The Expert, The Novice, and The Skeptic: Game Literacy and Pedagogical Practice

This qualitative case study explores how teachers' video game literacy impacts their pedagogical use of the digital game The Walking Dead in an ethics education course at a Norwegian high school. The research question addressed is: how is teachers' pedagogical use of a digital game impacted by their levels of video game literacy? The study followed seven teachers, varying in teaching and gaming experience, over two semesters. Observations and semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather data on the teachers' experience and pedagogical practice using The Walking Dead in their classes. Three teachers were selected for deeper analysis based them showing differences in attitudes and practices, while having similar teaching experience. These teachers were labeled "the expert," "the novice," and "the skeptic" based on their gaming literacy and attitudes. The analysis was based on a two-dimensional approach to video game literacy, emphasizing operational and cultural literacy. The results show that operational literacy impacted how teachers perceived and used various game elements, especially how they identified and framed the game’s dilemmas. The expert and novice saw the game's narrative as an important contextual resource for engaging with the dilemmas, while the skeptic saw it as merely a backdrop. The skeptic also had difficulties distinguishing between relevant and less relevant aspects of the game relative to the learning goal. Cultural literacy mainly impacted the teachers' ability to differentiate between students' perceptions and experiences of the game and different modes of playing. The expert had a more nuanced approach to how students perceived the game's motivational power, emphasizing the story's importance. The novice and expert explicitly instructed students to distinguish between playing for fun and playing to learn, while the skeptic made less of a distinction and saw playing the game more as a standalone learning activity. The findings suggest that teachers' video game literacy can significantly influence pedagogical use of digital games. Higher levels of operational and cultural literacy enable teachers to better navigate the game's elements, guide students' engagement, and facilitate connections between gameplay and learning objectives.