¿Es relevante esta pregunta?: Are virtual worlds the future of learning for the wired generation?.
Puede que la pregunta sea irrelevante por dos razones: 1) los mundos virtuales serán el entorno de aprendizaje del futuro próximo sean o no adecuados, dado que los niños, los “nativos digitales”, muestran una preferencia clara por estos entornos y esta tendencia parece imparable; y 2) se suele plantear la pregunta a especialistas y educadores, en su inmensa mayoría adultos analógicos o “inmigrantes digitales”, recién llegados a estos entornos, educados con modelos radicalmente diferentes y, por tanto, con enormes dificultades para comprender la realidad y utilidad de los mundos virtuales. Aún así, varios autores se encargan de constatar la realidad, el uso creciente de los videojuegos y los mundos virtuales, e integrar las evidencias empíricas que demuestran su utilidad para el aprendizaje.
El último libro de Marc Prensky (que ha presentado en su blog) aborda desde el título el papel de los videojuegos en la enseñanza y la brecha digital que genera entre padres o profesores e hijos: Don't Bother Me Mom -- I'm Learning" : How Computer and Video Games Are Preparing Your Kids For Twenty-first Century Success -- and How You Can Help!
… are learning about important “future” things, from collaboration, to prudent risk taking, to strategy formulation and execution, to complex moral and ethical decisions. Prensky’s arguments are backed up by university PhD’s studying not just game violence, but games in their totality, as well as studies of gamers who have become successful corporate workers, entrepreneurs, leaders, doctors, lawyers, scientists and other professionals.
Because most adults (including the critics) can’t play the modern complex games themselves (and discount the opinions of the kids who do play them) they rely on secondhand sources of information, most of whom are sadly misinformed about both the putative harm and the true benefits of game-playing. This book is the antidote to those misinformed, bombastic sources. Full of common sense and practical information, it provides parents with a large number of techniques approaches they can use – both over time and right away – to improve both their understanding of games and their relationships with their kids.
Stefanie Olsen aborda en un artículo en News.com (Are virtual worlds the future of the classroom?) el mismo tema que Prensky, centrándose en este caso en los MUVE (“multiuser virtual environments”), la versión educativa de los MMOPRGs (aunque muy probablemente esta diferencia no sea demaisado relevante para los usuarios):
multiuser virtual environment, or MUVE, a genre of software games created to inspire children to learn about math and science, among other subjects. Unlike most game software and social networks, which elicit negative associations for some parents and teachers, MUVEs are structured environments with rules for behavior, yet no pat formula for action. Designed to provide problems to solve that don't involve slaying monsters, MUVEs compel kids to figure out the issues to succeed in the environments or have time to socialize.
Learning-based virtual worlds are growing more popular in schools and among children, thanks to ongoing efforts by universities and private companies.
For example, Harvard University's "River City" is a MUVE that involves a society in the late 1800s that's in political and environmental disrepair--kids must figure out why residents are falling ill. Harvard's School of Education is in talks with several urban school districts to introduce the software to tens of thousands of schoolchildren this fall.
Quest Atlantis, a downloadable MUVE developed at Indiana University that focuses on an ancient culture, will be introduced to 50 new classrooms, or between 10,000 to 20,000 students, in New Jersey next fall, according to Indiana Associate Professor Sasha Barab, who specializes in learning sciences and instructional systems technology.
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Numedeon was founded in 1999 by a biology professor at CalTech, along with two PhD students.
Tras presentar algunos proyectos de MUVEs, el artículo se plantea la pregunta clave con la que iniciábamos este post: Are virtual worlds the future of learning for the wired generation?
Ask some educators and they'll tell you yes. That's because research has shown that kids engage deeply in virtual environments, gaining a conceptual and ethical understanding of school subjects, according to education experts. And many kids are already comfortable socializing online, so educationally oriented virtual worlds can offer that same sort of stimulus and use that potential to aid learning. There's one big caveat, however: Virtual worlds must have knowledgeable and motivated teachers driving the train.
