Ancient World in London Bloggers Challenge 4:Sex, Guns and Education ?
So how do we create virtual entertainment that's meaningful where there are no guns and no sex and still fun and educational? Is it possible? This is the subject of this week's Bloggers Challenge, and your chance to have your say on this fascinating issue.
Kids are exposed to so much violence in their daily entertainment that it becomes an acceptable norm for them and while using anything virtual or online they expect the same level of excitement that they get from games. When we were doing some user testing with high school kids as part of the production of an online game recently, they were getting a bit agitated as they couldn't find anything to chase, kill or shoot.
Technology is playing an increasing role in children’s educational experience. From the classroom to the home, technology is now part of how children learn, play, and communicate. Children meet their first gadgets as early as one year old, with toys like the Leapfrog learning system, and soon move onto the harder stuff such as the Nintendo and Playstation consoles.
On one hand, it is hard to ignore the positive role that games, websites and virtual environments can have in helping teach our children about the world (check out Malcolm's excellent article about edutainment here) and guide them through life. On the other hand, we might be worried about the sex and violence that our children could encounter in the games and online environments that they engage with. Even cute little creatures like Pokemon characters can be extremely violent.
The challenge is to create content that's actually entertaining in a meaningful way that manages to educate our children without the element of violence and sex in it - and that is quite a challenge!
Steamfish to Stonehenge
With new virtual projects like our own Stonehenge Virtual, children and adults can learn, play and explore without having to kill anyone. There is no violence, sex or car-jacking in Stonehenge Virtual (although there is a bit of a bumpy cart-ride at one point).
Another example is an online game that we (Rezzable, the creators of Heritage Key) designed for a touring theatre to be used in high schools. Steamfish was an online game to support Y Touring ’s Starfish production. In the game, students learn about clinical trials, and diseases like scurvy, through questing in an online virtual 3D environment. The Steamfish website holds all the information that the students need to learn more about scurvy and clinical trials, and is also a hub where they can see their scores, watch videos and access other relevant sites.
When designing an educational game like Steamfish, it's crucial - and extremely difficult! - to make it exciting enough to keep the students engaged enough to keep playing the game for long enough to work their way through the different levels of challenges, whilst also teaching them.
Participation and Rules
As the subject of Bloggers' Challenge 4, we are asking you to consider how best to grab - and keep - the attention of the GTA generation. Is it possible for online virtual educational projects to compete with mass market entertainment? If so, how? Incorporating these issues and more, the question of this Bloggers Challenge is:
How Much Fun is Virtual Edutainment?
Over the next two weeks, interpreting and answering this question gives you the opportunity to win five books of your choice from Thames & Hudson's current catalogue, plus for participating you get 100 Heritage Key points if you win we give you 500 Heritage Key points.
This contest is open to everyone. All you need is an interest in education/virtual technology and somewhere online to post your entry. By entering this competition you agree to comply with the Ancient World in London Competition Rules, as well as the following rules, which are specific to this contest:
- Entries can consist of text, images, video or mixed media.
- All entries must be the contestant’s own work, and any supporting material (e.g. photos or music) must be used with the permission of the copyright owner.
- All entries should contain a link back to this page.
To submit your entry, simply copy and paste the URL of your blog post, podcast or page as a comment below. The deadline for submission is at midnight, GMT on April 10, 2010. The winner will be announced during the following week. The judges' decision is, of course, final.
Part of the Ancient World in London Web Event
The Ancient World in London is Heritage Key’s groundbreaking three-month-long interactive online and offline event, introducing HD video, virtual worlds, competitions and a live event. It is sponsored exclusively by Addison Lee, London's largest minicab service. This fortnight we're discussing the role of virtual environments in the future of education, but previous challenges have seen bloggers far and wide state their opinions on the most important ancient London sites, and on who were the most influential invaders of London. Make sure to stay tuned for the next theme, and find out the winner of our most recent challenge, which asked whether the Rosetta Stone should be returned to Egypt.
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Comments
Looks like a really cool blog challenge!
