Eds. Richard Colby, Matthew S. S. Johnson, and Rebekah Shultz Colby

 

Notable Works Mentioned:

Jonathan Alexander. “Gaming, student literacies, and the composition classroom: Some possibilities for transformation”

Ian Bogost, Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames

James Paul Gee, What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy

Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens

Jesper Juul, Half real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds

Richard Lanham, The Electronic Word

Cynthia Selfe and Gail Hawisher, Gaming Lives in the Twenty-First Century

 

Core Investigative Questions:

1. How can playing a video game encourage students to (re)consider how they write, read, and research?
2. How do gaming spaces function rhetorically and in what ways can/do gamers conduct rhetorical readings of them?
3. How do video games represent identity and community and how are these representations interpreted by gamers?
4. How do video games and gaming serve as metaphors for written discourse and writing?
5. How do video games’ rhetorical techniques differ from comparatively traditional texts?
6. In what ways do video game designers take into account audience (beyond its commercial function of consumption)?
7. In what ways do electronic games help us to reconceptualize classroom spaces?

 

Important Quotes to Consider:

Introduction

“We not only accept that video games are transmedial, but we also argue that they have certain unique qualities. For one, video games respond to player interaction regardless of whether the player is playing alone or with others” (3).

Play

“[T]heorizes the nature of play and game itself to better elucidate the intersections between playing, writing, and the teaching of writing” (5).

Composition

“[E]xplores how games can shape specific teaching practices and how they influence student (and teacher) learning” (5).

Rhetoric

“[A]nalyzes games through a rhetorical lens, considering specifically what we can learn about rhetoric from looking at games, and about games from looking at them rhetorically” (5).

Afterward

“[T]here is no going back over the old (and presumably defunct) arguments about whether violent games promote violence in players or whether games are or are not narratives, or even whether games are productive or just a waste of time. These questions appear settled—at least from the perspective of the authors of this book” (205).

“For many of the contributors, games are not just another way to teach academic writing; they are a legitimate form of academic writing. The book thus has particular theoretical and practical advantages for anyone considering teaching a game-oriented class” (206).

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Day 1: Read through the quotes provided on your handout. Working with your partner, discuss the chapters and find ways that the two overlap either explicitly or implicitly.

Then create a shared Google Doc where you begin brainstorming an in-class activity or assignment for a first year course (it does not have to be FYC) that demonstrates the overlaps/values/interests/approaches you discussed. Set small goals for today, but try to leave with a solid activity/assignment. The activity will continue on Thursday with work time and discussion of your plans.

Share the link to your Google Doc in the comments section of this post.