Disrupting Schools in the Midst of a Revolution

by Barbara Bray

It seems like everything, including education, is changing. We’re in the middle of a revolution and may not even know it. Change is difficult for many teachers, parents, administrators and students that want to continue the status quo. Let me define what I mean as status quo for education:

A top-down system where teachers teach the set agenda with standards, tests, and text books. Each teacher is assigned a classroom where they usually close the door and teach their class in isolation. Schools start around 8am and end around 3pm. It is rare that the schools are used before or after schools now because funding is limited. Students sit in rows, answer questions that are asked of them by the teacher, write papers that only the teacher reads, and attend a school that may not have all the classes they need to meet their requirements for graduation.

Does this sound like your school? Are you okay with this system?  Continued...

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Gamers as Leaders

by Barbara Bray

How does playing video games prepare you for the 21st century? What skills do you learn that you will need for your future? This article explains how multiplayer online games prepare the players for a world where they need specific attributes to be competitive.

The digital native is someone who has been part of the gaming world most of their lives. Games can prepare them for their future. Gamers learn leadership skills. From The Gamer Disposition by John Seely Brown and Douglas Thomas, I realized that there are multiple characteristics that can also prepare gamers to be leaders in the business and education worlds. The multiplayer online games expect users to be quick, be able to adapt and evolve as games change, and know the rules, tips, and even make the rules as they progress through this new type of social system.

Brown and Thomas share five key attributes as character traits that players bring into their games:

* They are bottom-line oriented. Games have embedded assessments where gamers compare with one another where they rank, their title and points, and they share with each other how they can improve their ranking.

* They understand the power of diversity. Teamwork is the only way a gamer can work in this social system. They need to talk to each other and determine what strengths each member has on their team so they can improve their score.

* They thrive on change. Games are evolving during the game. Gamers have to think on their feet while they make quick decisions and actually have to be in charge of managing change.

* They see learning as fun. The fun they experience is learning how to overcome obstacles, seeking out problems and then letting other gamers know the strategies they used to solve the problems.

* They marinate on the “edge.” Gamers look for alternative strategies and innovative solutions for a better way to solve problems. They are making it up as it happens so they cannot only understand the game, they can reinvent the game.

Consider in the World of Warcraft, a Guild Master has all the fundamentals of a leader. They create a vision with a set of values that attract others; find and recruit players that fit with their vision; they form apprenticeships for new players; they coordinate and manage how the group is governed; and mediates any disputes.

In ongoing conversations about gamers, the question that keeps rising to the top is “are gamers born or made?” Thomas and Brown reframe that question in the context of the challenges emerging for the 21st century workplace. It really doesn’t matter what skills you have to play a particular game; it is how talented you are in attracting the right people to work with you on your quest.

If we take this a step beyond to education and what classrooms look like today, gamers or those with gamer characteristics are lost and their talents are not tapped. This is the same with teachers who think out of the box, who develop an open environment where there are no right or wrong answers and allow creation of questions that encourage more questions. This is happening in pockets within public and private schools with creative and innovative teachers and administrators who are willing to take some risks that demonstrates that this type of learning environment engages students in the learning process and motivates them to want to learn more...

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