LEARNING FROM LITTLE BIG PLANET: Gamers don't game alone, but form communities to share strategies and accomplishments, compete, and, yes, show off bragging rights. (Just check out Twitch.) Researchers call these offline activities the "metagame"--and some argue that they offer excellent examples for how to build "Connected Learning" activities. A recent study from the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub looks at how popular titles like LittleBigPlanet 2 offer useful examples in how to bridge "interest-driven activities with academically relevant goals, civic engagement, and career opportunities."
The game not only empowers players to believe that with the right tools creativity knows no bounds, but also to believe that players can only learn from what they have made if their creativity is shared with others. The result is a robust community where players are constantly growing and learning together, which makes LBP2 a promising vision of connected learning in action.
