The Rheumatologist
COVID-19 News
  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed
  • Home
  • Conditions
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • SLE (Lupus)
    • Crystal Arthritis
      • Gout Resource Center
    • Spondyloarthritis
    • Osteoarthritis
    • Soft Tissue Pain
    • Scleroderma
    • Vasculitis
    • Systemic Inflammatory Syndromes
    • Guidelines
  • Resource Centers
    • Ankylosing Spondylitis Resource Center
    • Gout Resource Center
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis Resource Center
    • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Resource Center
  • Drug Updates
    • Biologics & Biosimilars
    • DMARDs & Immunosuppressives
    • Topical Drugs
    • Analgesics
    • Safety
    • Pharma Co. News
  • Professional Topics
    • Ethics
    • Legal
    • Legislation & Advocacy
    • Career Development
      • Certification
      • Education & Training
    • Awards
    • Profiles
    • President’s Perspective
    • Rheuminations
  • Practice Management
    • Billing/Coding
    • Quality Assurance/Improvement
    • Workforce
    • Facility
    • Patient Perspective
    • Electronic Health Records
    • Apps
    • Information Technology
    • From the College
    • Multimedia
      • Audio
      • Video
  • Resources
    • Issue Archives
    • ACR Convergence
      • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Resource Center
      • Rheumatoid Arthritis Resource Center
      • Gout Resource Center
      • Abstracts
      • Meeting Reports
      • ACR Convergence Home
    • American College of Rheumatology
    • ACR ExamRheum
    • Research Reviews
    • ACR Journals
      • Arthritis & Rheumatology
      • Arthritis Care & Research
      • ACR Open Rheumatology
    • Rheumatology Image Library
    • Treatment Guidelines
    • Rheumatology Research Foundation
    • Events
  • About Us
    • Mission/Vision
    • Meet the Authors
    • Meet the Editors
    • Contribute to The Rheumatologist
    • Subscription
    • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Search
You are here: Home / Articles / Addicted to Learning: Can We Teach as Well (& Enthrallingly!) as Fortnite?

Addicted to Learning: Can We Teach as Well (& Enthrallingly!) as Fortnite?

April 15, 2019 • By Philip Seo

  • Tweet
  • Email
Print-Friendly Version / Save PDF
PureSolution / shutterstock.com

PureSolution / shutterstock.com

My nephew is an addict. These words do not come easily to me, but I have come to accept them as true. In retrospect, I should have recognized the telltale signs: He stopped picking up the phone when I call. He disappears and then re-emerges hours later, seemingly having done nothing. He has lost interest in leaving the house and keeps talking about friends I never seem to meet.

You Might Also Like
  • From Dog Clickers to Scripts—Thoughts on Learning to Teach
  • Rheumatology Students Learning How To Look for Symptoms
  • Ethics Forum: Teach Rheumatology Fellows to Use Good Judgment in Pharmaceutical Company Interactions
Explore This Issue
April 2019
Also By This Author
  • Every Vote Counts

My nephew is addicted to Fortnite.

ad goes here:advert-1
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

For the uninitiated, Fortnite is a multi-platform, multi-player video game, in which you and your team parachute onto an island. As with many video games, the object is to shoot anything that moves. Unlike many video games, however, you are fighting the clock; during gameplay, there is an approaching storm, which gradually limits the territory in play.

Fortnite has been compared by behavioral psychologists with heroin. There is Fortnite rehab. Divorce filings have started to cite Fortnite, by name, as a cause.1 When gamers are not playing themselves, they watch other people play. And they pay for the privilege: Tyler Blevins, better known to his fans as Ninja, earned $10 million in 2018.2 He earns $500,000 per month from subscribers to his streaming service. I’ll say that again: he earns half a million dollars each month from aficionados who pay to watch him play. A video game.3

ad goes here:advert-2
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

From a purely scientific standpoint, one can’t help but admire what Epic Games, the creators of Fortnite, hath wrought. Fortnite is not Pac-Man. To play, one must master an arcane set of rules and reflexes. This takes time and effort. To date, 200 million players—mainly school-age students—have elected to learn this complex skillset, on their own, without the nagging that usually precedes learning at that age.4 Wouldn’t it be amazing if technology like this could be co-opted to teach something, well, you know, useful?

Teaching with Technology

Pac-Man is to Fortnite as the traditional classroom lecture is to a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). We are all familiar with the traditional brick-and-mortar classroom lecture, with PowerPoint slides at the front of the hall and students gently dozing at the back. The one thing that all of these lectures have in common is that all stakeholders—lecturers, small group leaders, students—are all physically present. The MOOC does away with that last requirement. Instead, lectures are taught virtually, through live streaming or recorded lectures. The sense of community is preserved through remote question-and-answer sessions, group projects and other assignments.5

The MOOC is a cornerstone of a revolution in education in which your educational experience need not be dictated by your institution. Instead, you can pick to attend the classes that best suit your needs and interests, regardless of where the lectures may actually be taking place. By October 2013, the company Coursera had registered over 5 million students for MOOCs.6

ad goes here:advert-3
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

Pages: 1 2 3 4 | Single Page

Filed Under: Education & Training, Rheuminations Tagged With: augmented reality, massive open online course (MOOC), virtual realityIssue: April 2019

You Might Also Like:
  • From Dog Clickers to Scripts—Thoughts on Learning to Teach
  • Rheumatology Students Learning How To Look for Symptoms
  • Ethics Forum: Teach Rheumatology Fellows to Use Good Judgment in Pharmaceutical Company Interactions
  • Pediatric Researcher Turns American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Award into a Learning Experience

ACR Convergence

Don’t miss rheumatology’s premier scientific meeting for anyone involved in research or the delivery of rheumatologic care or services.

Visit the ACR Convergence site »

Simple Tasks

Learn more about the ACR’s public awareness campaign and how you can get involved. Help increase visibility of rheumatic diseases and decrease the number of people left untreated.

Visit the Simple Tasks site »

American College of Rheumatology

Visit the official website for the American College of Rheumatology.

Visit the ACR »

The Rheumatologist newsmagazine reports on issues and trends in the management and treatment of rheumatic diseases. The Rheumatologist reaches 11,500 rheumatologists, internists, orthopedic surgeons, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who practice, research, or teach in the field of rheumatology.

About Us / Contact Us / Advertise / Privacy Policy / Terms of Use

  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed

Copyright © 2006–2021 American College of Rheumatology. All rights reserved.

ISSN 1931-3268 (print)
ISSN 1931-3209 (online)

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
This site uses cookies: Find out more.