How video games can level up the way you learn | Kris Alexander

Elise Hu (0:00)

Hey, y'all, Ilyse Huw here. My three daughters just headed back to school with new backpacks, new teachers, and all that first day energy. And back to school season can make me feel like a student again, too. So for this month's TED Talks Daily playlist, we have gathered five of our favorite talks about learning, teaching, and the joy of staying curious. No textbooks required. Happy listening.

You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hume. You probably know how hard it is to rest a young person away from their screens in order to focus on school. But video game expert Kris Alexander says, why not both? Why couldn't the augmented reality and virtual worlds we experience in most innovative video games be embedded in our education? In his 2023 talk from TED at Destination Canada, he shows us the possibility for learning that's already available if schools engage with it, after a short break.

And now, our TED Talk of the Day.

Kris Alexander (1:19)

When I was in senior year university, this is around 2004 I was in one of those classes where the teacher would read the slides word for word as part of a three hour lecture. Oh, y'all know what I'm talking about?

Elise Hu (1:34)

Okay, cool.

Kris Alexander (1:37)

I ended up doing all right in the class by catering to my own learning style. After a little bit of experimentation, I found that playing a video game during this lecture, a game like Tetris or in this particular case, Zelda the Minish Cap, helped me pay attention because the primary way I engage with information is by listening. And this meant that the teacher's voice with matching text were a distraction for me. Anyway, I was at the back listening and participating, mind you. But one day, this teacher decided to call me out. He stopped the class and said, Excuse me, are you playing video games in my class? And then I said, I am, sir, but this is the way that I learn. And then he said, There's no way that you're learning anything. And then I said, Sir, I'm not interrupting. I am learning and I'm even participating. And then he said, No, I don't want you playing video games in my class.

And then I said, Sir.

I'm going to place this Game Boy Advance on the table. Repeat your last two sentences word for word. And then I'm going to pick up this Game Boy Advance and keep playing. And then he said, I don't think you can do that. And then the class went, ooh.

You can picture that? All right, cool. So I placed my Game Boy Advance on the table. I looked him right in his eye, repeated his last two sentences word for word, and then I picked up my Game Boy Advance and kept playing. And then you know what he said? All right, carry on. So since that day, I've become a professor myself, a video game designer. And I'm convinced that there's absolutely something that video games can teach the world of academia, like how they can cater to human learning, how they can enhance online instruction, and how they can provide clear objectives. Let me explain.

Humans can take in information in three core ways, audio, text and video. Now, as I demonstrated earlier, I'm an oral learner, which means I prefer to take in information via sound. And some studies show that when two or more of these channels are used, learning gains are higher, but there's a catch.

Now, I was struggling to pay attention in this class because of something called cognitive overload, which can happen when audio, text and video aren't different enough when used together. So when the audio of my teacher matched the excessive text on his slides, my brain was overloaded. Teachers who use technology in the classroom need to ensure that each channel is complementary, otherwise students are going to have difficulty transferring information from working memory to long-term memory. Now, I fixed the problem for myself by essentially using the teacher's voice as the soundtrack for the game I was playing. And this brings me to my first point. Video games by design are a complex blend of audio, text, video, and interactivity that can intensify focus. That was a point of my PhD.

And because of their enjoyment factor, these components of video games can help with something our students desperately need in the classroom. Motivation. Now, at their best, video games can immerse us, focus our attention, and provide clear objectives with demonstrated output. You know how well you're doing every step of the way. And video games can teach multiple things simultaneously. Like, there's this class I teach, Game Design, where I like to use a video game called Virginia. Now, in Virginia, you play as Ann Tarver, a newly hired FBI agent who is tasked with internally investigating someone who just happens to be the only other female agent in the precinct, and this game is based on a true story. Now, on the surface, I'm using Virginia to teach game design, but I'm also using the mechanics of video games to trick students into exploring complex concepts like history, sexism, racism, corporate culture, and tokenism while we play this game together. To me, effective instruction merges theory and practice. Each week in this class, I like to pick a unique video game that matches the game theory and sprinkles in a couple of life take aways. We play the game together and talk about it, and then the students have to go and make video games themselves. And this all happens, wait for it, online.