespace create barriers to computer games' integration into academic settings and the writing classroom in particular. For a writing class, the work/play distinction often relegates games to an object of analysis in which students critique the games but have little invested in the gameplay itself. After examining briefly how historical changes in education created these distinctions, we offer an alternative position that places play and gamespace within the realm of the classroom. In so doing, we open up a gap for computer game theory to inform the pedagogy that can be practiced in a writing classroom. We show one such example of game theory informing writing pedagogy-the theory of emergent gaming. We then offer an example of an enacted emergent pedagogy in which students play the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft throughout the term, composing self-determined, rhetorically focused writing projects informed by play and written for other game players.

=Argument=

With game play integrated into the classroom, students are able to learn from different features of the game. In online video games, players have to work in groups, think ahead, and coordinate with other players. Video games also engage students because the students are constantly learning the rules of the game and working to meet challenges presented to them during game play. Online video games constantly evolve and provide new challenges as the player advances in the game. Therefore, there are constantly new challenges for the player to overcome and new goals for them to strive to achieve. This article also addresses the fact that, through MMPORG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game), students are able to produce writing that addresses a specific audience through web posts in game forums. When writing for these forums, students have to consider what they are writing about and who they are writing for. This helps students because it shows them how their work impacts the real world. When students are writing for audiences they are not used to writing for, they have to consider certain things that they would not have originally in an academic setting where the teacher or their fellow students are the intended audience. This helps students focus their writing. This article argues that students will benefit from the integration of video games into the classroom with writing tasks that relate to the game play and the gaming community. Students will learn from different aspects of the game world as well as from contributing to forums on gaming community websites.

=Key Passages=

“With the advent of computer-mediated-communication, classrooms can extend beyond the confines of a term with discussions and projects that initially began as an assignment persisting after the official class has ended.”

“Ideally, writing teachers encourage students to become immersed in their writing and research, but is this possible? Immersion occurs because gamers learn as they play: solving puzzles, learning strategies, and meeting the challenges of the game while staying within the constraints of the gameworld”

“A transformation of the writing classroom from workspace to gamespace allows writing pedagogy to be informed by computer game theory. Two such theories are emergent and progression gaming. In a game of progression, the player follows a series of challenges that appear in a fixed, linear fashion. For instance, many textual adventures are games of progression. In a game of emergence, however, the player explores the gamespace, creating challenges which constantly change within the context of play ( Juul, 2005 ).”

"Students should be introduced to rhetorical terminology (logos, ethos, pathos, kairos) and three traditions of inquiry (interpretative, quantitative, and qualitative), along with how each is associated with audience and purpose. The game offers many potential activities for working with logos, ethos, and pathos. For instance, on web posts appearing on the Blizzard/WOW forums, students can analyze how the community constructs ethos through listing accomplishments, pathos in how they refer to other players, and logos through using game statistics."

"Emergent pedagogy highlights play as an important part of the writing process, intertwining work and play in ways that more productively highlight areas of the rhetorical canon that have often been underutilized within composition."

"Emergent pedagogy also complicates traditional notions of audience as students will be more able to see how their writing circulates not through one culturally homogenous audience or even one distinct audience, but how their writing circulates through many divergent audiences simultaneously."

"... the process of learning through the game supported by rhetorically meaningful writing tasks will engage students in complex ways as they consider both academic and professional options for writing. The intention of such an emergent pedagogy of play when connected with the writing tasks is that students will come to consider actual audiences, approaches, and genres even when they are shaped by the games they play."

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