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Participatory culture as professional development: Preparing teachers to use Minecraft in the classroom
Author(s) -
Kuhn Jeff,
Stevens Vance
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
tesol journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.468
H-Index - 14
eISSN - 1949-3533
pISSN - 1056-7941
DOI - 10.1002/tesj.359
Subject(s) - participatory culture , citizen journalism , professional development , pedagogy , participatory action research , video game , community of practice , participatory design , online community , psychology , multimedia , sociology , mathematics education , computer science , engineering , world wide web , media studies , anthropology , mechanical engineering , parallels
As computer‐based game use grows in classrooms, teachers need more opportunities for professional development aimed at helping them to appropriately incorporate games into their classrooms. Teachers need opportunities not only to learn about video games as software but also about video games as culture. This requires professional development that embeds educators in the social practice of games while they learn how to play and implement them in classroom practice. This article describes the design considerations around the ongoing TESOL Electronic Village Online ( EVO ) Minecraft Massively Open Online Course ( MOOC ) that mimics the social practices around video games by reimagining professional development as a participatory culture. This participatory‐culture approach anchors participants’ learning of the video game Minecraft in a multiyear community of educators who share ideas, post videos, blog, and play Minecraft together. This community of practice raises awareness among its participants of the participatory cultures in which our students play video games.