Jane McGonigal Blew My Mind

I've been reading about games and education for a while, primarily James Paul Gee's books. Gee makes a lot of sense and his arguments were sound, but I had a hard time making the connection between the games he talks about and the process of teaching. Not learning. He convincingly shows how video games do a great job in encouraging players to learn. But how to translate that into the classroom? I didn't feel Gee ever really made that clear. Or, at least, I couldn't see how to make the connection.

Then somewhere, probably on The Colbert Report, I saw an interview of Jane McGonigal, whose book Reality is Broken sounded pretty interesting.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Jane McGonigal
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

So I ordered it and read it last spring. And Jane McGonigal blew my mind. Her description of the way that games elicit positive emotion and response, even when they are hard or frustrating (and indeed, especially when they are so challenging that they create a sense of "blissful productivity") struck a chord with me, because I dearly love to discover new things. I recognized in her observations of video gamers the experiences I have had in researching my many odd and varied passions. And what I want my students to experience as they tackle their own research projects.

McGonigal's book led me to alternate reality games, and to the main website devoted to that genre of games, ARGNet. And it was there (I think) that I found a reference to 3DGameLab and the summer camp devoted to its beta testing. So Jane McGonigal is responsible for my participation in this quest to evaluate her ideas! And clearly, I'm a believer. I'm very much looking forward to implementing some of her ideas in my fall Popular Culture class via the GameLab interface, and seeing how that goes.

So, thanks, Jane!