In ENGL 516 this week we talked about video games. Many communication scholars have very recently taken up video games as a form of literacy and as a mode of meaning making. James Paul Gee’s book has been particularly influential in getting people to look at games for their learning potential.
I’m actually quite encouraged by the idea of video games in the classroom. I believe there’s quite a bit there to look at as games are becoming a venue to make truly artful statements. One opportunity I see for video games in the classroom is for students to critically analyze what is happening in a game. I think through an assignment like this they might actually become aware of how to use the tools of rhetorical analysis. In this case, students would already be familiar with the context, a video game they already like, and would then be applying new tools which can be later used to examine other media and modes.
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