The Future of Education in the Dominican Republic

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The Future of Education in the Dominican Republic 

December 17, 2010

The Future of Education – The Volatile Nature of Change and the Growing Impact of Technologies

Moving into the 21st Century it will be important for countries to prepare for a more flexible work place and economy. No longer will individuals retain the same job for their whole careers, but in society 3.0, as “knowmads,” will work for different bosses, changing jobs on a regular basis (Moravec, 2010). In an increasingly complex and volatile market place, children must be educated for an innovation, rather than an industrial, society. Learning is becoming ever more often invisible and personalized while modern media increasingly plays a greater role in extending the reach of the ivory tower (Katz, 2008; Cobo, 2010). Through the growth of OER and by freeing up data, information will reach a greater segment of the population (Downes, 2007; Berners-Lee, 2009; Rosling, 2007). With the ability to access information anywhere in the world, the politics of knowledge are changing. Previously unheard or marginalized voices can create a space for themselves in the largely accessible and deregulated worldwide web. Through the mobile phone individuals living in the poorest countries are now able to communicate with loved ones, rapidly find help when needed, and even have access to financial services (Donner, 2008; Sunkel & Trucco, 2010). The growing use of mobile phones is a clear example of leapfrogging by some third world countries (Moravec, 2009; INDOTEL, 2010). Within just a few decades, mobile phone subscriptions extended from 12.4 million in 1990 to 4.6 billion by 2009, the Internet has reached most places in the world, and “research firm Gartner, Inc., predicts that there will be 2 billion computers in use worldwide by the year 2014” (Katz, 2008; Heeks, 2008; ITU, 2010). Facebook, a social network site which launched only in 2004, already has an estimated value of over 30 billion dollars (Hardy, 2010). All of these changes and the increasing flattening of the world lead one to ponder what the future holds (Sachs, 2005; Friedman, 2007). The future is difficult to predict, and few people a hundred years ago envisioned a world similar to the one in which we live today.

As the world flattens, more individuals obtain the capacity to generate media and reach a wide audience. Marc Prensky (2009) recently argued that Youtube and other online media have increasingly replaced printed media as a mainstream form of communication (Prensky, 2010) Through Youtube and other media uploaders, individuals can publish their homemade or low budget TV series, recorded family events, remixed videos, personal news accounts, or even transform education through initiatives such as Khan’s Academy (http://www.khanacademy.org/).  Salman Khan teaches anyone interested in learning about a wide variety of subjects through his NGO, Khan’s Academy using ten minute video clips.  Ten minutes, Khan believes, is the ideal length of a lesson because of students’ short attention span (PBS, 2010) . Other OER initiatives such as MIT’s OpenCourseWare video allow a person to take a class by a world renowned scientist free of charge online (Abelson, 2008). The OpenCourseWare consortium (http://www.ocwconsortium.org/) and the Connexions consortium (http://cnxconsortium.org/) are spreading educational material across the world, promoting lifelong learning, supplementing traditional classroom lectures and discussions, increasing the availability of study materials for students, and in the future might possibly provide a free accredited education (http://www.uopeople.org/). Programs such as Nixty (http://nixty.com/) and OpenStudy (http://openstudy.com/) are trying to bridge the gap between having access to OER and quality information but lacking a learning structure, a curriculum and a certificate. Currently, the University of the People, a free online institute, is attempting to obtain accreditation. Also, the Technological Institute of Monterrey recently began offering free course to a limited number of students.

In the near future, perhaps through an algorithm tailored to the students learning style or through crowdsourcing, a “glocal” free online accredited university will develop where a large number of students will be able to obtain a quality education independent of their economic means. Having both the tool and the demand, it is only a matter of time before this happens, particularly in developing countries. The increasing rate of technological improvement allows for previously weaker economies to gain ground on G-8 states, and transform the relationship between the center and the periphery. Harkins (2010) argued that without modifications to the educational system of the United States, the US may increasingly revert towards becoming a developing country (Harkins, 2010). And this may well be the case, but as important to this recent change is the question, what is development? When have countries stop transforming and changing? Which country today could be argued to be truly developed? Should developing countries follow shadows of countries that have not yet developed, or should their chart their own water, leapfrogging into an unknown future. This paper looks at ways in which the Dominican Republic (D.R.) could move beyond a traditional development agenda by reforming their education system through the increased use of information communication technologies (ICT), augmented reality, open education resources (OER), and educational games (Faber, 2002; Benkler, 2008). If the trends of the Moore’s Law are to continue, the world may eventually reach a technological singularity where change will be a daily occurrence (Kurzweil, 2005; Schaller, 1997). The D.R. and other countries need to enact the best policies to meet this challenge. These are the exciting times in which we are living!

Video games are one of the recent changes that have rapidly expanded and taken the world by storm. According to Prensky (2009), young people today have spent twice as much time playing video games than they have reading books. They have spent even more time watching television, which together with video games have allowed individuals to visualize and learn about every area of the globe. Instead of being captivated by novelty in school, children increasingly “power down” during their school hours (Prensky, 2009). A small industry dominated by a monochromatic game in 1975, Pong, and the video game system (VGS) Atari allowed popularization of the playful interaction between men and an electronic program of limited astuteness but lightning fast reflexes. Today, VGSs are in their seventh generation. According to Tom Chatfield (2010), the video game industry has expanded at a very rapid rate, from 10 billion in 1990, to 20 billion in 2000, and 50 billion in 2010 , surpassing the net worth of the music industry (Chatfield, 2010). The video game industry is expanding and is expected to continue expanding. While a recent PEW (2008) survey showed that 97% of teenagers play video games, a large percentage of people at every age level are playing video games, including 60% of individuals between the ages of 50 and 64 (Lenhart, Jones, & Macgill, 2008).  The average video game player is 35 years old and has been playing for more than 10 years. Women represent 40% of gamers and almost all children do not remember a world without games (ESA, 2008 ). To them, video games are a place where they are truly engaged, where they can be part of a colorful, interactive, rapidly changing and exciting environment. People are increasingly spending greater amounts of their free time playing games and over 10,000 hours playing video games throughout their youth (McGonigal, 2010; Prensky, 2007).

