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. 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 changing and providing players with new and exciting experiences (McKenna, Gardner, & Myers, 2010). In World of Warcraft individuals create characters on a server which has close 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. In the game environment 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 account 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). 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. 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 students could be required to write interesting backgrounds for their characters, and learn about the math behind the character categories, as well as the inner workings of supply and demand through an action house (Pirius & Creel, 2010). Cognitive Dissonance, a wiki and a guild designed by educators, focuses on the applications of WoW to engage at risk students. Reaching at risk 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 World of Warcraft to reach their students. Yet unlike other games available other the internet, World of Warcraft 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 Dominican Republic 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 it is currently one of the five mmorpgs with a strong user base. Similar to World of Warcraft, 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, and both games exhibit the generation of peer groups where players compete and collaborate with each other. While Runescape is more individualistic, lacking a permanent team system comparable to the guilds in Warcraft, Runescape will probably have a greater rate of success than World of Warcraft in retaining students involved in developing countries.
Another software program which could be studied in the future in relationship to its use both in the United States and developing countries would be the increasingly popular Minecraft, where the world is an individual’s sandbox. Players have been known to create rollercoasters, cannons, castles, a working 16 bit computer, and the battleship USS Enterprise in this lego-like environment. 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 these games at telecenters, cybercafés and information centers in the Dominican Republic, 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 and their use in the United States as well as comparison between different games, observing the strengths and weakness of different games in regards to education. This information could possibly help to later develop a video game that builds on the positive, inclusive aspects of MMORPGs while reducing the traditional hack and slash in favor of stronger educational components.
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 Dominican Republic (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
ITLA recently developed a freely accessible video game about the early history of the Dominican Republic. 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. Unfortunately, since the release of La Trinitaria (http://www.itla.edu.do/softwareeducativo/trinitaria/), there has not been any further development in the area of video game learning in the Dominican Republic. 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.
Video Games in the 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.
