Description:

In his analysis of videogames James Paul Gee finds no fewer than 36 different learning principles, starting from "active, critical learning" and ending to the learner as " ... "insider", "teacher" and "producer" (not just a "consumer") able to customize the learning experience and domain/game from beginning and troughout the experience" (Gee, 2003, 207-212). The player as producer is then a learner by producing, by making.

Historically, over and above theory and praxis, Being and Doing, we have a third tradition of learning, the tradition of poiesis, Making. We can understand the way in which the content, the material of learning, is shaped into concepts in a particular context as a process of making, of producing not only a new conceptualized content within a context but also the space of learning. This is a space of learning based on getting the feel of and responding to the material of learning, the content, making sense of it. It is a space of learning at the very heart of craftsmanship.

What is more, the tradition of craftsmanship enables us to create a new horizon of learning: Every work situation is something that we constitute. We learn by producing the content by using concepts in a context. The constitutive moment of expertise comes about not within the thin space of theory/praxis (crossing between concepts/contexts) but within the fat space of theory/praxis/poiesis where we are faced with the three always open questions that emerge at the very instant of making: how are things (theory, Being), how should they do to be good (praxis, Doing), and how to make them real according the rules of beauty (poiesis, Making). Using craftwork as a methodological mirror, which places before us epistemological, ethical and aesthetic challenges, we can analyze the vocational learning prosesses as learning by making.

Methodology or methods/research instruments or sources used:

The PEDAGAMES -project (Hämäläinen, 2006) investigates the possibilities and limits of pedagogical games in vocational education. The present study involves a design experiment, which comprises the design process of the Secure game environment. The study includes the design of the game and an empirical experiment conducted in authentic educational settings. The experiment was organised among vocational students (N = 60) divided into 15 groups of four persons. A specific laboratory environment was constructed in order to capture all the required data from the experimental game sessions. During the experiment the students played the game session, had a test of learning results immediately after the game. After the game session selected groups were also group-interviewed. Data were gathered by various means such as electronic survey immediately after game session, video tapings, audio recording discussions and/or logging chat conversations and player activities during the game, audio recording group-interviews and by taking observation notes about the game sessions.

Conclusions or expected outcomes or findings:

The analysis of data is just starting. I present the first results of the analysis at the conference. The aim of my theoretical and empirical analysis is to open new possibilities to embed the learning principles with the idea of learning by making in the learning processes of the edugame.

References:

• Engeström, Y., 1999. "Activity theory and individual and social transformation." in Perspectives on activity theory, edited by Reijo Miettinen Yrjö Engeström, Raija-Leena Punamäki. Campbridge: Cambridge university press.
• Gee, J., P., 2003, What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy, New York: Palgrave
• Hämäläinen, R., 2006, Secure: 3d-Game Environment as an Aid in Vocational Learning, a proposal for ECER 2006.
• Sfard, Anna. 1998. "On the Metaphors for Learning and Dangers of Choosing Just One." Educational Researcher 27:4-13.
• Rückriem, Georg. 2003. "Tool or Medium the Meaning of Information and Telecommunication Technology to Human Practice A quest for Systemic Understanding of Activity Theory." in Toiminta03 - Toiminnan teorian ja sosiokulttuurisen tutkimuksen päivät. Kauniainen: ISCAR Finnish section. http://iscar.org/fi/ruckriem.pdf.
• Volanen, M. V., 2005, Craft work as a methodological Mirror for Labour Development, in Learning the Skills, Special edition of the Finnish Journal of Vocational and Professional Education, pp. 11-23.
• Volanen, M. V., 2006, Filoteknia - rakkaudesta taitoon (Philotechne - the friendship with craft, in finnish), in print.