Whatever their intellectual contribution, or lack of, games are a major component of modern day life. Not understanding games may make an instructor ineffective or distant to students. To harness the influence of games for the benefit of society, serious games have been developed in health, defense, religion, education, among other sectors (www.seriousgames.org). The term serious games was defined by Michael Zyda, author of Serious Games (1970), as “Serious game: a mental contest, played with a computer in accordance with specific rules, that uses entertainment to further government or corporate training, education, health, public policy, and strategic communication objectives.” (Zyda, 2005)

Within education, MIT’s The Education Arcade (www.educationarcade.org) and Games for Change (www.gamesforchange.org) (G4C) are two well known initiatives that are focus on developing, increasing access, and popularity of video game learning. However, despite the best intentions, serious games developed with an education purpose in mind have yet to evolve into a mainstream application and their quality is generally inferior to that of traditional games. Even so, many of them are increasingly engaging students. In this essay I evaluate a series of educational games, evaluating all of the games included in the G4C poverty games category. I will analyze these games based on the understanding of successful games from my personal experience as well as Tom Kelley’s 2007 archetypes developed in his book, The Ten Faces of Innovation.

Education and Games – Endless Possibilities for Growth and Research

“The possibilities for using a game like Civilization as a springboard into studying history are endless, but so far, there are less than three magazine or journal articles published on the topic and no one has done empirically-grounded research in the successes and challenges of using such a game to support learning (See Berson, 1996; Hope, 1996; Lee, 1994; Prensky, 2001; Teague & Teague, 1995) (Squire, 2002)”

The term educational games can be seen as an oxymoron (Kolson, 1996). While games can be informational and useful, labeling them as educational could reduce their appeal. Yet, as games continue to expand, this underperforming genre may transform in the context of the new challenge, the new frontier for education. The ability to replicate virtual products allows a game to potentially reach every child with a computer or a cell phone, thus increasing the impact an individual can have in education, particularly in places that are experiencing a brain drain and limited human capital. Through video games and other modern technologies individuals that have migrated from their home countries, can send back not only cash remittances, but “knowledge remittances” through videos they record and upload on YouTube, software they develop, or information they type on a forum or anywhere in the World Wide Web.  OER and educational video game development is also a way in which people from anywhere in the United States or another developed country can enhance the education of another person anywhere across the world, a way in which to transfer knowledge without borders. Yet, despite the promise of educational video games or the regular use of video games for education, Squire (2002) contends that neither video games advocates or opponents have scientifically demonstrated to a large extent the detriments or benefits of video games (Squire, 2002). Greater research is needed, and as more information is recorded and replayed, perhaps educators will work collectively on open education software projects to find a way to better tell the same old stories.

Taking aside educational games, many of which are included in the aforementioned websites, some highly popular traditional games have been used for education. Games such as Civilizations, SimCity, SimEarth, Colonization, Age of Empires, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Rome Total War and World of Warcraft have been studied for their educational potential and contribution (Kolson, 1996; Lobo, 2004; Pirius & Creel, 2010; Gee, 2003). Many of these, and other, games were developed to model a simplified version of reality while holding certain variables constant. Yet, because of their structure, it has been difficult for teachers to integrate video games into the classroom, and they are currently relegated primarily to a child’s “invisible learning.” More should be done to encourage the use of games in education, yet opponents to video game learning have other reasons to fear their increasing use, many of which are not unfounded.

Unfortunately, for some individuals, the urge to play video games can be difficult to control. Video game playing can be addictive and is an increasingly recognized medical condition (APA, 2007). Yet how many gamers use games in an unhealthy manner is highly debated. Trying to better understand the nature of Gamer, Yeh (2006) developed 10 categories and aggregated them into three groups: achievement, social, and immersion. His study found that playing games for achievements such as gaining power, competing with others, and optimizing character performance were most common with male players, while women tended to emphasize socializing and building relationships. Immersion was divided into discovery, role playing, customization, and escapism. After coding and quantitatively analyzing 3,000 surveys, and analyzing for problematic usage of online games, escapism and hours played were there the best predictors (Yee, 2006). A recent an Iowa State University study showed that 8.5% of youth gamers between 8 and 18 were considered addicted to video games (Gentile, 2009). Video games allow individuals to live in an environment where anything is possible. These are places where a person can look a different way, be of a different gender, have special powers, solve world-saving mysteries, or control the planet with God-like powers. Working primarily under a for-profit model, most games are also designed to develop a brand, to retain players, create a following, and make a profit, inadvertently, developing  an addiction for some users, as with other forms of entertainment. While this is only the minority of video game player, it is a factor that needs to be taken into consideration. Not only for parents and teachers to be observant of unwarranted behavior, but to learn what elements of games and which games are primarily linked to players’ addictions.

Games can reach students in ways that few other stimuli can replicate. Merrilea Mayo (2007) argued that video games massive reach, use of effective learning paradigms (experiential, inquiry based, goal setting, cooperation, continuous feedback, tailored instruction, cognitive modeling), enhanced brain chemistry, time spent on task, and the well documented outcome data, were ideal for engaging math and science students (Mayo, 2007). Not only are games increasingly “gamifying” education, but they can also influence others sectors of society, such as the workplace (Corcoran, 2010). Tom Chatfield (2010), in a very engaging TED talk, explained seven different ways in which games engage the brain and how this could be adapted for business, education, and government (Chatfield, 2010). He summarizes the impacts of games into: experience bars to measure progress, including both long term and short term aims within games, rewarding participants for their efforts, having rapid, frequent and clear feedback, including an element of uncertainty, providing windows of enhanced attention where a person can feel special, and developing an environment where individuals can interact with other people.

