I am a cynical optimist. In general, I believe that the world is becoming a better and better place. In broad terms, people having been getting healthier and wealthier since the beginning of human history. However, I also believe that anything can and will go wrong at any particular moment and that we are living in a world that is continually on the brink of disaster. I do not feel that these philosophies are necessarily contradictory, and I know that they have little to do with this week’s discussion topic, but I feel that understanding this part of who I am will help explain the seeming contradiction of my philosophical orientation.
My primary research interest is the benefits and pitfalls of using gamification—the structures, methods, and rewards found in games, especially video games—in education. I want this to be more than just playing games in class, but to find ways of using game-like systems to generate interest and understanding in learners. I am specifically interested in finding ways to motivate students while still providing valuable feedback that allows students, and their teachers, to understand what they learned and why they learned it.
Ontologically, I am a realist—almost to a Platonic degree. However, from an epistemological standpoint, I am a constructivist. To explain this, I need to refer to the discussion of a table in Dr. Patton’s video (around the 12:30 mark). He states that a constructivist view of the reality of a table is based on what we have learned from our culture and experiences which helps us to define something as a table rather than a desk or a shelf. I hold with this concept as I believe much of our reality and understanding is based on our experiences, culture, and background. However, I also believe that the table is an object of its own free of any human definition. It is our viewpoint that determines how we see a table: a carpenter, a chemist, and a home designer might all see the same table quite differently. Still, there are underlining truths of the table’s structure—from the quantum state on up—that allow it a physical presence. Thus, I acknowledge that there are fundamental Truths that are colored by the truths we can perceive (Laureate Education, 2016).
As a constructivist, my research would tend to follow along the lines of qualitative inquiries and action research projects. As a great deal of what I would like to discover about gamification would be based on people’s personal experiences and feelings about how it is affecting their learning or their students’ learning, using surveys, anecdotal evidence, and qualitative measurements would certainly be a part of my research. However, as a realist, I would also be concerned with quantitative elements especially in using assessments to chart student growth, knowledge learned, theories applied, and overall tangible benefits of a gamification style of education (Burkholder, Cox, & Crawford, 2016).
References
Burkholder, G. J., Cox, K. A., & Crawford, L. M. (2016). The scholar-practitioner’s guide to research design. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Publishing.
Laureate Education (Producer). (2016). Introduction to research design [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.