Lead Faculty: Constance Steinkuehler

Massively multiplayer online videogames (MMOGs) function as naturally occurring online learning environments, recruiting complex and sophisticated forms of (always situated, always distributed) cognition in the course of successful play.

My research investigates the intellectual work that goes on within such games and the cultures of participation that emerge both within their virtual worlds (between login and logoff) and beyond (in the online fandom spaces around them). What intellectual practices constitute gameplay? How do those practices align (or fail to align) with other activities valued outside the game, such as scientific reasoning or collaborative problem solving? How do gamers acquire these skills and what might this tell us about contemporary educational practices? I believe that better understanding MMOGs will enable us to rethink what it means to be "literate" in a globally networked, online, "flat" (Friedman, 2005) world - and perhaps even give us some ideas about the kinds of teaching and learning necessary to get us there.

More information is available at my website.

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