As education and other sectors of society increasingly become gamified, more detailed analyses of how different games could be utilized should be developed. The introduction of basic programming through programs such as Scratch (which uses actions blocks rather than code to program) to students is also very important (Corcoran, 2010). Games have a large number of genres and some genres may be more effectively used for educational games, yet all being capable of captivating a particular audience, it would be beneficial if a number of games in different genres were developed for different subjects to explain the same or similar concepts or topics. By doing so students would be able to learn from the game that best fits their ability. Mark Wolf (2001) categorized games according to interactivity with the player rather based on iconography, as normally used to categorize films. Some education games he mentions include basic math games; typing games; number games; spelling games and word games. (Wolf, 2000)

World of Warcraft (WoW) / Runescape / and Minecraft – Unlimited Education Possibilities

World of Warcraft, or WoW, is without contest the most used and best known MMORPG currently available (Sterling, 2010). World of Warcraft has over 11 million active accounts, most of which are located in the United States, with a strong following in Asia and Europe. Despite being developed 6 years ago, the game continues to grow and evolve. On December 7, 2010, the WoW changed once again with the release of Cataclysm, a new expansion pack. Since its beginnings, World of Warcraft has captivated hundreds of thousands of youth through its extensive and interactive world. Unlike other games, WoW is constantly providing players with new and exciting experiences (McKenna, Gardner, & Myers, 2010). In World of Warcraft individuals create characters on a server that holds up to 20,000 players and help characters within their faction to succeed (Nardi & Harris, 2006). The game characters are divided into two groups; The Horde and The Alliance. The characters complete quests for experience points and to win favor with a particular faction or city. While there are a few neutral cities inhabited by goblins, the cities accessible by the Horde cannot be peacefully visited by members of the Alliance, and vice versa. As such, many players create a second character to visit other cities and learn more about this virtual world.

Because of the appeal of the game to K-12 students and its emphasis on cooperation, various initiatives have developed to incorporate World of Warcraft into the afterschool curriculum (Pirius & Creel, 2010; McGonigal, 2010; Roscorla, 2010). Educators have explored the collaborative aspects of the game, as players are able to form guilds and battle through instances together (separate environments where only the five team members who entered can face a group of enemies (McKenna, Gardner, & Myers, 2010). The instance requires each player to agree to enter. Other teams of players entering would fight in a separate, exact replica of the instance), allowing them to have a shared experience and to learn about the importance of teamwork. Surviving and thriving in Warcraft requires students to work together, particularly when completing an instance. A balance of powers and abilities is needed for players to survive through the most difficult arenas.

WoW is also tailored to an individual player’s taste as he/she can choose to join either a PvP (Player vs. Player), non-PvP (Non-Player vs. Player), or a role playing server, each of them with a different community and traditions. Pirius (2010) analyzed cultures within WoW and argued that by requiring students to write interesting backgrounds for their characters they would enthusiastically engage themselves in creative writing exercises. Students could also learn about the math behind the character categories, as well as the inner workings of supply and demand through the various action houses (Pirius & Creel, 2010). Cognitive Dissonance, (http://cognitivedissonance.guildportal.com/), a wiki and a guild designed by educators developed a guild for teachers to explore the environment. Many educational programs using WoW focus on engaging at risk students. Reaching these students is imperative for decreasing the achievement gap, and reducing inequality in the United States and other parts of the world.

Competing for children’s attention against the entertainment business, it is not surprising that teachers are increasingly using games such as WoW to reach their students. Yet unlike other games available other the internet, WoW may not be the most useful tool to reach students in developing countries. While these students are also playing video games, most of the games they play are either pirated versions or available free of charge over the internet. As such, conducting a similar study in the D.R. would likely involve a different gaming environment. During recent visits to South America it was common to see groups of students playing Runescape at cybercafés. Allowing students to play free of charge, there are currently millions of Runescape accounts and over a million active users, and the second most played MMORPG according to the latest subscription chart (Sterling, 2010). Similar to WoW, Runescape also offers an expansive world in which to interact with thousands of other players and the ability for individuals to personalize their characters and sell their goods to other players. Both games are unofficially affected by “gold farming” or individuals selling game goods and game currency to other players for real money outside of the game environment, (a topic recently researched by ICT for Development scholars) and both games exhibit a high level of group play as players form long term relationships and groups where they compete and collaborate with one another (Heeks, 2008; Dibbell, 2007; Bilir, 2009). While Runescape lacks a permanent team system comparable to the guilds in Warcraft, Runescape players communicate and forms groups using the game chat system. As a free game with smaller bandwidth requirements, Runescape will probably have a greater rate of success than WoW in retaining students involved in Latin American countries.

Another online game which could be studied in the future could be Minecraft, an increasingly popular game where the world is an individual’s sandbox (Callaham, 2010). Players have been known to create rollercoasters, cannons, castles, a working 16 bit computer, and the battleship USS Enterprise in this lego-like environment (halnicholas, 2010). Minecraft could allow K-12 students to develop a community and create items such as a school, a sculpture or anything that occurs to their imagination. This virtual sandbox does not require a very powerful internet connection to function. Having a lifetime fee of 10 dollars (less than the monthly cost for WoW), and being able to run offline after logging in for the first time, this game would allow some students to work in their projects at home without an internet connection.

Exploring the use of Runescape, Minecraft and WoW at telecenters, cybercafés and information centers in the D.R., Venezuela and Argentina could serve as the basis for a comparative analysis of the impact of games and their possibilities for learning in Latin America to their use in the United States, as well as comparing and contrasting these three different games, observing their different strengths and weakness in regards to education. Collecting this information could help develop a video game that builds on the positive, inclusive aspects of highly popular MMORPGs while reducing the traditional hack and slash behavior of these games for critical thinking and educational components. The country in which I will most likely research in the near future will be the D.R.

