 "Target a few gaming strategies, include traditional outcomes and do not be afraid of initial failure."
~Paul Waelchli,
St. Norbert College
De Pere, WI
“I found the activity to be helpful in showing the various ways to access
articles but more importantly it got everyone involved which is FAR AND AWAY
more interesting than being lectured to.”
~student, University of Dubuque | |
Information Literacy Instruction Using Gaming Strategies
University of Dubuque, Dubuque, IA
To integrate gaming strategies into information literacy instruction at the University of Dubuque, librarians used a combination of student feedback from a pilot and existing literature by Van Eck, Gee, and Prensky.
Running the Session
In the Introduction to Music information literacy session, the instruction session contained an open-ended website evaluation for an Introduction to Music course. Students examined and compared information from various sources to evaluate, questioning the source of the data, and maintaining a log of research activities. A search log and class website evaluation worksheet assessed the students’ learning.
In the Research and Writing information literacy session, students applied the gaming strategies of inquiry, open ended exploration, context bridging, scaffolding, and personalization. The students in the course were grouped and given a research question to find a source within the given resource. When asked, the students explained the search choices they made and provided examples that met the rubric. The librarians used a rubric to assess the students’ discussion of how they reached their research source.
Literacy Connections
The exercise of reading resources to locate a source is literacy based. Students gained information literacy skills such as evaluating information and questioning the source of the data. The students defined their information need from the assignment, evaluated the use of potential sources, and reflected upon the results.
Refinement of searches was required based on the conclusions students reached through their evaluation process. They employed peer communication throughout and maintained a log of research activities. Both the peer communication and logs created opportunities for discussions that integrating their experiences with their existing knowledge.
Impact
Assessment tools for both sessions included worksheets, class presentations, Turning Point, student response software, questions, comments and reflections on the course blog about the activities, informal classroom discussion, and related course assignments.
Students refreshed skills, discovered new resources, and expressed appreciation for the interesting, non-lecture format.
Gaming Strategies to Incorporate into Lessons
Games work with these strategies because games do it all at once. Bring several elements in the experience, not just one.
- Safe to Fail
- Place the student in an unfamiliar location they have to work their way out of to create "safe to fail" environments.
- Motivation
- Build excitement within class through activities that are "pleasantly frustrating."
- Just in Time Learning
- Stop frontloading instruction. Drop canned searches and provide relevant topics. Use teachable moments.
- Incorporate Interactivity
- Vote on what to cover next. All slides can be provided later, let audience needs direct the session.
- Teamwork
- Allow students to collaborate in groups.
- Customize
- Encourage students to create personal identity. Make individual adjustments to address personal learning styles.
- Leveling Up
- Build on past skills, like in Super Mario Brothers. Emulate a practice/production cycle.
- Show Their Expertise
- Start with a goal -- call it a challenge! Ask them to show how they got there, & share that info
- Feedback
- Create continuous feedback, like in Guitar Hero. Monitored practice is connected to feedback loop.
- Update/Expand
- Continually add new content, like in World of Warcraft, to bring people back to the library through their academic career.
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Resources
For more information, please contact Paul Waelchli at researchquest@gmail.com.
ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education
Handout: The student is the player. The game is our classroom.
This handout/worksheet from a GLLS08 session covers the various gaming strategies that can be incorporated into your information literacy sessions.
Music Lesson Plan
Intro to Music Worksheet
Gaming Strategy Review Rubric
Evaluation from sessions
Prensky, Mark. Digital Game-Based Learning. McGraw Hill, 2004.
Application of videogames and multimedia productivy softwares to education.
Gee, James Paul. What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. Palgrave McMillan, 2003.
Examples of learning principles gleaned from playing videogames.
Van Eck."Digital Game Based Learning." EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 41, no. 2 (March/April 2006): 16–30. connect.educause.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Review/DigitalGameBasedLearningI/40614. January 15, 2009.
Discusses why digital game-based learning is effective and engaging, and how to implement it with commercial games in a university setting.
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