I'm trying to develop an opportunity to link gaming and adult literacy. Primarily aimed at young adults but not exclusively. We want to develop and social opportunity for some of our learners who are low on positive life experiences, not quite ready for the work environment, with literacy needs, low self esteem and perhaps negative social experiences. Their common link is gaming. We see a lot of good in the use of gaming on a range of fronts but not quite sure how to pull it off. And so, I was wondering if anyone has any experience or advice they could share.
That sounds amazing and there are so many possibilities ranging from playing and discussing games and games development through to creating games as a group - code.org is a good place to start.
Nintendo are bringing out game builder garage that might be good too.
thanks for responding and offering those pointers. I do intend to check them out and see where they lead. I've a feeling this field of work will need alot of input and a variety of sources. Big names like NIntendo could do it very well to get involved!
I would also love to get a workshop like this running.
Our team tried to create a workshop using maybe RPG games as they have plenty of reading involved. Also looking at getting people involved in Dungeons and Dragons type gaming. As well as creative literacy, the use of 20 sided dice lend themselves very easily to working on math skills! We just have never gotten a chance to try it out.
When I saw your post Eilidh I spoke to my son about it. He is a keen RPG player over a number of years, face to face, but is currently doing it online. He uses a free platform called Roll20, and his friends use Discord to organise and voice chat. Downside for learning is that Roll20 automates the arithmetic, but he says there is still a lot of reading and writing involved. He advises that for beginners face to face is probably better, so they can see each other and ask for help when needed. My son has also written his own RPG in the past, so there are lots of possibilities for being creative. He is currently on summer hols from uni and would be happy to offer help/advice if needed!
That is brilliant! Thanks to both of you! I will 100% be having a wee look at Roll20! If he has any other website/app recommendations, that would be very much appreciated!
Hi thanks very much for responding. I have now been googling RPG. This is such a learning curve. So I am still not sure what you are talking about when saying RPG. However it does sound like something I should be exploring. When your son is playing face to face, do you mean he is actually in the same room as others playing? On one device? same kinds of devices? And so the contrast to virtual means what? A social element to this game set up then? So as you can see, I do have lots of questions and so it might be a great opportunity to communicate further to clarify and educate me. I don't know how to do this to respect GDPR etc. Perhaps someone could advise?
hi Lisa, RPG is role playing games, including Dungeons and Dragons. Traditionally RPGs are played face to face in a room with no digital devices required. However, like most things these days there are now online versions and that is what my son has been using since lockdown etc on Roll20. It is then played online in a similar way as if you were in the same room and talking to each other in roles, in real time. You are following a storyline that can be pre-written or you can create. Lots of fun I believe, and good social interaction as well as learning opps. If you want to get in touch, pl contact me on sue.holland-smith@dundeecity.gov.uk
Thanks for responding, I was wondering about Dungeons and Dragons but my initial reaction wonders if it is too American? I've never really heard it talked about much in the British social circle. Am I wrong?
I agree, it would be great to explore this further. Like you, I have often wondered how we could tap into this medium for ALN, but haven't got further than that. Unfortunately, I can't offer any advice or experiences that have worked for me in the past, but would certainly be interested in considering ways in which we could - seems like there would certainly be potential there.
Calum