A Background Overview of ICTs and Dominican Republic

With 10% of the population receiving close to 40% of the country’s GNP in 2007 (San Roman, 2009), the high level of inequality in the D.R. raises questions as to whether expenditure on ICT, rather than on improving the quality of the primary and secondary education levels, represents the best way for the country to increase equality while improving its economic outlook. Yet, as technology plays an ever increasing role in modern society, it could also be argued that in order to leapfrog into the future, the D.R. needs to prepare its workers for the increasingly knowledge and innovation driven nature of the economy (Davison et al, 2000), attempting not to imitate the west, but develop in its own style. With a limited tradition of research and innovation, the D.R. could invest in the development of OER to not only increase access to quality education material for all, but also to promote innovative and more constructive ways of teaching and learning. However, without an increased investment in education, present reforms will likely have a limited impact within the poorest sectors of the population.

The high level of inequalities in the D.R. dates back to the colonial era. Despite governmental efforts, the educational system and economic system developed by European colonists made increasing economic prosperity and reducing inequality a difficult challenge for former colonies to overcome (Bulmer-Thomas, 1994). The D.R. and neighboring Haiti had in place a plantation system in which only a small number of whites, constantly fearful of a revolt, controlled a much larger black slave population, who were constantly monitored and whose education was not encouraged (Moya Pons, 1992). As argued by Rodney (1972), the colonizers were fearful of educating slaves as it would make them more difficult to control. Out of up to 400,000 “taino” natives that inhabited Hispaniola when it was “discovered” by Columbus in 1492, only 3,000 remained by 1519 (Ibid. p. 29). Most of the natives died from epidemics as well as from the harsh treatment to which they were subjected by the colonists.

To continue the economic production and “development” of the island, the Spanish crown quickly began to import slaves from Africa and organized the island’s economy along various agricultural plantations. According to local documents, by 1546, black slaves accounted for around 12,000 individuals and were controlled by a white population of only 5,000 (Ibid. p. 34). While over time most of the population intermarried, and 84% of the population considers themselves mixed or of African ancestry, vestiges of the colonial system remain (CIA, 2010).

Just a few decades ago, in 1937, the then Dictator of the D.R,. Rafael Leonidas Trujillo (1930-1961), ordered the massacre of over 15,000 Haitians for having migrated to the D.R. without authorization. It is believed that many Dominicans with darker skin, and who resembled Haitians, also lost their lives. Trujillo’s government encouraged Europeans to migrate and open businesses with the aim of increasing the business sector as well as whitening the Dominican society. As a consequence, to this day, the poorest citizens of the D.R. are often of Haitian origin and tend to be of darker skin than wealthier families (Prado, 2009; Lozano, 2008; Murray, 2005; Lilon, 1999).

Recent demographic trends as well as a transition to a service economy have also increased the challenges faced by the government in fostering development. In recent years, the Dominican economy has transformed from a primarily agricultural economy to a service economy. Primarily through the growth of tourism, the service industry has grown to over 66% of GDP. This change has been beneficial to the D.R.’s economy, which has grown steadily since the 1980s, having an average economic growth rate of 5.43% from 2007 to 2009 and a Per Capita GDP of $8,300 (CIA, 2010). Free trade policies have led to the improvement of aggregate economic statistics for most Latin America countries, including the D.R. (UN Millennium Project, 2005). However, in 2008, 42% of the population lived below the poverty line (World Bank, 2008). In 2007, 11.2% of the population continued to live with less than a dollar a day (UNESCO, 2010), and the country had an unemployment rate of 14.9% (CIA, 2010).

Rapid urbanization and population growth has contributed to the government’s difficulties in developing the human resources needed to deal with the demands for new skills from the changing economy (OECD, 2008). While in 1950 the D.R. had a population of 2.134 million, of which 23.8% were urban dwellers, by 2010 the population had increased to 10.169 million inhabitants, with 68.54% living in urban areas (CEPAL, 2010). Similar to other developing countries that rapidly urbanized, the D.R. was faced with a complicated development challenge, a challenge that could be best met over time by empowering individuals to be creative and critical thinkers through a student-centered, progressive and competitive education system.

Previous governments attempted to increase both quality and access to primary and secondary education through a number of reforms (OECD, 2008, p. 92). In 1992, the country approved a major education reform through a 10 Year Plan (Plan Decenal) which promoted: 1) modernizing the educational structure, 2) the introduction of new technologies, 3) the promotion of literacy, 4) strengthening vocational education, 5) increased investment in education and 6) increasing community involvement (p. 104). The government programs yielded various positive results. Among them, the literacy rate increased steadily from 60.8% in 1980 to 70% in 1990, 78.5% in 2000, and 81.6% in 2008 (World Bank, 2010). Through Plan Decenal, the proportion of children between 6 and 17 that were attending school increased from 71.3% in 1991 to 86.4% in 2002 (p. 10).

However, despite moderate success in some areas, several indicators remain below expectations. By 2008, the average enrollment rate for Latin America and the Caribbean in secondary school was 94%, while in the D.R. enrollment was only 80%. The literacy rate remains below the regional average of 91% at 88.2% and total public spending on education (% of GDP) is low, at a level of 2.2% in 2007, compared to a world average of 4.6% in 2006 (World Bank, 2010). Primary education enrollment rate is also lower than the regional average, at 104% compared to 116%. In addition, according to a 2001 assessment of education throughout Latin America  by PREALC, urban children in the D.R. performed worst, and rural children only outperformed children in Bolivia and Peru, for whom Spanish is often a second language (Murray, 2005). The limited quality of the public education system has led to the rapid growth of private education institutions. While there were only 24 private schools in 1961, there were at least 2,500 by the year 2000 (Murray, 2005).

