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Welcome to AEDT 4120 – Series Gaming and Simulations.
Week two – Analog Meets Digital, video clip one of four.
I’m Professor Bill Kapralos, and over the next few minutes,
we’ll be discussing Simulation Confusion.
However, prior to doing so,
here's the list of Analysis Questions for this particular video clip.
Number one. What are the differences between
computer-based simulations and games and their analog counterparts?
Number two. Why all the confusion associated with simulation?
And finally number three. What is Edutainment?
Digital versus Analog.
Let’s begin with the question, are computer simulations and games
really different from non-digital or non-computer simulations and games?
Many educators often claim that non-digital games and digital games
are part of a continuum, and thus, they're the same.
However, many other educators claim that games and simulations are not the same.
So there’s plenty of confusion here.
Part of this confusion stems from the fact that many important terms
in the area of simulation have clear and broadly accepted meaning
in some disciplines, yet there's still much debate
about the relative meaning in other disciplines.
In other words, there is no consensus among expert groups,
and this is problematic, particularly when you consider
the interdisciplinary themes associated with the development
of serious games and simulations in general.
According to Becker and Parker, open quote,
"Things change in fundamental ways when simulations and games go digital."
End quote.
As we previously discussed, video games became commercially available
in the early 1970's, beginning with the release of SpaceWar! in 1971.
Although we like to think of this video game craze or phenomenon
that we’re currently in as being recent,
it does, in fact, date back to the 1970's and the 1980's,
where video game use really started taking off.
And this was evident with various arcade game classics such as Pong,
Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Ms. Pac-Man amongst others.
This was also the time of what's known as the "Edutainment era,"
and this was a brief time in the 1980's where video games were seen
as "the next best thing in ed- education."
It was a time where there was a belief that games could be used
to teach anything.
And it was also a time where many such educational games
started coming to market.
However, these games were developed many times
by computer scientists and engineers
without any formal educational training or knowledge.
So the games themselves lacked any instructional design.
So although ze- although these games were popular for a brief period of time,
eventually they were, they were seen as non-effective
and the Edutainment era kind of got ushered off.
However, before leaving, it actually did leave a very bad taste in the mouths
of many educators, who saw these games
as very useless, um, and without any merit.
So this actually continued, uh, after the Edutainment era,
this continued in the early 90's and into the early 2000's.
There was always this distrust amongst educators
with the use of gaming in the classroom.
Fortunately, this is changing.
And it was also a time where digital games
were forbidden in many schools, and this still continues even currently.
There are some schools, universities and even colleges,
that have banned video games altogether.
But of course, some groups, primarily militar- the military,
have actually embraced video games for, for many, many years,
and they have realized the importance of video games
in education and training.
As was previously pointed out, the use of paper-based and live-action
role-play activities has been used in an educational setting
for many, many years.
However, there's many differences between these type of paper-based
action role-play activities and the computer simulations
that are currently available.
And this, in part, is to blame
for this confusion that we talked about earlier,
the simulation confusion.
Essentially, we have two different groups of people,
those using computer-based simulations
and those using non-computer-based simulations.
They’re using essentially the same words to refer to vastly different things,
and each group insists their perspective is the correct one.
So when we look at the use of simulation in education,
and in particular, we look at traditional versus digital
simulation in education,
we have to really recall, first of all, that all digital simulations
are based on models that have some degree of consistency.
In other words, there’s some set of rules
that we can use to describe the model,
and there's some purpose for the model.
Now keep in mind also that models are abstractions,
and there's no precondition that the model is based on reality,
so we can have purely fictional or non real-based models.
However, when we look at the education community,
it is believed that simulations necessarily model reality
and are distinct from ga- games, which do not model reality.
However, as we previously saw, this, of course, is incorrect.
Simulations can be based on fanta- pure fantasy
and don't necessarily have to model reality.
It's also possible to create a fabricated set of rules
for a hypothetical system, modelled using a simulation.
That being said, it is still a simulation,
and assessments can still be made
to determine how accurately the simulation reflects the model.
And that’s what we're looking at.
How accurately does the simulation reflect the model?
And that’s known as "simulations validity."
So simulation vali- validity is how accurately
the simulation reflects the model.
It's also possible to create a scenario set in a fantastical setting,
or a pure fantasy setting, that focuses on some realistic elements.
So we can take a scenario that’s set in a complete fantasy setting,
have it focus on some realistic element.
And this, in fact, is known as a fable.
Basically a fable takes a real-world lesson
and it wraps it up inside some fantasy story.
One of them that comes to mind is "The Tortoise and the Hare."
Obviously, the tortoise and the hare never really raced each other,
but yet, it does teach us this very, very important lesson
on the importance of taking your time and not rushing through.
So the use of fantasy and metaphor through fables
has been used effectively for teaching for thousands of years,
and it has been very much accepted.
Why shouldn't that also apply to simulations and games?
And more specifically, why is it that when we take fantasy and wrap it up
in a video game-type setting or a simulation-type setting,
it’s viewed upon very negatively,
and its educational value is definitely demeaned.
Should that be the case?
What is the difference, and why did this difference come about?
Part of it may be from a number of things, including the fact
that there is this negative aspect associated to video games,
where many people still see video games as being nothing more than violent,
doing nothing more than teaching kids to kill and be aggressive,
and there's also the issue with the Edutainment era,
where we did have many of these video games
that were developed for educational purposes
that were very unsuccessful.
However, the fact that they were unsuccessful
is not due to the game itself,
but rather due to a lack of design in the game.
So this brings us to the end of video clip one,
and to our list of Synthesis Questions.
So number one, to be of any educational value,
do simulations, physical or virtual, have to model reality?
And number two, “One could wrap any instruc- instruction
inside a game, and thereby enhance the learning experience."
Do you agree or disagree?
Explain your answer.
And this is the end of video clip one.
Thank You.