Online gaming as an educational experience: The adventures of an academic practitioner

Gaming has now been a part of educational practice for many years. The application of technology to gaming opened new doors to both complexity and sophistication of the interactions and dimensions of learning in a game environment. More recently online facilitation has enabled the globalisation of the gaming environment and extended the potential roles of the synthetic world in teaching and learning. An exploration of the nature and characteristics of multiplayer online games (MMOGS) suggests new and innovative learning opportunities from collaborative and learning community configurations to more competitive and advanced cognitive challenges through intricate, multilayered, multifaceted problem based scenarios. Single discipline, and interdisciplinary conformations lend themselves to both specific and generic learning, ranging from disciplinary content and concepts to social, emotional and advanced cognitive knowledge and application learning such as inquiry based learning (Kennedy-Clark, 2011). Moreover the learning environment can be local, national or international, offering unprecedented breadth and depth to interactions in both synchronous and asynchronous encounters. One aspect of online gaming or working in this complex learning environment (Paraskeva, Mysirlaki, & Papagianni, 2010) which has yet to be widely considered in the educational literature is the role of the academic and in particular the academic as a `game player' and the impact on their conceptualisations of learning and practice and the development of their experience and expertise in adapting, developing and weaving a learning design approaches and pedagogy into this predominantly entertainment based platform. Very simply the potential of online gaming for academic professional development is yet to be explored. This paper reports the story of an academic in the world of online gaming. The paper uses the narrative to illustrate the potential of the undertaking for education. Drawing on both contemporary literature and the immediate experiences of participation in the world of gaming, the paper explores the potential for the development of thinking, social learning, as well as the possible role of online gaming in cognitive learning and in particular problem solving in both real world and imaginary environments. Through an investigation of the various aspects of online gaming the paper draws on the experiences of the author, as a player and as an educator, in unpacking the key components and their possible relationships to learning. For example features such as avatars bring with them both conventions and opportunities for imagination and creativity, rules bring with them rights and responsibilities and the conceptualisation of communication requirements offers innumerable configurations which can incorporate learning relating to culture, nuance, literacy, diplomacy, specificity and the list goes on. The paper concludes with a suggestion for future adoption of gaming conventionality and innovation in education.