In recent years, however, the despite the implementation of the second Plan Decenal (2008-2018), the government has not substantially increased its education expenditure, instead focusing to a large extent on increasing access to ICT technologies for the general population. The government’s investments in ICT technologies recently resulted in the First Lady of the D.R. receiving the World Information Society Award in 2007 from the United Nations. She was honored for her contributions to building a more equitable and inclusive society by empowering Dominican families to improve their living standards through access to ICTs at Community Technology Centers (CTCs) (Cedeño Fernández, 2007). However, it is hard to assess to what degree these technologies are reducing inequalities and influencing primary and secondary education.

Other recent technological initiatives include the establishment of the Technological Institute of the Americas, (ITLA) founded in 2000, the Dominican Telecommunication Institute (INDOTEL), established in 1998, the Cyberpark of Santo Domingo, founded in 2001, and the new Network Access Point (NAP) of the Caribbean built in 2008 (INTEC, 2010; INDOTEL, 2010; PSCD, 2010; Dominican Today, 2008; ITLA, 2010).

The increased investment and emphasis on ICT development has contributed to the rapid expansion of Internet use in the D.R. in recent years, increasing from 183.687 Internet accounts in 2006 to 508.603 Internet accounts by June 2010.  Based on the average users per Internet connection, INDOTEL believes that 33% of Dominicans, or 3,214,371 people, had access to the Internet by June 2010 (INDOTEL, 2010). The D.R. has a cell phone use rate of 0.91 cellular phones per person (INDOTEL, 2010), and mobile phone coverage is increasing in rural areas. In addition, through the rural connectivity program, INDOTEL hopes to bring broadband access to every town with over 300 inhabitants by 2012 (San Roman, 2009; INDOTEL, 2010). The telecommunications industry has grown by over 15% annually between 1997 and 2004, with most of the traffic from the D.R. destined for the United States (Stern, 2006). With 1 million, or 9%, of Dominicans living outside the country, most of them in the United States, the D.R. received 3.477 billion dollars in remittances in 2009 (World Bank, 2010). Remittances are not only a major source of foreign revenue but  have also fueled the growing development of ICT, as families are in favor of investing to increase communication with their loved ones.

Regarding ICT and education, the government has promoted ICT through CTCs, the Educando.edu.do online community, Red-Wan, Virtual Areas for Education (AVES), and OER and software development at ITLA (ITLA, 2010; Khelladi, 2003) The most popular initiative in ICT for Education has been the CTCs. CTCs originated from the Costa Rican Little Intelligent Communities (LINCOS) initiative which was built in partnership with the MIT.  The project’s innovative approach of using decommissioned shipping containers to house computer labs proved enticing to donors (Granqvist, 2003; Granqvist, 2005; MIT, 2001).

This model was appealing to donors, but it was perceived as foreign, temporal, and inconvenient to Dominican users. LINCOS originated in Costa Rica, but it was exported soon after to the D.R. where it was subsequently modified. Granqvist (2005) argued that the lack of participation by the community in the planning stage of the program resulted in designers ignoring the fact that the containers felt hot and crowded, and that some of the software and manuals, including the operating system, were sp,eto,es not provided in Spanish (Granqvist, 2005). The container model was dropped and replaced with a traditional building during the Hipolito Mejia administration (2000-2004). It was further modified during the second presidency of Leonel Fernandez (2004-2008) to include meeting rooms and a radio station (Prado, 2009). They are also hoping to include libraries and other educational materials within the CTCs in the future. Working in collaboration with the Technological Institute of Monterrey, a pioneer in virtual education and OER, the CTCs include a variety of educational software and material (ibid).

Originally, most of the software and manuals were in English and they were limited in quantity and scope, yet that has increasingly changed as the initiative has developed (Granqvist, 2005). By the spring of 2009, there were 49 operational CTCs (Prado, 2009) and the Office of the First Lady has set a goal of building 135 CTCs in the upcoming years (Cedeño de Fernández, 2005). Comprehensively, the ICTs for Education initiatives in the D.R. are slowly bridging the digital divide. More and more individuals are obtaining access to advanced technologies.  In doing so, the D.R. is meeting the last Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 8-8f, which promotes increasing access to telephone lines, cellular subscriptions, and Internet use per 100 population (UNDP, 2010). The likelihood that OER and other educational technology tools will improve over time and the constructionist nature of their design allow for individuals who were previously unable to study to have the opportunity to learn how to use computers, operate a radio, and learn how to read, as well as use the educational software within the computer. Such resources provide a one of a kind opportunity for the individuals that have access to these newly built centers (Lozano P., 2007).

However, are the centers visited by a large percentage of the population? Who visits them? Prado’s (2009) study showed that, despite being located in rural areas where there is a higher poverty rate than in the cities (54.1% live under the poverty line),  most of the users of the three CTCs she surveyed had a higher level of education than the average population (World Bank, 2010; World Bank, 2008; Prado, 2009). According to Prado (2009), 61.5% of the CTC users in the locations she studied had completed high school, a level which is significantly higher than the national average in 2004 of 40%. In addition, 12.8% of the CTC users had a university degree, in comparison to the 3% nationwide enrollment rate in higher education in 2008 (pg 80).

Therefore, are these ICTs programs reducing or increasing the digital divide? Being unable to find a job with computer or IT skills in rural areas, individuals who become competent in ICT are likely to migrate to the cities. ICT also do not seem to be targeting individuals of Haitian descent. Prado’s (2009) studied showed that, as a result of anti-haitianismo, individuals were hesitant to label themselves as Haitian or of Haitian descent (Prado, 2009). Similar to previous studies mentioned within the InfoDev’s ICT Knowledge Map (Trucano, 2005), studies of the D.R. and the effectiveness of ICT are not supported by education outcomes data. After modifying the LINCOS project and increasing the participatory element of the CTC establishment process, individuals appear to be more supportive of the project (Prado, 2009; Granqvist, 2005) yet the initiative appears to be serving only a limited number of individuals, at high operating costs.

