Video Games as a Form of Assessment

Students minds have been trained to operate differently in this day in age then they were, say 20 years ago. Students are learning and interacting with the world in entirely different ways.

Mind/Shift is a website devoted to exploring how education is developing in a technological world.
According to Mind/Shift, "Kids between the ages of 8 and 18 spen 11.5 hours a day using technology — whether that’s computers, television, mobile phones, or video games – and usually more than one at a time. That’s a big chunk of their 15 or 16 waking hours."

Technology has a huge impact on students lives, and can be harnessed to help them learn more effectively.

http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/02/how-technology-wires-the-learning-brain/

Dr. James Paul Gee, a professor at Arizona State University and a leading authority on literacy and the potential of educational games, has great insight into how video games are improving learning. He has researched how video games can be used to teach students more effectively. He argues that video games have instructions integrated into them, and ways to test those instructions built right into the very making of the game.
Gee says,
"The algebra student must take a test to assess what he knows on the day of the test. The Halo player has mastered the skills needed to get to the final level -- and that's his ultimate goal. No need for a test in that context. "

Gee sees a real need for a change in how we determine students learning, and the way they are learning.
Gee says, "Learning and assessment are exactly the same thing," Gee said. "If you design learning so you can't get out of one level until you complete the last one, there's no need for a test. There would be no Bell Curve. It's unethical to test a student based on one day's knowledge. We have to change the attitude about testing on a government level."

This is a great video of Dr. Gee talking about some of his theories on video games as teaching devices.

Watch the full episode. See more Digital Media - New Learners Of The 21st Century.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tina-barseghian/education-technology-video-games_b_829460.html