TEMPE — Arizona State University is seeking to help students earn college credits while playing video games.
College officials are collaborating with the nonprofit Games for Change to develop “microcredentials” for various video games, enabling gamers to earn college credit based on the educational value derived from gameplay.
The microcredentials would be given out based on the type of game, environment and actions completed while playing.
They could then be stacked together to show what knowledge a student is gaining in areas such as digital literacy, coding and more, according to Mark Ollila, the founding director of ASU’s Endless Games and Learning Lab.
“If you’re playing a game like SimCity or Assassin’s Creed that you’re learning so much about the Renaissance and history and so forth … you’ve just got a microcredential in resource management or in city planning or something that could actually be used as a pathway to a degree,” Ollila told KTAR News 92.3 FM.
The goal for this partnership is to help students gain job skills by taking advantage of what the students are already doing and the technology currently available, according to an announcement from ASU.
Elina Ollila, the associate director of the Endless Games and Learning Lab, added that the partnership has opportunities to expand these credentials beyond ASU, providing learning opportunities to gamers around the world.
“Think of a world where a parent could have a look at the game with their child and it tells you the child is going to learn about history, they’re going to learn about collaboration, they’re going to learn about these skills,” Ollila said.
College credits already given out as part of partnership
Mark Ollila added that the partnership has already given out microcredentials during a recent event called Game Champs, where gamers gathered at ASU to build games and unlock learning skills.
He said future events like that could turn into a space of growth.
“Wouldn’t it be fascinating that, as we develop the partnership, and we start doing microcredentials around hackathons and game jams, where skills are rewarded with microcredentials, that the learners are discovering,” he said.
Elina Ollila said this partnership is simply acknowledging the learning that is already happening online and using it to advance the player.
“No technology is inherently good or evil, and let’s make sure that we can make the most out of this,” she said.
What else will ASU and Games For Change partner on?
Along with creating the microcredentials, the partnership between ASU and Games For Change will also partner on research projects that will look at the role of artificial intelligence in schools, how healthy video game-based ecosystems can be designed and how to develop workforce-aligned competencies through video games.
Games For Change will also be given access to modular courses designed by ASU, including courses meant to support inclusive and adaptive learning.
The Endless Games and Learning Lab is part of ASU’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.
Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.
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