While CTCs and increased broadband access, as well as the introduction of educational programs through mobile phones, could, in the future, extinguish the digital divide and promote lifelong learning, current international indicators show that the D.R. public education system is failing to meet the MDG for universal primary education, while only a few students are benefiting from their ICT initiative. As such, the D.R. could pursue two courses of action; either increase, and perhaps as much as triple, the budget allocated to public education in an attempt to better national results, and/or increase access to ICT for every individual in the country by joining the OLPC initiative and providing every single child with a laptop and CTCs in all communities. In order to leapfrog and properly meet the challenges facing the D.R. in the 21st century, a much greater national emphasis needs to be given to all areas of education, not just ICT. This effort should be linked to the national Dominican identity, by promoting athletic activities such as baseball, and music education after school programs similar to Venezuela’s “El Sistema”, but with a bachata or merengue emphasis. While there have been noticeable improvements during the past decades, the D.R. continues to lag behind in educational achievements compared to other Latin American countries (Murray, 2005). ICT development and reducing the digital divide are part of the solution, but to fully reduce the inequality that have plagued the D.R. since the colonial years, a greater expenditure on education and improved relationships with Haiti would be beneficial.

Video Game Learning Dominican Republic

The Technological Institute of the America (ITLA) recently developed a freely accessible video game about the early history of the D.R.. The game was built by a group of students and employees at ITLA and it was acclaimed after its introduction as a symbol of success and progress (Jiaganan, 2009). The games surrounds the years during which the D.R. was under Haitian occupation and their struggle for independence. With an extensive landscape and 3D rendering of a colonial city, La Trinitaria allows a student to revisit some of the streets of their native city, Santo Domingo, in its former appearance. The player can also interact with non-playable characters (NPC) that act and behave as 18th century Dominicans.

Unfortunately, since the release of La Trinitaria (http://www.itla.edu.do/softwareeducativo/trinitaria/), there has been almost no further development in the area of video game learning in the D.R. Instead of building on these achievements, the program has since been marginalized and the links to download half of the files needed to run the game are broken. Under a freeware platform the game intended to reach a large proportion of Dominicans with access to personal computers and the internet. Unfortunately, the game files are quite sizable and the game cannot currently be emulated in a hand held device. ITLA, through its partnership with the Technological Institute of Monterrey, and its promotion of OER, could act as the springboard for a future, nationally promoted, ICT enhanced curriculum with a video game learning component. The following section explores a prototype for such a project.

A Video Game Learning Curriculum:

This section develops one approach by which students will be able to obtain a video game learning certificate after completing four different classes. To ensure that students understand both the technology as well as the methodology behind video game development and learning, and have a perception of the historical development of video games, students will study courses in: video game design, education video game evaluation, video game making, video game enhanced learning. The completion of all four courses will result in the students receiving a certificate. The students will be encouraged to be innovative and different activities to encourage innovation will be undertaken. While modern technology has increased the average IQ in society, studies show a drop in the creative quotient (CQ) scores of students. Building on the giant shoulders of Einstein, if “imagination is greater than knowledge”, then for our society to move forward, imagination must be promoted.

Video Game Design Course:

  • Students will develop a character (including time projections of who they want the character to be 5/10/20/50 years into the future and how will the character get there). Students will develop both realistic and imaginative characters.
  • Students will develop a number of characters throughout the school year as well as continuously adding information to their particular characters which will then be compiled into a database. Characters can be related and linked through family or social relations.
  • Students will research the different professions they would like their character to work in, and what constitutes their regular daily schedule. Students will be encouraged to find information about particular professions through different types of media and sources.
  • Students will discuss the positive and negative aspects of their characters, as well as compare and contrast their realistic to their imaginative characters. They will discuss how the development of both realistic and imaginary characters differs.
  • Steps in the design process may include: Choosing a Goal and a Topic, Research and Preparation, Design Phase, Pre-Programming Phase, Programming Phase, Play-Testing Phase, Post-Mortem (Crawford, 1982)
  • Students will map the city and/or areas they wish to include within the video game. These areas can be mapped by the use of either drawing or pictures. The possibility for mapping them through video should also be researched as more students have the ability to record videos through mobile phones. Creative ways of drawing the city, from simplified, cartoonish versions or accurate representations will be encouraged.
  • Open source software will be used for editing and to bringing ideas together. To encourage creativity and cooperation, students will encourage others by providing a positive comment to their work before providing any constructive criticism.
  • Students will interview adults and other people about their life experiences, asking questions about their history and what is important to them. They will act as anthropologist as well as cross pollinators, not only asking and recording individual’s statements but also seeing how they interplay with other individuals’ experiences. After returning to school students will discuss their findings.
  • Through their research, students will learn about the hurdles and struggles individuals faced during their lives and how they reacted to them. Students will be encouraged to record and write a family history.
  • Students will discuss the concept of memes as units of culture (a concept developed by Richard Dawkins in the Selfish Gene, 1990) and analyze which memes are prevalent and how they interrelate. They will discuss what makes a meme to fail while others replicate. Within this discussion, students will think of ways in which the games embody the concept of memes.
  • Game designs will be posted on a bulletin board where students will be able to learn more about different students’ ideas, incorporate others’ concepts, and collaborate and promote the projects that appear most appealing.
  • The instructor will serve as the director, making sure that the project keeps moving along the timeline.

