EduGaming: Lecture by Stina Thunberg

https://www.ltu.se/staff/s/stithu-1.126153?l=en

On Monday, October 8, Stina Thunberg, Luleå University, held a lecture as a part of the EduGaming teachers’ training meeting in Luleå, Sweden. The lecture was also open to teachers from other comprehensive schools in Luleå. Stina Thunberg is a PH-student and has published “The Reading Avatar, Reimagine the imaginative through reading and writing” in 2018. Her research is highly interesting to our project since she uses reading fiction with gamification.Thus offering the project a different angle since her study shows how novels could appeal to the students when combined with creating their own creation of avatars.

Stina's lecture began with a short background to the Swedish context where most students have their own computer. However studies show that computers are mainly used for typing and information seeking. In Thunberg’s study the students have read a novel and at the same time entered the story by creating their own avatar. Consequently giving them the possibility to read fiction in a new, more creative way. The avatars can be found in video games and is therefore often known to young people. By using avatars they get into the story in a different way instead of only experiencing the literature. Moreover, the students have improved their skills to write for instance by writing their own blogs.To summarize; new technology and gamification in this case avatars could work in favour when it comes to students’ reading, writing and discovering literature.