It's Game Day (in Canvas): Using Commercial Video Games in Higher Ed

beth_ritter-gut
Community Novice
13
2079

Greetings, fellow Canvas Designers!

I have been a lurker here for quite a few years, but am trying to participate more in the community.  I am wondering if anyone else is using commercial video games (Fallout, Mass Effects, GTA, etc.) to teach, and, if so, are you able to do it within Canvas?

 I use video games to teach literature, as I truly believe that video games are a form of literature (and as equally valid as poetry, drama, short stories, essays, et al).  Research indicates that young men do not read, but clearly they didn't include video game manuals in that study!  I have found that pairing commercial games with canonical content provides substantial scaffolding for students with low reading interest.

Dante

For example...

When I taught FT (before my new life as an admin), I taught mostly classical literature and technical writing.  Dante's Inferno was one of the texts covered, and students would become experts on a level in the poem and then would play that "similar" level in the XBox game (or play with a student worker if not a gamer). The students would compare and contrast the game and write an essay discussing their findings.  The essay was what was graded - not the game play.

I am interested in collaborating with others interested in using this approach and then figuring out a way to leverage Canvas to deliver the content to students and to the OER community.

13 Comments
scottdennis
Instructure
Instructure

Hi  @beth_ritter-gut ‌,

Thank you for posting this here in the community.  I found our related brief conversation at Instructurecon highly interesting and I'm looking forward to what thoughts others might share as well.

I very much agree that the stories and sub-plots in video game worlds absolutely can constitute a form of literature.  A world like one finds in Fallout 4, for example, that took many years of development time contains a rich tapestry of individual and group stories told by non-player characters and supporting evidence such as books, notes, and video and audio recordings.  A lot of the time I am amazed at some of these currents and themes that play out and find them more fun than sometimes than the actual game play.  As an example, here is a blog post that talks about the theme of institutional racism (a theme touched on with every major social group in the game I would argue).  What students have to say about this sort of issue in relation to their own game play and other materials covered in a course would, I would think, be fascinating to read.

Over the years I have seen various conference presentations and materials about people using Canvas as a platform for gamifying learning.that Gerol Petruzella delivered in 2014.  I know there is an integration for Minecraft (open source Canvas only, maybe).  But, I'm very much hoping to hear if other people are using video games in conjunction with course activities or maybe even integrated into the LMS.

G_Petruzella
Community Champion

Hi  @beth_ritter-gut  - welcome, welcome! (Love the drop-cap btw.) Oh myyy, I think we have some things in common - my training was in classical languages, literature and philosophy, and I too am an advocate for games as literature. (The Inferno is structurally such a great level-based progression - your approach sounds fascinating and fun!)

The tl;dr of the presentation (the one that  @scottdennis ‌ mentions above): my re-working a 'typical' intro philosophy course into a gamified ARG in Canvas. I've taught it 3 times so far, and it's been a great experience each time. It's an original game, so not quite directly what you're inquiring about, but at least tangential.

 @scottdennis  is quite right: the complex narratives and world-building found in the best game canon and communities unquestionably constitute literature. I could go on, but I think I'd be "preaching to the choir"...

In terms of functional applications, a few off the top:

  • Canvas's general media-friendliness translates well to embedded interactive content, both as presented on the instructor side and as shareable from students (narrated playthroughs, Twitch streams, etc.).
  • The access logic of Modules + Mastery Paths could make for some great response-based, choose-your-own-adventure-style experiences.
  • You can even hack an image to be a 'hotspot' clickable map, if you don't mind getting your hands dirty with HTML. 🙂
  • Create an 'NPC' user in your Canvas course (in my course, it was Del the Oracle, who was maintained by a TA and gave helpful but cryptic replies to student questions in Discussions :).

I hope you get a bunch more replies here! There's a Group within the Canvas Community for all things game-related; let me see if I can get somebody to associate this post with that Group, so we can ping some folks with an especial interest.

Oh and by the way,  @beth_ritter-gut - Welcome ‌! 🙂

scottdennis
Instructure
Instructure
kmeeusen
Community Champion

Hi  @beth_ritter-gut ‌

Love what you are doing!

You have to meet the students where they are in order to take them some place else. Many years ago I tutored a functionally illiterate teenager using comic books. At that time, that was the only place he was willing to play. He is now in his mid 40s and you never see him without a book in his hands.

I will enjoy following the discussion in here.