Video Game Making Course:

  • Students will begin by using block building tools such as Scratch or Google mobile apps developer. Older and more advanced students will learn programming codes such as Visual basic, C++ or Python. Through tutorials and trial and error students will be expected to learn to debug programs. Students will also learn Flash and html.
  • Students will be responsible for evaluating and learning about the limitations of various programming languages.
  • Games will be developed for a number of platforms, and students will learn about the strengths and weaknesses of every system. An evaluation of the game control system as well as the interface are important to provide the best gamer with the best possible experience.
  • Advanced students will analyze how a number of open source games were built by reverse engineering and fragmenting their code. They will then attempt to improve on some of those games’ features. Students will work on projects independently or in groups. To promote creativity, game improvements do not have to be educational in nature.

Video Game Evaluation Course:

Despite the increasing number of resources available over the internet, one of the greatest frustrations for teachers who hope to integrate games into their classrooms is the lack of a major website or online space where teachers can obtain both the games and a detailed lesson plan that includes ways in which these games could be used in a class. While some wikis (http://games4learning.pbworks.com) are increasingly collecting this information, students within this program can help! When evaluating games, students will analyze the following criteria:

  • What is the objective of the game? (What is the game trying to solve? How does it end?)
  • What is the genre of the game? (Role Playing, Adventure, First-Person Shooter, etc)
  • What is the topic or environment in which the game is played? (18th century, poverty in the 3rd World, etc)
  • What are some of the spatial properties of the environment? (list, specify what you found interesting)
  • Is the game captivating? Why? ( 1 to 5 and open ended response)
  • What is the difficulty of the game within its expected audience? (1 to 5)
  • How is this game marketed, how should it be marketed?
  • How long does the game take to understand? (Learning Curve)
  • How long does the game take to complete? (Game Playing Time)

Students will make a list of all the games they plan to, and have, evaluated. Depending on the game, various students may be assigned to evaluate the same game and provide separate, asynchronous reports. Individuals who use their time to play without evaluating the game will be removed from this pilot program. Students will be asked to consider themselves as part of a game in which they must find and evaluate games in order to save the planet or their space ship from ignorance, inequality, hate, and indifference.

Learning through Games Course:

Students will play different games, usually each game for less than a week. Students will play games to learn about a variety of subjects, including history, language learning, scientific concepts, and mathematical equations, among other topics.

  • Students will play all types and generations of group computer games.
  • Budget constraints may limit the use of other platforms. Mobile games will also be used.
  • The titles of the games as well as the lesson plans will be predetermined.
  • This list of games for the course will be evaluated at the end of every semester to include additions from the games students who took the video game evaluation class found insightful.
  • Students will not only learn through video games, but will also play traditional games such as Life and Monopoly.
  • Students will play games such as World of Warcraft, Runescape and Minecraft for a longer amount of time. Within these games students will forms groups to solve quests and build a guild or an online community.
  • The students will periodically write reflections of their experiences.
  • The students will switch between these major game titles various times during the year. In Minecraft they will be building group cities.
  • Other games such as the Total War series, as well as the Sims series may take longer than a week per game to explore. SimCity, SimEarth, Spore, and the Sims are all complex games that may benefit from longer gameplay sessions and reflection.

Testing the Model – Video Game Evaluation

To serve as a model of video game evaluation and to have a better understanding of what serious education games are out there, the following section explores and evaluates a category of games within the Games for Change (G4C) website. The website divides games into 9 categories: human rights, economy, public policy, public health, poverty, environment, global conflict, news, and politics. For the sake of brevity, this paper will only evaluate the games within the poverty category with the exception of Global Conflicts: Latin America, for which I was unable to obtain a trial account despite repeated attempts to contact them.

Games for Change (G4C) – Poverty Games – Video Game Evaluation

3rd World Farmer (11 and up) – In this game a player acts as the manager of a family experiencing financial hardship in a developing country. During the game, the player can decide what crops to plant. With a limited amount of funds and a fixed amount of land the player must help the family to survive, and escape poverty, while possibly obtaining an education. Some of the decisions players must make include which equipment to buy and whether or not to invest in the community. It’s a basic game with a short learning curve. The game could be supplemented with a documentary or an explanation of the number of people that currently live under these conditions. By playing the game, students will be able to better understand the decisions people living in poverty must make to survive and how their lives are different from people living in countries with a higher income level. During the game the family is affected by theft, war, illness and other undesired circumstances. Developed in flash and freely available online, the game can easily be accessed by a teacher or a student with a computer without installing any additional programs. The game could easily be ported to a mobile phone.  (Difficulty: 6-10)

Ayiti: The Cost of Life (11 and up) – Similarly to 3rd World Farmer, the player controls the decisions of a family while managing their limited resources. This game is very difficult, and despite playing it over ten times I was unable to keep the family alive! Hurricanes, theft and sickness are the three main catastrophes players can experience. Sickness greatly handicaps the family and it may have been exaggerated for educational purposes. Two different NGOs randomly provide support for the family, but it is often not sufficient. The most likely outcome of the game is a sense of frustration. The balance between work, revenue, and managing the characters health is very difficult. The game includes more animations and is more colorful than 3rd World Farmer. Designed in Flash, the game could also be ported into a mobile phone. The game ends with a quiz where students are asked what they learned from the experience. These questions help you reflect about the family’s experience. It’s a great game, and worth playing at least once! (Difficulty: 9 out of 10)

