Cognitive
Analyze, synthesize, use of inductive and deductive reasoning, solve problems effectively an creatively.
Case Study: Development of Higher Order Learning Skills in Online Digital Gaming
Reflection
For my ED 690 Methods of Inquiry class, I researched higher order cognitive learning in multi-player online gaming. Because Massive Multi-player Online Gaming (MMOGs) is extremely popular (44% of the 2005 gaming market), I was interested in researching the application of collaborative online gaming for Coast Guard simulation training, such as law enforcement and search and rescue. Current Coast Guard applications of single player gaming is limited and multi-player gaming is nonexistent. This, is unlike the Army, Navy, and Marine Corp that have applied multi-player online gaming to military training.
As I conducted my literature review on the topic, I found a problem that little research existed on MMOGs in the military. Information on digital gaming and game play cognitive learning did exist, but not in much detail on the topic of developing problem solving or decision making skills or applied to military higher order learning. What I wanted to connect in my case study because of the lack of military data was the measurement and content analysis recording of higher order thinking skill development in popular commercial games. I used inductive reasoning to determine that because of the enjoyment and challenge of playing, game players not only develop problem solving or decision making skills, but also will that they do it by sharing cognitive aspects of the game online.
Designing my content analysis method for the blogs while choosing which blogs to content analyze were creative challenges. I developed a data gathering instrument and limited my analysis to seven codes grouped under two main researching headings:
- Higher Order Thinking
- Collaborative Learning
Problem solving, decision making, meta-cognition, and innovation were part of the higher order thinking skills; and collaboration, constructive feedback, and team motivation were the part of the collaborative learning set.
For the blogs, I chose a triangulation of three MMOG web sites. The first was a compilation of MMOG research blogs listed under The Daedalus Project by Stanford researcher Nick Yee and the other two were chosen randomly from popular gaming sites Everquest and Guild Wars. I completed content analysis of 24 blogs (eight from each site). As I developed my instrument, I learned to synthesize a lot of data and standardize what each code targets and what reflected the code. I narrowed my selection in order to get 24 meaningful blog samples. Consequently, I chose to limit my choices to the first blogs on game reflections that had a minimum of 100 words in order to show deeper thought processes.
Another challenge I overcame in my research was the actual use of a coding scheme to provide standard and fair data from the 24 blogs. The practice I learned from this project has helped me with designing several coding schemes for other EDTEC courses, most recently for EDTEC 700 Observation class taught by Dr. Bober where I developed a coding scheme to analyze online presentations. Overall, my selection of the seven codes worked well and several trends emerged. All seven codes were evident at least once among the 24 blogs. Meta-cognition was the most popular with 88% of the blogs showing evidence of cognitive thought processes. This was not as surprising once I learned more about the MMOG gaming personality the role of discovery and explanation to other players of the intricate aspects of the online game. Decision making and constructive feedback were also frequently coded, while innovative strategy and problem solving were least obvious.
Using online blogs provided an available opportunity for quantitative and qualitative analysis that creatively overcame the lack of military game data (even with recent urban warfare military online games that have been created). Although I was not able to refute my null hypothesis that collaborative game play does not have a significant affect on higher order learning and that MMOGs do not significantly support higher order learning development, I did gain a new understanding of the value of learning by game play, and qualitative statistics; including use of a one-way ANOVA that provided no significant difference in the emergence of the seven codes. Only meta-cognition was recorded with a p= < .05%. Overall, my research showed that a diversity of higher order thinking skills does in fact exist in MMOG game play.
In summary, I learned that you don’t have to be an expert in your topic, as long as you can quickly determine your purpose and case of study, develop your instrument, and target the right data to get you up to speed. I gained insight into the role of games and simulations in the field of learning. However, as I look back at my program of study I realize that it would have liked to have taken Dr. Dodge's Games and Simulations class.
References
Entertainment Software Association. 2005 Facts & Figures. Retrieved April 5, 2007 from http://www.theesa.com/facts/gamer_data.php
Secondary Artifact
E-Learning Guild Online Presentation Instrument report (EDTEC 700 Observations). An online e-learning evaluation instrument and report.
Data-based decision making | Technical | Communication
Interpersonal | Principles, Theories & Models | Processes | Systems
Copyright © 2007 by John Bannon, all rights reserved.
Department of Educational Technology
San Diego State University.
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