Kelley

beth_ritter-gut
Community Novice

Thank you so much Gerol!  I believe we met in Co, as I have your card right here 🙂

I don't really know how to use Mastery Paths yet, but that does sound like a great approach.  I do write HTML, so that had been the thought for mapping out a Canvas Page (or embeddubg something like Glogster or ThingLink).  I went to the Delphinium presentation at the conference, and I think they might be a good resource to help generate game-like functionality.  

Would anyone be interested in working on a game (something simple like Oregon Trail) within Canvas to maybe play test at next year's CanvasCon?

scottdennis
Instructure
Instructure

I have so many questions about how your students relate to the games they play and papers they write in the context of their education.  I know that isn't really the focus of this discussion so would it be better to start another discussion or just send you a DM?

Stef_retired
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni

I wanted to make sure everyone sees the question  @beth_ritter-gut ‌ has posted to the Gamification‌ group about collaborating on building an Oregon Trail-like game using Canvas as the platform: Any Game Designers? 

beth_ritter-gut
Community Novice

I think it is ok to stay here for the discussion.

In composition, we teaching the various modes of writing, and compare/contrast is one of them.  Historically, we might assign "republicans/democrats" or "Pepsi/Coke" kinds of topics.  I wanted to find something that would spark interest in non-readers to help them think critically about a topic they might not really care about but could "come to" care about.  As a text, Dante's Inferno is a little inaccessible to a modern urban young adult.  None of the references mean anything.  But, the concept of "hell" and the concept of "levels of sin" is compelling when you adjust the topics to famous people living today, gangs, politicians, etc.

I have often paired the Inferno text with Gloria Naylor's novel, Linden Hills.  So the students read the Inferno, read Linden, and play the game.  They have compared/contrasted the game to the original poem and have also written cause/effect papers on how the poem impacts the writing of Linden Hills.

In almost every case, students were really interested in making the connections.  I used a web version of the Inferno.  We read the poem first and did activities on reorganizing how we perceived "sin" in our lives.  So, we did a lot with the poem first.

Then students played the game.  I had student workers play the game forward for me to where I wanted students to start in class (each team started at their chosen "thematic" level).  In teams of 2 (one player, one recorder), the students were to journal everything they saw, did, heard, experienced, etc. in the game.  They did two class periods of this "lab" (observation/experience).  They could come to my lab any time before or after class to play, as well.  They could also play the game at home (I had some extra lender copies).

They then used their notes to compare it to the level they had chosen in the poem. First, they made a chart.  Then they wrote an outline.  Then they composed the first draft of the essay.

scottdennis
Instructure
Instructure

Hey Beth,

This is very cool.  I can see where having to play a game or observe a player and give input to decisions, etc and then document the experience would be a great exercise in and of itself.  Then doing the comparison to Inferno would be apply their personal experiences in the compare and contrast experience.  

While playing games like Fallout, players often face moral dilemmas and must make difficult choices.  I wonder the possibilities in a philosophy or ethics related course would be?

kristian_still
Community Novice

Evening, like you, I see games are a rich literary experience. I was using Interactive Fiction and games to inspire writiing.

With the kind support of Remedy - I created a writing class on Alan Wake - Search Results for “alan wake” – KristianStill . Just to be clear, I was using gaming and games experience to inspire writing and not gamification. Other units around Myst and Metro 2023 http://www.kristianstill.co.uk/wordpress/2012/12/02/dystopian-english/

A second investigation was on 3d gamelab. Again using Alan Wake. Very much learning and gamification. Still, a long way from Serious Games.

IMHO I have found the bastardisation of LMS / platforms fraught and challenging, though that does not mean it should not be attempted. Good luck.

beth_ritter-gut
Community Novice

I've used Fallout 3, Dante's Inferno, Mass Effects 3, GTA and Assassin's Creed (and way back UnReal).    I combine it up with literature, so there is no gamification either.  That is a whole different horse show.

kristian_still
Community Novice

Indeed it is.

I am not a gamer. I think it took me far too long to complete Alan Wake.

The team at Remedy were AMAZING. They shared images, assets, script,music and more. So the literature the actual script.

We did a lot of writing about what they could see (the scenary and set of the game), their experiences of playing as well as more general reviews.

The whole dystopian experience, Fallout 3 was recommended. We also took heart from Will Smith.

Good to connect!

beth_ritter-gut
Community Novice

Very very cool!!!