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MUVE-ing Forward
8/1/2008
A new immersive learning specialist sounds off about the challenges of his post and the future of gaming and MUVEs.
IN AUGUST 2007, SHAWN McCANN JOINED the staff and faculty of McMaster University (Ontario, Canada) as immersive learning (gaming) librarian. Intrigued by this title, Campus Technology recently caught up with McCann to learn more about his job and get the librarian's take on how higher education institutions in the US can move more learning into the world of multi-user virtual environments, or MUVEs.
Games offer problem-solving, but with no consequence for failure. You can formulate your own hypothesis and if you fail, formulate a new one, based upon your failures. In a nutshell, games make learning more fun.
Campus Technology: To begin with, just how did your job come about?
McCann: Quite simply, the university librarian pushed for it. In putting the position together, I think the librarian saw the learning benefits of MUVEs and realized it was something we should be involved with. Many times, libraries are viewed as reactive institutions, especially in the area of technology. With this job, McMaster is trying to be proactive.
What, specifically, are you tasked with doing? It varies. Part of my job entails regular librarian duties such as collections development, reference desk work, and teaching. My other goal is to look at what's out there in terms of MUVEs, to see how the technology impacts education. I'm charged with investigating how people are teaching in virtual worlds, how researchers are studying games, and how games in general affect our culture and society. I also have to keep tabs on how the brain works with video games.
Let's get an 'immersive education' insider's vantage point: What is your average day like? Contrary to popular belief, I certainly don't get to sit in my office and play video games all day! I do, however, spend a lot of time poring through gaming literature, reading blogs, and evaluating news. I also spend a good deal of time reading journals and searching on Google Scholar. I get a lot of leads from different gaming websites such as Joystiq.com, Kotaku.com, and Gamasutra.com. Once I've read through all of this information, I try to distill it and come up with ideas for how we as a library can improve the way we're using MUVEs.
Of course, we also do quite a bit in Second Life. The university was already involved in that before I got here, but we purchased our own island in November 2007, and our teachers have been using it since.
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