Karma Tycoon (11 and up) – In this game you are in charge or developing an NGO chain from the ground up. The game takes place within the United States and the player’s objective is to try and serve as many people in the community as he or she can without getting indebted. The game is won when your Karma reaches 100%! To reach the goal, the player must expand their NGO to five different locations. This is possible by applying for, and obtaining, grants. Unfortunately, as a teaching tool, Karma falls somewhat short. While to win the game a player must have a good credit history and a history of providing services to the community, the most important variable in the game is an artificial rapid trigger!  Making decisions and expanding as quickly as possible is the easiest way to win and a player can figure this out shortly after the NGOs first monthly bill.  If more grants are obtained before the bill is due, the NGO can expand and increase its Karma at a quicker rate by serving more people. This aspect of the game may be teaching the opposite of what students maybe should learn, such as the importance of making decisions after carefully weighing other options. At the start of each game session, a player can decide whether to open a homeless shelter, an animal shelter, a performing arts center, a senior center or a youth center, yet, because of the need for a rapid response, little reflection goes into which building improvements would have the best cost-benefit ratio when improving a particular center. In addition, the operating costs of the center do not increase as the center expands and adds technological equipment and amenities such as a swimming pool. After a couple of runs, it becomes evident that the game formula stands in sharp contrast with the reality the students are expected to understand. The game has a great concept but requires an improved design. This game is also built with Flash, but it requires the player to open an account. (Difficulty: 3 out of 10)

Real Lives 2010 (11 and up) – Real Lives 2010, the sequel to Real Lives 2007, does not differ greatly from the original. Unfortunately, many of the game design problems remain. The game is at first very interesting and uses a very expandable concept. When the game starts you are randomly assigned an individual in some country in the world. You have just been born and, for the beginning year of your life, the decisions you can make are limited. In many instances going to school will not be an option for you and you may have to migrate legally or illegally to another country. The cost for all of these factors is taken into consideration. The game is very rich and broad, yet it quickly becomes dull as the game progresses. For the player, most of the decisions are attached to a numeric value and, regardless of the country in which you are living, they “feel” the same. The table where living expenses are calibrated does not provide for a visual reinforcement or a definition of what a normal diet or an ample diet is in that particular country. What are the results of living in a small house compared to a wealthier estate? Students will greatly benefit from two or three runs through this game (what the trial version allows) where the player will be presented with information regarding a person’s life conditions in different countries. Real Lives 2010’s addition of 3D character representations falls short and the characters look generic. Marketing the software on a shareware model, at a cost of $25, rather than using adware, donationware or freeware models, limits its potential users. Reducing the cost would likely increase sales, awareness, and even revenues. Cost could be reduced to $1 or $2. (Difficulty: 4 out of 10)

Hurricane Katrina – Tempest in the Crescent City (11 and up) – Unlike the other games in this category, Hurricane Katrina is a first person adventure. As a young African American heroine, the character tries to rescue as many people in New Orleans before night falls. She has to swim under obstacles, break roofs, and provide people with flashlights and canned food. The game is simple but would be particularly appealing for young students. While it is rated as a game for people who are 11 or older by G4C, the game should probably be marketed primarily to elementary and middle school. The game is very short and would only contribute to half of a class session. More levels including different lessons could be built. The character remains flat and without a complex personality. Apart from expanding the game, Hurricane Katrina would also benefit from a post-quiz similar to Ayiti’s. The basic drawings, animation and nature of the game suggest it could act as a model for students to aim for in their initial projects. (Difficulty 2 out of 10)

Food Force (7 and up): Despite being rated for younger children than the other games within this category, Food Force was probably the most captivating game. The game explained the functions of the United Nations Food Program in a comprehensive and appealing manner. Through interactive videos a player was invited to become a crewmember of their rescue mission. In the game, the player needs to drop food aid bags without hitting refugees, map refugee camps, drive a truck through a number of obstacles, figure out the right recipe for a food pack, and distribute food to five projects within the village rebuilding initiative as part of the “Food for Assets” program. As is the case with Real Lives, the game must be downloaded and installed. It would beneficial if the game could be adapted to also run virtually.  The game is diverse but lacks depth and the difficulty level needed to increase its replay factor. Various aspects of the game could easily be expanded into games of their own. Apart from the complication of installing the program on a series of computers, adapting the game to the classroom should not be difficult. The game is designed so that a player can play through the whole game in less than an hour. (Difficulty 5 out of 10)

What is Next?

This paper represents the beginning of a project. The the video games within G4C could be further explored and, through the evaluation of these and other games, students will be able to envision and design a game that imitates the most successful elements of previous experiences. There is much to build on and extensive ground to cover. Fortunately, unlike a classroom where the teacher must reteach the material every year, video games can be copied, used and reused as long as one copy remains available and accessible to others. ICTs allow for the collectivization of information and, through the Internet, have the capacity to be accessed anytime, and anywhere.

Despite the rapid growth of the video game industry education games continue to be limited in appeal and quantity. Sites such as G4C and The Education Arcade are attempts to bring about change but much more work needs to be done. Through the growth of educational video games, children in the future may be able to learn about a variety of subjects through a number of ways apart from the traditional teaching structure, moving closer to a personalized education. Video game education will serve to enhance traditional forms of learning but will not, for the foreseeable future, replace traditional education.

However, ICTs in general are transforming education and may be the best way for some to currently obtain an education. Through the future expansion of OER, individuals may be able to obtain a quality education anywhere in the world for a very small cost. Hopefully many of the educational games to be developed will fall within OER and will be freely accessible to the public. The use of advertising, donations or asking for a small payment for the software could help to increase access to future ICT education products. In order to decrease inequality governments must also continue to reduce the digital divide and promote computer literacy, not only in developing countries but also throughout rural areas across the United States.

Researching in the D.R. will also allow for a comparison of video game usage across three different groups: immigrants living in the United States, their families in the D.R. who are currently receiving remittances, and individuals in the D.R. who do not benefit from those transactions. While this program is designed with the D.R. in mind it could be implemented elsewhere. Increasing student engagement will likely increase their learning achievements and could reduce the dropout rate across borders. The last 70 years have shown us that the future is difficult to predict and rapidly changing. Students must be given the best opportunity to prepare themselves for this increasingly changing environment. While youth today are bombarded by information, a large quantity of it is of limited educational content and primarily for entertainment. The more valuable information that can be imbedded within our environment the more likely children will grow up and be prepared to take on the challenges of tomorrow. Educational games are one of the ways in which we can meet this challenge!

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