From Serious Games to Serious Gaming (Part Six): Common Threads

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. From Serious Games to Serious Gaming (Part Six): Common Threads
Henry Jenkins brings together some threads underlying the concept of serious games. The principles include things like: games occur with specific learning contexts; the games supplement, but do not replace, teachers; games should inspire exploration and experimentation; games promote social and not individual learning; every element of the game is meaningful. I think these principles are problematic, a set of principles that will please existing educators and educational institutions, but which do not point the way forward. If I had to put the distinction in capsule form, I would say that this describes "games in learning" but what we really want to be exploring is "learning in games". More...