Gill, The Usefulness of Videogames

   While the article did heavily focus on the way students incorporated videogames into their projects and draw from them as resources, there was also information on how computer graphics can be used in curriculum. The ways students were using the graphics visually could easily be used in an arts classroom, and the relevancy of drawing from videogames is not lost. The class that was used in the article showed students using videogames for visual and functional reference. Many students manipulated the CG system to mimic the visualizations of videogames they were familiar with. Being familiar with videogames gave student's an area of knowledge from outside the class to build their skills off of, offering not only their interest and gaming to motivate them but also a source of pre-existing acquaintance with a similar technology to build their skills from. It provided a starting point. As a result, most of the student projects ended up having the appearance of videogame interfaces.
     The teacher in the article used student interest in videogames to inspire what could be done with the CG software. The results were impressive, and the students seemed more interested in their projects because they were linked to something they enjoyed doing in their free time. Students also used each other as resources for the projects, novices using those more familiar with the program to learn and a number of students also using what they knew of and from videogames to inform their software use.
       Game play was an interesting pursuit of investigation for learning mentioned int he classroom, and have we have discussed in class it is a useful one, a way to engage and motivate students.