Unlocking New Realms: The Educational Power of Video Games
UMD's adventurous class where video games become learning tools, challenging students to explore immersive experiences. Discover more!
An intriguing educational experiment at the University of Maryland has students seeing video games in an entirely new light. In the College of Information’s course titled “Games as Emergent Experiences,” traditional gaming consoles like PS5 and Switch are central to the curriculum. Imagine a class where exploration in digital realms isn’t just allowed—it’s encouraged.
A Revolutionary Approach
The course led by Assistant Professor Caro Williams-Pierce ingeniously connects play and learning, challenging the norm. “If you’re playing, you’re learning something,” she says, pushing students to delve into the immersive aspects of game design. From studying character depth and musical scores to aesthetics, students earn their “play” by undertaking reading and video quests before diving into the gaming world themselves.
Hands-On Lessons with Real-World Impact
One of the innovative strategies involves testing theories through in-person games. Take Terps who recently adopted roles in a fictional game to understand dynamics like availability and financial constraints in decision-making. Such hands-on experiences give a firsthand look into game mechanisms that define our attachment to virtual characters. As stated in Maryland Today, these interactive sessions redefine the concept of engagement and learning.
Feedback and Failure: Lessons from the Digital World
The class has explored various facets of gameplay, such as how failure prompts improvement. Could tweaking a horror game’s soundtrack change its impact as in “Five Nights at Freddy’s”? How does failure in games encourage perseverance, reminiscent of the trials faced in puzzle game “Unravel”? Students like Shahrukh Gizabi ’24, discovering new gaming dimensions, describe these learnings as eye-opening, a testament to the course’s boundary-pushing nature.
The Expanding Canvas of Education
Williams-Pierce’s innovative methods are paving the way for broader educational applications. With aspirations fueled by a Teaching Innovation Grant, she aims to create an online platform for faculty to employ the read-watch-play model in diverse subjects. Whether dissecting complex mathematics or exploring scientific phenomena, this engaging approach champions the idea of play as an effective educational tool.
Beyond Traditional Learning
This bold experiment attests to the undeniable synergy between gaming and pedagogy. The unique class not only mirrors how UMD reimagines learning but inspires educators globally to rethink their approaches to teaching. The course’s success story underlines a powerful narrative: immersing oneself in the world of games can unlock profound educational insights, fundamentally altering how we perceive learning itself.
Discover more about how the University of Maryland is transforming education by embracing innovative teaching methods and exploring the rich potential of play in academia.
