Games-Based Learning: Q&A with ELI Lecturer Steve Carruthers | English Language Institute, Texas A

By: Valerie Hamilton English Language Institute (ELI) Lecturer Steve Carruthers recently traveled to Berlin, Germany, to attend the European Conference on Games-Based Learning. While teaching at ELI, Steve is also pursuing his PhD in Educational Psychology at Texas A&M University, where part of his research will focus on evaluating learning and achievement of learning outcomes through games-based learning. Since Steve plans to apply games-based learning to his ELI classrooms, I sat down with him to ask a few questions about the conference, what he learned there, and what other projects he is working on at Texas A&M University. Q: What brought you to the conference? A: I was invited to Berlin to go to the 8 European Conference on Games-Based Learning as part of a project with the College of Architecture and Visualization Lab, which is working on developing learning games as part of their visualization experience for their students. I was accompanied by André Thomas, a lecturer in the College of Architecture and the leader of the Live Lab, the College’s games-based development lab. Q: What exactly is games-based learning? A: Games-based learning is taking game style activities and incorporating learning goals. So the vehicle for learning is the game itself. It could be a traditional game like a card game or a board game, that enhances learning, or it could be a computer game with complex visuals and 3D environments. But the goal of the game is to educate in a way that’s entertaining, fun, engaging. Q: What are you doing in the world of games-based learning? A: Right now we’re working on a game for art history [called Arté].  An art history professor came up with some student learning outcomes related to renaissance art. But more specifically we’re working on a game that’s developing the learner’s understanding of the interrelationship between banking and the economy and the economies of art as well as concepts such as usury and patronage of art to the church as ways of developing relationships. If you know the Medici family, one reason they were successful in banking is because of their relationships. We’re also working on a game where students will be learning to discriminate between different art from different eras of the 15 century. Q: What type of game is that? A: This is a computer game. It starts off with a 3D virtual environment where you can walk into Lorenzo’s bedroom in the Medici palace, complete with the original artwork hanging on the wall and his giant bed. Some of the games: there’s one called the Muse game where you learn to discriminate art, and the other one is called the Patronage game, and in that one you’re learning to be a banker in the Medici family. You get all kinds of messages, people offer to sell you wool or exchange currency, and you can hire Donatello to paint a painting for you. It’s very interesting. Q: How do the games help with learning? A: Games can be an escape from the challenges of our life, yet they challenge us mentally. When we think about what students can get out of a learning game, the player can achieve learning through an experience, which is the most memorable kind of learning. In a game, the student can learn a concept, language, or skill through play, and it will become a deeply embedded experience and learning and long lasting. We were just doing Arté testing and the players who were playing the game were enjoying themselves; after, we asked them what they had learned and they were surprised about how much they had gotten out of it. They had to synthesize a lot of content information about art history that they had never seen before. Q: As an English teacher, did you see any benefits of knowing English at the conference? A: Of course, I’m here in the College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M and I teach English here in the English Language Institute, and I was very impressed to see how people from all over the world were using English as a common language for the purpose of sharing information at a conference. It reminded me that when I’m training my students in English language skills, whether it’s grammar, pronunciation, or writing, it’s not solely to get them into university programs or empower them to get college degrees, but everyone at the conference, because they could speak English, had a seat at the table and a place in the conversation about games-based learning. Q: Did you notice any language games at the conference? A: There’s a group within the conference that focuses on games-based language learning and the current focus is on simulations. There are a couple of simulation games for learning Arabic and Portuguese. You can imagine a couple of animated characters in an environment using functional language to do things like finding your seat on an airplane and interacting with a flight attendant. Q: What’s the big takeaway from games-based learning? A: Learning can be easy when you’re engaged and focused and enjoying the learning. Like many of our students, Steve is taking his knowledge and expertise beyond ELI to make important contributions to his discipline. Since 1974, the ELI at Texas A&M University has been equipping international students with the English skills they need to share their knowledge and skills with the university and the world.