Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure CH4.1
Carl E. Creasman Jr.
I feel very strongly that gaming is now the
linga franca
for young America. In
2005, I first attempted to use gaming techniques within a EUH 2000 (Western
Civilization to 1650) course. As a lifelong gamer, I agreed with Dr. James Paul
Gee that the gaming industry has a lot to teach educators. The experiment was a
success, though the challenges to implementation for the typical college class-
room led to only a few other attempts. During the same five years, I also
incorporated an immersive role-playing activity for one assessment within my
EUH 2001 (Western Civilization 1650 to present) course: role-playing the
Congress of Vienna. Another positive experience, being simpler to incorporate,
I have continued using this learning method in that course.
For my Early American History Course (AMH 2010), which goes through the
Civil War to 1877, I undertook an action research project to determine if
incorporating techniques from the popular world of gaming (particularly
MMOPRGs [Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games] such as
World of Warcraft, Everquest, Eve,
or
City of Heroes
) would increase student
engagement, performance, and retention. The main focus was really engagement
and then connecting an improvement with engagement to the other two foci.
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