Accidental Pedagogy

Anne Derryberry on gaming

I have been meaning to post a link to Anne Derryberry's blog on gaming for a while now. Games generally arent my thing and I think there's way to much talk about them in academic technology right now -- a sort of slavish, unquestioning hagiolotrizing of gamers and the people that write about them. Sorr4y for the vitriol, my brain hurts today (see below for some comic relief).

But Anne's blog, I'm Serious is different, and worth a read.

IBM report on games and learning

IBM has a report  out on how massive multiplayer games can help develop good leadership skills that corporations would do well to pay attention to. The report is very very thin and although they are at great pains to document their methodology (and hence their research legitimacy) there are few insights beyond a few anecdotes. This seems to be a problem that affects a lot (but not all) literature on gaming. I wonder if this general lack of quality is a consequence of the sort of breathless wonder that we all seem to have for gaming in academic technology. Its so new and cutting edge that we are forgiven from actually having to say anything substantive about it. Maybe I am just grumpy because it's Monday.

This report from Carnegie Mellon on podcasting (widely referenced on a number of blogs) was much better and will likely prove to be helpful for a number of campuses.