While story-driven video games are often played individually, transitioning them into a group context opens the space to build rich communities of talk. A stream of near constant communication is required when only one player can hold the controller but decisions are being made collaboratively.
From video games and social media platforms, to fanfiction works and tabletop games, ELA educators have increasingly chosen to draw from popular culture texts to diversify curricula and engage contemporary youth. While the potential of these texts is excitingly vast, dreaming up accompanying assessments can prove to be a daunting task. In this year’s special edition of ELA Today, the voices of six writers navigating various educational environments – from high school ELA classrooms, to research-focused settings, and university-level programs – have come together to reflect on meaningful strategies for adaptive assessments.
Commonly depicted as frivolous entertainment, wasted time, or even dangerous, students’ out-of-school digital interests are largely excluded from formal learning contexts. Moving past our own potential biases (and the ever-present technophobic headlines shouting “SCREEN ADDICTION!” and “VIOLENCE IN VIDEOGAMES!”), helps to reveal the ways in which youth turn to the digital to learn, forge community, and discover voice: processes most educators would deem as essential in ELA.
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This content is available to ATEQ Members. If you are a member, please click here to login. If you wish to become a member or… Read More »gamesRlit: Critical Playthroughs of Young-Adult Video Games