Hi Everyone,
Video
games absorb the participant in ways that no lecture or Power Point
presentation can. When learners have opportunities to participate in learning
challenges at their individualized achievable challenge level, their brains
invest more effort to the task and are more responsive to feedback (Willis, J.,
2011). I have previously studied how compulsive gamblers are actually addicted
to the dopamine released during play (www.helpguide.org/harvard/addiction).
What makes video games so desirable for the learner is the dopamine release
comes each time the game provides feedback that the player's actions or
responses are correct (Willis, J., 2011).
I have been having difficulty
trying to envision how a video game could be used in the teaching of motor
vehicle technicians. At work today I showed some of my colleagues some of the
video games in the resources of this week in hope that they could give me some
suggestions. A friend of mine teaches a business management course to
technicians, how to operate a repair service essentially. He was taken with the
game Spent,
which relates to the purchases and expenditures of an unemployed, single
parent. It illustrates how someone can become homeless by forcing the player to
deal with one sort of unpleasantry after another, the job you get doesn’t pay
enough, one of your parents dies or the cat is ill and you have no money to
take it to the veterinarian. Next thing you know, a chain of events sends things
spiraling out of control (www.gamesforchange.org). My colleague suggested the
creation of a similar game which instead dealt with the financial dealings of a
small auto repair service. I don’t teach management though and I know of no
applicable game which exists.
My
friend, whose cubicle is beside mine, showed me a Caterpillar CD from about 10
years ago. At the end of each section there are several multiple choice
questions which the viewer must answer correctly before proceeding with the
next section. That is pretty standard but what I really liked was a side view
of a Cat ACCERT engine on which the viewer had to locate components from a list
onto the schematic with the mouse. I’m starting to envision how the teaching of
automotive theory could utilize games. Someone suggested having a game in which
the student is given an engine problem and then they have to put a diagnostic
sequence in order using the mouse. For example usually checking the quality of
the fuel would come first, followed by checking supply fuel pressure and so on.
Unfortunately, I am not aware of any such games which currently exist and they
would have to be product specific in order to be valid.
Teaching
on vehicle applications through games would be almost impossible. I know that
in the medical field there are simulators which use 3D virtual environments,
allowing students to perform surgeries through augmented reality (Bonk, C. J., 2009, p.
276). The costs associated with the equipment and computational power required
for these applications have made them largely prohibitive in mainstream
settings (Dalgarno, B. & Lee, M. 2010, p.11) I doubt whether or not that
they would be developed for the automotive industry. If a surgeon makes a
mistake the consequences can be deadly, for a motor vehicle technician, just
costly. I think that apprentices will be working on actual vehicles for some
time into the future.
There
is another on line game which I like, which has little to do with automotive
training but does hold potential for adult learning. The game is Mathletics,
which was introduced to me by my daughter. It is not a free site but the school
she goes to covers the subscription so she can use it at home and at school.
The game covers mathematics levels up to grade 12. The student selects the
grade, the mathematics topic and then must answer a series of questions within
a fixed time period. The student competes with other students from around the world
who are synchronously completing the same section. In many games of this style,
when a student repeats a section a second time, all the questions are the same,
so they are in fact just memorizing the correct answers, with mathletics, every
time it all new questions. For an adult learner, who like me has forgotten a
great deal of high school math, it is a great review.
References
Bonk, C. J. (2009). The world is open: How web technology
is revolutionizing education. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Dalgarno, B. & Lee, M. (2010). What are the learning affordances of 3D virtual environments.
British
journal of educational technology. V. 41, N. 1
Willis, J. (2011, April
14). A neurologist makes the case for the video game model as a learning
tool
[Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/video-games-learning-student-engagement-judy-willis
www.mathletics.ca/
