Beyond Gaming in the Library: Gaming for Information Literacy

Friday, April 18, 8:00 - 9:50

• speaker: Amy Harris, UNC at Greensboro

 

Amy's background

• her position is an instruction librarian, alot of freshman classes
• also works reference desk
• not a techie; get along with techies, but not one herself
• not a diehard gamer--last game system she owned was a NES (original Nintendo)
• only game she plays now is Katamari (heh, heh), and Guitar Hero once a year to make the students laugh
• believe that gaming can be a vital, important part of information literacy
• co-editing a book about ways that libraries have made gaming a part of their culture

 

http://del.icio.us/gamingforIL

• (has all the links that are also on the handout)

 

Gaming for Goodwill vs. Gaming for Info Literacy

• goodwill = to bring students into library and create positive attitude toward it
  • once per semester (done it four times)
  • about 120 people
  • effectively created goodwill among students, even those who don't attend
  • worked with student groups that didn't previously have a relationship with library
  • also non-video games: chess, board/card games, Scrabble
  • provided pizza
• info lit gaming
  • definition: incorporating games or gaming concepts into info lit instruction
  • facts from Lee Rainie at Pew Internet, about millennials
  • trying to reach kinesthetic learners
    • learn by doing (hands-on experiences)
  • average age of games: over 30 (Gen X, Baby Boomers, Senior Citizens)
  • there is no "typical gamer" anymore, especially with platforms like DS and Wii

 

Learning Principles of Games

• active, critical learning principle (don't read instructions)
• meaning of signs, words, symbols is conveyed in context (situated meanings)
• info on-demand and just-in-time learning

 

Why Gaming?

• it's fun; fun method of research and fun for students
• audience
• reaching different types of people
• distance education
  • difficult to reach these students through traditional info literacy
  • what can we do to reach those students?
  • tutorials are good, but gaming offers interactivity

 

Tutorials vs. Games

• (see slides for chart)
• there are some advantages and disadvantages to each, as listed on the chart
• "Copyright Bay" - interactive game on teaching about copyright law

 

Who's Doing It? (Info Lit Gaming)

• Carnegie Mellon University
• UNCG
  • semester-long class taught through video game: ECON (award-winning)
  • 2000 developed info lit tutorial; wanted to redesign in 2006
    • distance ed librarian was reading about gaming and approached Amy
    • started with first-year instruction (freshman courses)
    • wanted something easily adaptable by anyone (other libraries)
    • wrote out instruction objectives

 

The Game

• like an online board game
• 1 - 4 players
• object of the game is to answer one question correctly in each category (twice)
• one-player mode: playing against time
• characters are from a Canadian TV show; released through Creative Commons license
• four types of questions:
  • choose your resource (book, website, magazine, scholarly journal)
  • searching and using databases (search connectors, keywords, etc.)
  • cite your sources (using APA or MLA style, what plaigurism is)
  • library wildcard (classification system, where something is located)
• also:
  • website evaluation question
• ADA compliant
• keep stats on games played; majority played by one player
• did a lot of play-testing

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