Complexity Matters
In 2001, Marc Prensky titled his ground-breaking article, “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants,” and here he defined the gap that rested between the majority of teachers and the Net Generation students pouring into the university, demanding a more relevant learning environment. I find the dichotomy revealing and thought-provoking.
I heard Prensky speak when the
Center for Media & Community held a live webcast event on July 27, 2005 entitled "Kids, Video Games & the Classroom.” One of the key points Prensky made during his presentation was the profound difference between mini-games (the kind with which digital immigrants such as myself are familiar) and complex games which embody the kind of learning environment he maintains we should be crafting for today’s students.
The PowerPoints were difficult to find so I pulled an article by Prensky called
“Complexity Matters.” Digital immigrants have a huge blind spot when it comes to how we perceive games – that is, as trivial and having no place in formal education.
The other segment of the “games” industry, and the segment wherein the magic rests, offer complex games. These typically require “tens of hours to concentrated attention to master” and can be described as:
- Creative
- Collaborative
- Challenging
- Competitive
As someone who failed at Myst repeatedly and finally gave up, self-esteem damaged by the attempt, I am intrigued by his defense of these games and his insistence that they must become “a key educational tool for today’s students and for kids in the future.”
Ideas worth engaging.
Educause recently held an online professional development event with the topic of “Narrowcasting 101: Using Blogs, Podcasts, and Videoblogs in Higher Education.”
Nick Noakes, one of the presenters (and a good friend of mine) made an interesting comment that I’d like to expand with regard to Podcasting itself. He noted that students arrive at the university with “habits of practice” deeply embedded in their daily lives. The ubiquitous cell phone attached to the ear; the telltale tangle of white cables that indicates an iPod concealed somewhere on the person. Instant Messaging might be another example; text-messaging with one’s cell phone.
But he noted also that these habits of practice do not include critical thinking or reflection, two key skills essential to success in the information age (weary cliché). Those of us responsible for educating students or for supporting the faculty who work directly with students in the classroom, both virtual and physical, might do well to take this distinction to heart.
I’m a dedicated listener to podcasts of all kinds. I believe that we can offer istructors strategies with which they can engage their students and shift them from habits of practice to habits of mind which will lead to greatness, or at least a rise above mediocrity.
