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| Zombie-Horde |
Rogers and Street (n.d.) take an ethnographic approach to literacy where learning is viewed “as activities which everyone engages in in the course of operating within their lifeworlds” (p.2).
In considering this statement, I observe the students in the Hall of Residence where I currently live and work. Most of them are first year university students residing at the hall and living away from home for the first time. What is very interesting to me is their out of class use of social media and other technologies. By other technologies, I include mobile phones, laptops, Nintendos, internet gaming sites and Xbox.
On my floor, there are 42 students. In their time off, most of them spend time in the floor common room playing Xbox games. One game is the standout star of games and involves killing copious amounts of zombies. Up to four students can play this game at a time and the goal appears to be to kill as many zombies as possible. If the students aren’t killing zombies, they are engaged in watching other students kill zombies, usually whilst eating chocolate and potato chips!
Along with the Xbox zombie killing, a new movie is coming out tonight, about… you guessed it, zombies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3ErWNBX9Rc
Students with a student card can go to the premier for free
and there will be prizes awarded for the best dressed zombie, along with free
zombie make-up makeovers at the cinema itself.
I ask the question; are these the student activities, that
Rogers and Streets (n.d.) refer to as “engaging in in the course of operating
within their lifeworlds” (p.2)? If
the answer is yes, which I believe it is, how can I teach, taking an
ethnographic approach, using online media and popular culture as my vehicle?
Bradford (2010) states that when young people play video
games “they do so as embodied subjects whose identities are shaped by the
cultures in which they are situated, the circumstances of their lived
experience, and the particularities of their dispositions, abilities and
interests” (p.54).
Bradford (2010) likens games to fiction, as they “position
their audiences and imply knowledge and skills” (p.56), and suggests players
“negotiate meanings dialectically” (p.54) where players’ experiences are
different from one another, like that of watching a film or reading a book. Bradford
(2010) further argues that games “activate new forms of textual pleasure and
new forms of sociality” (p.63) and Karen (2012) states that players not only
acquire knowledge about the game, they also develop “unique strategies
developed using their critical analysis abilities” (p.1).
Karen (2012) argues that “popular culture permeates almost
every aspect of people’s lives” (p.1) and raises the question of how we
“incorporate students’ interests, skills and motivation acquired on these
platforms” (p.1) into the learning environment. The following
suggestions are offered:
- teachers should firstly learn to play the games themselves
- examine the key values, character portrayal, ideologies,
film techniques and assess students understandings of these using Monkey Survey
http://www.surveymonkey.com/
- examination of
examples of society “norms” against the “hero” and critical reflection on the
values and the perpetration of the
“‘status quo’ of white supremacy over other cultures” (p.1)
- re-creation of alternative story versions using hypermedia
links and printed text to redefine negative values and meanings
- developing blogs to “allow the flow of ideas” (p.1)
- encouraging critical analysis of themes, values and language
used
- comparing YouTube videos of past cinematic attempts and the
film techniques used to portray “‘shock’ value with regard to feelings” (p.1).
Exploring
video and online games in more depth as a teaching tool is a valuable literacy
and critical thinking resource.
For a foundation level class of young people, I think video games could
be a valuable resource to engage and foster interest that is in keeping with their
social and “lifeworlds”.
As
teachers, we expect learners to enter our world, so I think it is important
that we also be willing to enter our students’ worlds… the concept of Ako
springs to mind.
On that note, I
think it is time to learn a little more about zombies and try out a video game!
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| DearZombiesBW |
References
Bradford, C. (2010). Looking for my corpse: Video games and
player positioning. Australian Journal of
Language and Literacy, 33(1) 54-64.
DearZombiesBW [Photograph]
.
macotar.blgspot.com. Retrieved
April 10, 2013, from
Karen, (2012). Implications for teachers when I
incorporating popular cultural texts into the curriculum. Beyond the Lines: Popular Culture, Texts and 21st Century
Learners [Web log post]. Retrieved from
Rogers, A. & Street, B. (n.d.). Using
ethnographic approaches to understanding and teaching literacy: Perspectives
from both developing and western contexts.
SummitScreenRoom. (2012, November 9). Warm Bodies – Trailer [Video file].
TheBunpie. (2012, April 15). Run for your freak’n life [Video file].
