Students’ Development of Contemporary Core Competencies Through Making Educational Web Games

Idit Caperton · Shannon Sullivan

Wed., June 10, 3:30–4:30, Inn Wisconsin (2nd floor, East/Southeast)

Our vision and action research about the Globaloria (a game-making learning network) in the past 3 years drove us to develop a theoretical framework that guides our program’s invention, execution, research, and technology development. We named this framework the “6 Contemporary Learning Abilities with Technology” (6-CLAs). We propose that several core competencies are required for effective learning and functioning in today’s technology-driven landscape and the future of work. This framework is the first to propose integrating Constructionist learning elements into the domain of gaming and applied “digital literacy” typologies. The 6-CLAs are:

1. Invention, progression, and completion of an original project idea (for an educational game or sim)
2. Project-based learning and project management within an open, wiki-based environment
3. Publishing and distribution of digital media in a networked environment
4. Social-based learning, participation, and exchange
5. Information-based learning, search, and exploration
6. Critically-evaluating websites and web applications for various purposes

We hypothesize that playing and making web-games inside a social network is an ideal context for developing the 6-CLAs, and, at the same time, by developing these core competencies, learners cultivate a new variation of gaming literacy, a “Constructionist Digital Literacy”.