Gaming
Gaming allows “players” opportunities to reflect, try out new ideas, and take risks in a safe and fun space.
What It Is
The use of gaming in the educational field is becoming increasingly popular. Gaming typically refers to the inclusion of elements that are traditionally found in video and board games―like point accrual, competition, and rewards―outside of that context.¹ Gamification allows “players” opportunities to try out new ideas and take risks in a safe and fun space.
How It Works
The purpose of gamification is to increase engagement by making tasks both challenging and entertaining while also giving participants a chance to try again if they don’t immediately succeed. Applying gaming principles into professional development can provide those who work with families an interactive experience in decision making about improving their practice. For example, a board game developed by WestEd consists of several challenges that require a team of teachers to propose solutions throughout the game. They track their decisions and receive feedback from a “monitor,” who shares the results of their decisions. The game is followed by facilitated discussions for reflection. Teacher teams learn to apply lessons from the game to design and implement professional learning systems. What emerges is a set of “best practices” that have the goal of producing sustainable effective teaching.²
In a different example, professional development at a public high school in South Central Los Angeles incorporated a building-block game with a prompt written on each block to help foster community among teachers; it also created opportunities to discuss what successful game design looks like.³ The Brain Architecture Game provides another relevant example of how games can operate as effective tools for building shared knowledge among players.⁴ Working together, teams construct the tallest “brain” possible using a variety of tools, such as pipe cleaners and straws, with the intent of learning how early family and community experiences affect brain development. The success of their design is deeply influenced by which cards the team draws; these cards indicate whether their children’s experiences in the early years were positive or negative.
What Changes
For both students and teachers, gaming is motivating and encourages collaboration and the development of a growth mind-set. Gaming requires players to be comfortable with failing and with then adapting their play to achieve success.⁵ Schools that incorporate gaming into their instructional practices and into their professional development create environments that are supportive of learning from failure.
More research on the effects of the gamification of professional development more generally, and for family engagement more specifically, is needed. The research that is available suggests that these forms of professional development positively affect teacher perceptions of gaming and its potential educational benefits.⁶ In addition, incorporating gamification elements into professional development can add structure and clarity to what it means to be an expert in a particular subject area.⁷
Approach in Action
As part of its journey toward building a family engagement strategy, the Toronto Public Library (TPL) worked with Global Family Research Project to give staff members new skills for interacting with families and including family members’ ideas so that TPL can better meet their needs. Among the tools TPL is using is a game Global Family Research Project created for one of their workshops, called the Family Engagement Game for Change. In the game, teams of family engagement professionals are given cards that pose a family engagement-related dilemma, such as how the library can support a single mother in completing her adult education coursework at the library when she is without child care over the summer months. Together, the teams work to craft a solution, and in the spirit of gamification, they are awarded points based on their solution. The value of this form of professional development is that not only does it provide valuable opportunities for professionals to consider and discuss problems of practice, but it also excites and entertains those who are participating. Feedback from librarians at TPL who played the game suggested that the experience is exciting and fun, and that it promoted brainstorming, created meaningful conversation, and sparked new ideas.⁸
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Endnotes
¹ Sitterding, M. C., Raab, D. L, Saupe, J. L., & Israel, K. J. (2019). Using artificial intelligence and gaming to improve new nurse transition. Nurse Leader, 17(2), 125–130. Retrieved from https://www.nurseleader.com/
² WestEd. (2018). What if professional learning was like playing a game? Retrieved from https://www.wested.org/rd_alert_online/science-professional-learning-simulation-game/
³ Garcia, A., & Gomez, M. (2017). Player professional development: A case study of teacher resiliency within a community of practice. Teaching and Teacher Education, 66, 349–359. doi:10.106/j.tate.2017.05.003
⁴ The Brain Architecture Game. (2017). How does it work? Retrieved from https://dev.thebrainarchitecturegame.com/about-the-game/the-goal-of-the-game/
⁵ Salen, K. (2017). Designing a place called school: A case study of the public school quest to learn. She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation, 3(1), 51–64. doi:10.1016/j.sheji.2017.08.002
⁶ Meredith, T. R. (2016). Game-based learning in professional development for practicing educators: A review of the literature. TechTrends, 60(5), 496–502. doi:10.1007/s11528–016–0107–7
⁷ DeNisco, A. (2019, March). Can games reinvigorate professional development? District Administration, 55(3). Retrieved from https://districtadministration.com/
⁸ Banks, D. (2019, June). Staff Engagement Sparks Family Engagement Global Family Research Project. Retrieved from https://globalfrp.org/gfrp_admin/content/versionview/568/4/eng-US