El caso de River City, desarrollado por el profesor de Harvard Chris Dede, proporciona diferentes evidencias sobre la utilidad de los MUVE:
... developed nearly six years ago, seeking to answer two simple research questions: Can kids learn from this type of virtual interface? And if so, how much can they learn? He answered these questions by evaluating use of the MUVE in schools around the greater Boston area.
Kids in "River City" have avatars and can walk, run or swim through the city, which contains a polluted river and mosquito-ridden bogs. Students work in teams to investigate the virtual town, click on objects to interview subjects, and collectively form hypotheses about what's affecting the city and making people sick. Inside the city, they can also access library materials and other data sources--and each lesson is up to national standards for biology and history. Kids must also handle tasks like analyzing water samples at a virtual treatment plant.
"Instead of teaching slash-and-slay mentality, 'River City' teaches kids to be scientists through the technology," said Edward Dieterle, advanced doctoral candidate in learning and teaching at Harvard's Graduate School of Education.
In one example, kids who experienced "River City" found that people in densely populated tenements were much more likely to be stricken with the illness than wealthier people living farther apart. They sought to change variables in the city, such as adding more tenements, which the MUVE allows through administrators, but then one change set off a domino effect that didn't necessarily fix the city. The kids learned that because of the complexity of the world, it takes many changes to solve its problems.
"In ways, many adults don't understand this," said Gallas.
Deede and his team have also found that lessons in "River City" can significantly aid learning for kids who aren't usually engaged in the classroom, or who have a history of absenteeism. Low-scoring kids typically do as well in "River City" as high scorers. "Underperforming students come alive by learning in 'River City,'" said Dieterle. Gallas, who's done some research with "River City," put it like this: "If you're motivated to spend a lot of time doing something, that's where the learning happens. If you look at snowboarders or skateboarders--these may be kids that don't do well in traditional school environments--if they want to learn a trick, they go through a hundred to 200 iterations to do it."
Esta experiencia parece claramente positiva. Pero, en cualquier caso, como decíamos al principio puede que la pregunta sea irrelevante por ociosa. Así lo parece reconocer el escritor Santiago Rocangliolo que nos recomienda que Eduque a su hijo con PlayStation. Propone tres ejemplos de videojuegos educativos (en este caso “estándar”, ninguno de ellos son mundos virtuales): Darfur is Dying, que permite involucrarse en la vida real de un campamento de refugiados en Sudán, y Peacemaker, ambientado en Oriente Medio y autodefinido como un “videogame to teach peace”, son productos de mtvU (una división de MTV); por el contrario Food Force, el videojuego sobre ayuda humanitaria, ha surgido desde Naciones Unidas (ya hablamos de este juego hace bastante tiempo). Los ejemplos son especialmente interesantes por que muestran la emergencia de productores de las nuevas herramientas educativas muy alejados del mundo educativo tradicional.
Rocangliolo acaba de denunciando el poder de “lo políticamente correcto” que ahoga a la literatura para niños, mientras que parece ser totalmente ineficaz en la “censura” de los videojuegos (por suerte para los niños y, sobre todo, para los niños jugadores). La lucidez de Rocangliolo le permite identificar a los verdaderos culpables de que la literatura pierda adeptos en lugar de criminalizar a los videojuegos (como es habitual en buena parte de la sociedad):
Mientras tanto, los autores de libros para niños nos enfrentamos a nuestras bestias negras: los psicólogos escolares. En muchos países, los educadores exigen que las niñas de los cuentos tengan un comportamiento intachable, para no reforzar estereotipos de género. Tampoco puede haber adultos malos porque eso debilita el vínculo familiar. Y los niños de ninguna manera pueden portarse mal, que luego los pequeños lectores imitan todo. La educación trata de librar a los libros de impurezas como botellas, cigarrillos, faldas demasiado cortas, gente de mal humor o conflictos mínimamente polémicos. Pronto lograrán su objetivo: que todos los libros para niños muestren un mundo rosa de gente que sonríe dulcemente y se trata bien. Mientras tanto, la realidad seguirá estando en Internet.
Niños, no lean: es aburrido.
Mejor –y más educativo- es descargarse un juego en Darfur is Dying.
