Tonight in the supermarket I watched a 2-year old watch the cashier work through a problem at the register. Her eyes flicked back and forth between the register keys being pushed and the cashier's face. Do think the little girl wasn't learning? Guess again. This type of learning is akin to what John Seely Brown & Paul Duguid term stolen knowledge.
This is a concept I've been trying to wrap my brain around for some time. Actually, not the concept itself, but how it relates to gaming, virtual worlds, and simulations. There is a fantastic amount of stolen knowledge that happens in a game space. Some comes from the environment, some from reflection, some from game processes, and some from other players (in online games).
How do we quantify this? How do we weigh its value? This is critical as we move forward in our investigations of these spaces most feel are only for fun, yet are truly designed for learning. Just because it's not formal, traditional learning doesn't negate it's value. Yet at the end of the day, week, or semester, we need to assess and prove learning took place. Thus the conundrum.
The immediate tendency is to slam the entire educational system, thump our fists on the table, and decree, "The system is broken! We need to fix it, and here's another example why we should do so." While I don't disagree with the need for systemic change in education, I feel there exists, just beyond my grasp, a way to tie stolen knowledge to acceptable learning practices. Anyone have a smart pill? And an aspirin. My fist hurts.
This is a concept I've been trying to wrap my brain around for some time. Actually, not the concept itself, but how it relates to gaming, virtual worlds, and simulations. There is a fantastic amount of stolen knowledge that happens in a game space. Some comes from the environment, some from reflection, some from game processes, and some from other players (in online games).
How do we quantify this? How do we weigh its value? This is critical as we move forward in our investigations of these spaces most feel are only for fun, yet are truly designed for learning. Just because it's not formal, traditional learning doesn't negate it's value. Yet at the end of the day, week, or semester, we need to assess and prove learning took place. Thus the conundrum.
The immediate tendency is to slam the entire educational system, thump our fists on the table, and decree, "The system is broken! We need to fix it, and here's another example why we should do so." While I don't disagree with the need for systemic change in education, I feel there exists, just beyond my grasp, a way to tie stolen knowledge to acceptable learning practices. Anyone have a smart pill? And an aspirin. My fist hurts.
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