Education – Games – Learning – Reward

To give some pretext, I have taught in the college classroom for over a decade. I have achieved various certifications and credentials in the field of Information Technology. My go-to delivery approach is PBL, or Project-based Learning. By using a solution-focused model, I approach the teaching and learning environment as a journey – one that both I and the students work through together. So, when I sat and talked to Ray Kimball for the first time, he opened my eyes to a new teaching paradigm. This is that story.

Background

If Ray Kimball were to walk into your college classroom, and if he noticed at least half of your students not engaged in the lecture, he would write down some notes and ponder the situation. If you gave him the opportunity, he would offer you a few suggestions on improving student learning outcomes. A 26-year veteran of the United States Army, and an instructor at West Point, Ray knows a thing or two about students not being engaged in the classroom. And you thought the civilian students were tough. Ray taught the best the Army could give him.

But what can a college professor do with a semester’s worth of history?

At West Point, Ray decided to turn the college classroom on its ear. In his own words, Ray would tell you that one-third to one-half of his students were not engaged with his lessons at the start. That’s when the light bulb turned on and he knew that something had to change. With some visionary thinking, he created a game-based role-play scenario that sparked imagination, dialogue, and better engagement among his students. That’s when he knew there was something powerful in this teaching approach. And the evidence proved it. His students’ feedback indicated that they appreciated his approach and were better students (and soldiers) based on the experience.

A Closer Look

“How would you use a game like Monopoly as part of a game-based classroom learning experience?” I asked.

“You know,” Ray said. “That’s actually a really good question.”

Let’s consider the foundation of the game Monopoly. A group of people sit around the table, snacks ready. The basic premise is to control the real estate options on the board by buying them, developing monopolies (a control of a color scheme), building houses and hotels, and collecting rent from the other players. There may be strategy to the game – that is – buying the most expensive properties and hope the other players land on them and pay you the rent owed. If a player cannot pay the rent, that player us forced to mortgage his/her properties, raise the money, or file bankruptcy. The person with the most money at the end of the game wins!

There may be strategy – but there is also a set of dice involved.

But what if we changed the rules a bit to reflect reality. We do this by creating profiles based on place of birth, ethnicity, skin color, education, and so forth.

“Even though we might deem it unfair,” Ray said, “the truth is that our world is unfair. Certain people have advantages while others do not. But we often don’t consider these things if we are not faced with the reality of their impact. Monopoly gives us a safe environment to teach socio-economic differences based on category types.”

“How does that work?” I asked.

“Each player is allotted a random profile,” Ray continued, “and they play the game from that profile.”

“Really,” I continued, “how does that work in the game?”

“At the start,” Ray said, “in the original game each player starts with the same amount of money and the same dice – 2 to be exact. In the game-based version, we change those parameters. Some players, again based on their profile, start with more money.”

“Okay,” I said.

“Well, that’s not all,” Ray continued. “Again, all based on their profile, some players are not permitted to buy certain properties. Some will pay higher taxes or collect more every time they pass ‘Go’. We can even change the game parameters so that some players can add to their dice role or spend less time in jail. It all depends on the profile.”

“Then the game play is unfair,” I said.

“Exactly,” Ray said. “and even though we pretend that life for all of us is fair and we are all playing with the same cards, in truth, we are not. The game, when played this way, allows people to experience this inequity first-hand. It’s a learning experience, as it should be.”

“Hopefully,” I added, “your students know that this is only a game.”

“Of course,” Ray added. “Students would play this game knowing ahead of time that the rules are going to be different from the original version. This way, some students really do get to experience what life is actually like for some people. Not everyone gets handed a million dollars to start out with. Some people really have to work hard to be successful.”

Even More ?

My conversation with Ray explored the impact of game-based learning. Ray is convinced that this approach works within all content areas, from history to philosophy, to science and technology. Even more, game-based learning puts students in control of their learning. As an advocate of Project-Based Learning, I do not have experience with Game-Based Learning concepts or ideology. However, even within a short period of time, I can see how students would benefit from such an exploration in an onsite or online learning environment.

Ray understands that school leaders, whether college or university, have various appreciations for game-based learning approaches. For this, Ray works with his clients within the parameters of their working environment. He is not wanting to jeopardize his clients’ positions. To work with Ray, you must be clear on how your school’s leaders approve on the use of games and game-based learning approaches in the classroom.

Ray created 42 Educational Games Coaching and Design to help fellow university professors who are interested in making their teaching more effective. Using a holistic model, he will work with you to develop the best approach given your content area, type of student, and his intuition to choice the best ‘game’ for your classroom experience. He may use a game ‘off-the-shelf’ or he may offer a suggestion from his own personal library – something he created himself. Either way, you and your students are bound to receive a positive, impactful, and intriguing learning experience that your students will remember for years to come. In fact, his most memorable moment – what really cemented this approach in his own heart – was when a previous student turned faculty at West Point – used his game-based approach in his own classroom.

You can reach Ray for more information about 42 Educational Games at the following sites online:

URL: https://www.dhirubhai.net/company/42edgames/

URL: https://42ed.games/

And you can also find him on LinkedIn at: https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/raykimball/

And almost all other social media platforms.

Credit for images: https://pixabay.com/

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