I coincidentally was just thinking about these issues of how we as adults should respond to kids spending more time in online worlds: http://www.betterverse.org/2010/03/are-kids-abandoning-toys-for-virtual-...
Hello Rikomatic thanks for your comment look forward to hearing more on your further thoughts on this. I must say when I read your blog post on kids abondonaning toys I thought about this Blogger challenge. If you do write a blog please dont forget to link back to this page.
many thanks to Iggyo for participating in the blogger challenge http://iggyo.blogspot.com/2010/04/blogger-challenge-more-than-game.html look forward to more responses
Here's a more direct answer to your query: http://www.betterverse.org/2010/04/how-online-education-projects-can-com...
I know I'm not allowed to win, but here's another post for the pot: http://blog.hottapmedia.com/?p=51. Good luck bloggers!
Rikomatic - I really enjoyed your blogpost. It was interesting to see the list of most profitable franchises in order (would never have guessed Tetris). Your virtual dig project sounds really interesting. I'd love to track that down and have a look at it.
Hi! Thanks for this interesting challenge. My response is a bit off the wall, and perhaps rather too classical, but it was definitely fun to write!
http://livingepic.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-much-fun-is-virtual-edutainme...
Thanks for this - it certainly sparked some debate within my company - see our blog post http://blog.emoderation.com/2010/04/sex-guns-and-education.html . I haven't got any answers for you though unfortunately :-(
Hello Tia , I am really glad to see your response to start the debate is a good one no answers searched Thank you very much
Some thoughts of mine on the topic: http://blog.pradprathivi.com/2010/04/08/learning-through-pixels-can-education-mix-with-games/
An excellent entry Prad thank you very much ! As a generation of young learners through gaming your thoughts are quite valuable
Roger, I am really glad to see your views on the subject Your point is a very interesting one as "I want to say that virtual edutainment is a lot of fun, but only if it's designed not to be fun but to help learners tell a story" I can not agree more
"I don’t think it’s helpful to draw a big red line between what’s educational and what isn’t. " Rebecca too bad you and Prad can not qualify for the big prize but wonderful entry from you on this subject I can not agree with you more !May be the female aspect of it but many of these games bore me to death Still looking for the one that will make me cry too ;))
Just a thought (after leaving yet another lengthy comment on Mary Harrsch' blogpost). The title says 'no sex' and 'no guns' .. which basically means no really really really erotic stuff, and no violence. But mankind's history has always been about fighting/egos/winning and basically.. keeping humanity going. For the latter, sex is quite the necessity. We are more puritan about sex than our ancient counterparts ever were, and I"m pretty sure it was OK in the 200-hundreds AD to let your little kid play with swords and bows, were now giving them a gun to play with is frowned upon. So aren't we quite hypocrite, teaching them about 'the ancient world' without sex and violence? Even the druids had to make little, tiny druids to keep the oral tradition going. And I'm pretty sure you were allowed to marry and have sex before you turned 16 in those times, and purchase alcohol without having to show your ID eventhough you are 25. (I'll leave out the contemporary legislative stupidity of allowing people to drive a 'chariot' before they are allowed to purcahse a beer, btw.)
My point? I'd love to see a post about 'age limits' (drinking, wedding, voting, carrying arms, .. . Dear lead editor, now that would make a post? 'Dear 14 year old, compare what you are allowed now to a 1,000 years ago. You're born way to late!' ;)) in the ancient world compared to now. That, and I think we're being overly protective - towards dangerously protective - of our 'youth' nowadays.
By some miracle, I actually managed to complete an entry before the very last second.
Agreed on all counts, Ann.
Livius I must say i enjoyed very much your indepth blog on the subject many different aspects of the education and gaming you have mentioned Thank you very much once again for participating
Thank you kindly, Meral. I really enjoyed looking into this topic. I discussed it with a variety of people, and everyone found it fascinating. There are so many possibilities to explore.
Thank you, Meral. I really enjoyed thinking about this subject and discussing with a variety of people. There are so many fascinating possibilities to explore.
http://heritage-key.com/blogs/meral-crifasi/blogger-challenge-comes-end-sex-guns-and-education-so-who-wins-2 And the winner is !!!
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